EXCLUSIVE: Official Statement On ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ Signage Rumors

Sep 05, 2019

Posted by: Emma Pocock

Exclusives, Fandom, Fans, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Legal, News, Rumor

After a change in signage after months of subtly changing the logo for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, news broke today that Warner Bros. had reportedly bought the rights to Cursed Child, or at the very least, the name. We’re here to attempt to clear up a few things with some inside information, and a statement from a spokesperson for the show’s producers:

We know the Cursed Child branding has been changing for a while now. The newer Australian signage was more akin to Mary GrandPré’s original design for the Harry Potter logo (and thus in line with the rest of the franchise) than the original Cursed Child logo. Since then, at San Diego Comic Con we saw the new logo on advertisements, and signage on all theatres has now been replaced:

Then we see a tweet from @thisismyshow:

“BREAKING: Whereas previously Warner Brothers had no ownership to the stage-rights of Harry Potter, they did a buy out and now own all rights present & future to all itterations of “Harry Potter And The Cursed Child” (thus the logo change) expect a official announcement tomorrow. 

Based on additional info I retract my amended tweet, WB is absolutely atleast attempting to take control of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child and its associated rights in a deal worth millions of dollars.”

Since 2016, Warner Bros. have been attempting to make claims for the phrase ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, and have been unsuccessful – until earlier this year. Gazette du Sorcier quickly pointed out that the trademark was approved in May 2019 in the U.S. (notice of acceptance of use was sent in April 2019):

Of course hopes for a movie had been at the forefront of peoples minds, but this has been in no way confirmed, and though these apparent grand gestures of removing signage and revealing a ‘new logo’ appear to be hinting at something to eager fans, this more than likely this was an effort to bring the play more in line with other aspects of the franchise. Whilst this appears to be an acquisition of the rights to the name/content, MuggleNet’s reports of employees now being ‘WB/AT&T employees’ appears to suggest otherwise.

We were contacted by an official spokesperson for the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child producers, who kindly helped us clear up a few things:

“We can assure you that the rumour reported in @thismyshow’s tweet is completely untrue. Cursed Child continues to be produced by Sonia Friedman, Colin Callender and Harry Potter Theatrical Productions in London, Broadway and all around the world, and there are no plans whatsoever for a movie.”

Our own webmistress, Melissa Anelli, also tweeted out a few observations based on her own knowledge, and sums up questions and possible answers perfectly:

So there we have it, Potter fans. Looks like this is all pretty normal practice. It’s not for us to break (some) hearts and completely cross out the potential for a film in the future, but we’ve been definitively told by the producers that nothing is planned at this point in time.

Let us know if this helped clarify things for you, and add your two sickles to the mix on social media! @Leaky on Twitter and Facebook, and @theleakycauldronnews on Instagram!

UPDATE – 15:30 EST: Pottermore says ‘something exciting’ is coming to Cursed Child on Broadway later today, and fans / press are being invited to the show:

UPDATE – 17:00 EST: J.K. Rowling and Pottermore have tweeted – something special is coming to Cursed Child Broadway today… stay posted to find out what!





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