Chapter 771: A Qualitative Change

Starting with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2000, ten years of theatrical releases were finally culminating on the big screen. The little wand-waving wizard had reached the end of the road, and Harry Potter was about to face his final battle against Voldemort.

During the weekend before Thanksgiving, oversized LED screens and giant posters transformed London's Trafalgar Square into a magical arena. The unprecedented premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 drew in over 30,000 fans from around the world. Clutching the original novels and homemade signs, they gathered for a massive "pilgrimage."

Since entry into the main venue required special fan wristbands, many Potterheads had lined up overnight just to claim one.

Once the event kicked off, nearly the entire core cast and crew walked the premiere's red carpet.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, and the other male stars looked dashing in sharp suits. Emma Watson stunned the crowd in a sleeveless tulle gown, generously blowing kisses to the Potter fans as she stepped onto the carpet.

Joanne Rowling made her appearance in a green strapless dress. Helena Bonham Carter, who played the villainous Bellatrix Lestrange, brought her usual eccentric flair—not only did her handbag feature a massive red heart, but the large pink flower perched on her head left a striking impression.

Naturally, the premiere featured plenty of promotional spectacle.

Emma Watson openly praised Daniel Radcliffe, declaring that "no one else could be Harry Potter." Radcliffe replied that the story didn't truly end tonight, and that Harry Potter would remain with him for the rest of his life. The three main stars embraced tightly, shedding emotional tears.

Joanne Rowling, who had first sparked this decade-long magical journey, had long since been shaped into a seasoned media figure by Warner Brothers and the Harry Potter Studio. Addressing the unwavering devotion of the global fanbase, she offered nothing but boundless gratitude. Her speech moved the main cast to deep sadness; Emma Watson linked arms with her two co-stars and wept...

Joanne Rowling's final words, "Hogwarts will always welcome you home," moved the entire crowd.

Regardless, for the fans who had loyally followed the series for ten years, this premiere was a bittersweet experience. Everyone was eager to finally see the movie, yet terrified of that ultimate moment of farewell.

"It's finally over!"

While standing in the press area for photos, Robin Grande finally complained to Duke, "I sold an entire decade of my life to you!"

"Hey, Robin..." Duke gave him a brief hug in front of the cameras and whispered a reminder, "It isn't over yet."

Thinking of the contracts they had signed with the actors, Robin Grande had to agree. "Indeed, it isn't."

The actor contracts stipulated a large percentage of box office profit sharing. Neither Duke nor Warner Brothers had any desire to slice up that cake for actors who had outlived their usefulness, like Emma Watson.

Of course, Joanne Rowling did not fall into that category.

After arriving in London the day before, Duke had sat down for a private meeting with Joanne Rowling. The famous author had no intention of calling it quits, even with a net worth that was the envy of countless people.

The box office numbers for the Harry Potter series were astonishing enough on their own. Yet, those ticket sales accounted for only a tiny fraction of the revenue generated by the massive industrial chain the franchise had built.

Several specialized firms on Wall Street had previously run the numbers: the massive Harry Potter industrial chain was valued at 200 billion dollars. As the original author, Joanne Rowling had long since become a billionaire, while the film's three leads had also amassed significant fortunes.

As an investor and one of the series' greatest beneficiaries, Duke knew that figure wasn't the least bit exaggerated.

Joanne Rowling, a single mother who had once been so destitute she had contemplated suicide, could never have imagined that she would one day become a billionaire wealthier than the Queen of England. Less than five years after the Harry Potter series debuted, she had become the first person in human history to earn over 100 million dollars entirely through writing.

By Duke's estimates, Joanne Rowling had walked away with at least 1 billion dollars from the franchise.

The three young stars also possessed substantial net worths. According to their contracts, if the box office for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 crossed the 1 billion dollar mark, the trio would collectively walk away with at least 60 million dollars in profit sharing...

Factoring in the various payouts due to the other young actors, if Duke and Warner Brothers strictly honored the contracts, all these people would carve out massive slices of the cake from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Naturally, Duke and Warner Brothers would follow the profit-sharing clauses to the letter, but just how much money would actually materialize for those actors was another matter entirely.

There was no question that out of all the beneficiaries, Duke and Warner Brothers were the biggest winners of the franchise.

Aside from enriching the original author and the lead actors, the Harry Potter films had also brought Duke and Time Warner Inc. a staggering fortune.

By the end of last year, DVD sales and Videotape rental revenue for the first six films had reached roughly 4.9 billion dollars, with another 1.8 billion dollars flowing in from television broadcast rights. The first six Harry Potter films had sold over 80 million DVD sets in the North American Region alone, cementing it as one of the best-selling franchise DVDs of the new millennium.

The video game rights to the Harry Potter Series had been secured by the renowned American EA Company, which went on to sell 42 million legitimate copies worldwide, raking in 1.9 billion dollars in revenue from the project alone.

Furthermore, Mattel, Lego, and Hasbro had each shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars for the rights to produce merchandise like pencil cases and magical hats. Companies that had officially secured licensing rights through Warner had generated a cumulative 17 billion dollars in revenue from peripheral products alone.

From these licensing deals alone, Duke and Warner were able to skim off astronomical profits.

The franchise had expanded to encompass publishing, films, DVDs, Videotapes, beverages, toys, stationery, games, apparel, and tens of thousands of other licensed products. Combined with theme parks and the booming Harry Potter tourism sector in England, Harry Potter had long since evolved into a colossal, cross-industry juggernaut, driving an economy valued at 200 billion dollars.

No matter what the critics said, nothing could alter the fact that it was the most successful book series in history. Only trailing behind the Bible and one other specific historical text, the Harry Potter novels sat comfortably as the third best-selling books in the world.

"Director Rosenberg..."

"Director Rosenberg..."

After wrapping up their photoshoots, the three young stars hurried over to greet Duke. They weren't foolish—they knew the golden days of the Harry Potter Series were coming to an end, and the ensuing typecasting was about to hit them hard. If they could secure a role in one of Duke's productions, their upcoming career transitions might go far more smoothly.

Duke shook their hands one by one but offered little in the way of conversation. Emma Watson and her co-stars no longer held any value to him. Furthermore, pulling off the kind of career transition they wanted was a task of epic proportions—at the very least, he couldn't think of a reliable way to make it happen.

Emma Watson would probably fare a bit better. For starters, she had the powerful backing of fashion mogul Karl Lagerfeld. Furthermore, while her acting was poor and her natural talent extremely limited, she could always serve as eye candy. Coasting on her massive, long-established fanbase, she would always be able to secure at least a mid-tier position in Hollywood.

The other two would have a much rougher time, particularly the boy who played Harry Potter. To any blockbuster commercial production, he was box office poison. His only viable path was to retreat to the indie film circuit and slowly grind away; maybe in a decade or so, he would finally manage to scrub off the Harry Potter brand.

Upon entering the theater, Duke skipped the screening room and headed straight to a private lounge with Robin Grande, Jamie Jensen, and Doug Walter. The four of them traded opinions, reaffirming the strategy they had established from the start: maintain strong ties with Joanne Rowling, and squeeze every last drop of surplus value out of Emma Watson and her peers.

"Harry Potter Studio is an independent entity. Its finances are tracked separately, and it is entirely responsible for its own profits and losses..."

Before they left the lounge, Doug Walter added, "Whether we're operating under British or American law, everything we're doing is completely legal."

With hundreds of millions of dollars in profits on the line—figures that could directly impact the stock prices of Warner Brothers and even Time Warner—Duke and his associates would undoubtedly make whatever choices best served their own interests.

Leaving the lounge, the four men headed into the main auditorium. Duke took a seat relatively close to the front. His timing was perfect; the movie was just about to begin.

Frankly, Duke had once strongly considered replacing David Yates. The director's work on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had easily been the worst installment in the franchise. However, Yates had enjoyed the fierce backing of Joanne Rowling, and Duke, possessing certain memories of the future, ultimately decided to leave the series finale in Yates's hands.

As it turned out, David Yates did an exceptional job.

The final installment's greatest triumph lay in how it transcended the limitations and flaws of the original text. Joanne Rowling's depiction of the final battle hadn't been incredibly successful on the page—her writing and narrative had been somewhat cluttered—but David Yates managed to translate that chaos into a heartbreakingly epic visual spectacle.

The conclusion revolved entirely around the Horcruxes and the ultimate showdown between Harry Potter and Voldemort. The action sequences had been massively expanded; there was a thrilling fight scene almost every ten minutes. Combined with massive set pieces like the iron triangle's daring escape from Gringotts, the Battle of Hogwarts, and the final duel, viewers were left utterly breathless. Calling it an "epic magical war film" was no exaggeration.

Where Rowling's written account of the final war had been muddled, the film's execution was remarkably coherent.

This was especially true when Voldemort led his Death Eaters, giant spiders, and trolls in a ferocious assault on the school. Professor McGonagall and the others swore to defend Hogwarts to the death, utilizing the "Piertotum Locomotor" spell for the first time to animate the stone warriors that had guarded the castle for centuries. It was a staggering, majestic cinematic sequence.

To fully capture the sheer scale of the war, director David Yates had even constructed entirely new sets, including specific cliffs and courtyards that had never appeared in the books.

Compared to the previous installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, this film had undergone a qualitative change.