How Much Money JK Rowling Will Be Paid for HBO's Harry Potter TV Series
Almost the whole Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone budget.
When discussing how much money movie stars make, we often fail to mention the writers who make everything possible in the first place. This is especially relevant for book-based movies and the authors whose work is adapted for screen.
For more than two decades now, Harry Potter has been an international pop culture phenomenon. Both the book and the film series were instant hits when their first installments appeared in 1997 and 2001 respectively.
The Harry Potter movies were a huge financial success as well, grossing around $8 billion at the box office, and of course, the author behind the book series, J.K. Rowling, became one of the richest writers in the world, with a whopping $1 billion net worth. And now as HBO is planning on a Harry Potter reboot, greater wealth awaits her.
The network sent Harry Potter fans over the moon earlier this year as it announced the intentions to create a TV series about the wizarding world. The creators of the most-watched show in history — Game of Thrones — have much experience with the fantasy genre and the best CGI at their disposal. It's no wonder people are excited about what HBO can do with Harry Potter. But the more interesting question is how much money J.K. Rowling is getting paid since she still holds the rights for the books and the characters.
Apart from royalties for using her intellectual property, Rowling is also said to be one of the executive producers of the future series. As a result, it's hard to differentiate between her profits from it.
According to Metro, the author's revenue from the show is estimated at about $125 million, which includes $22.5 million she received for selling TV rights in 2016. This equals the entire budget of the first Harry Potter movie, albeit without inflation.
Anyway, we are yet to see what HBO will have to offer us with its reboot of the world-famous magical saga. But given Rowling is on board as an EP, it must be true to the original story and consequently good.
Source: Metro.