Warner Bros. Gives Fan-Made Harry Potter Prequel the Go-Ahead
Another movie is coming to the Harry Potter universe, but this one doesn’t involve anything written by J.K. Rowling. Warner Bros. just greenlit a fan-made Harry Potter movie that explores the origin story of Lord Voldemort, according to Movie Pilot.
The fanfic project, called Voldemort: Origins of the Heir, first sought crowdfunding on Kickstarter last year before Warner Bros., which owns the film rights to the series, got the page shut down. Now, the studio is allowing the film—a nonprofit endeavor that will be released for free online—to go forward.
Here’s how the creators describe the movie:
"What made Tom Riddle become Voldemort? What happened in those years, and what really went down at Hogwarts when he came back? There are some clues in the books which have not been transposed at all in the movies, but a lot goes unspoken. This is the story we want to tell: the rise of the Dark Lord before Harry Potter and his first demise."
The Voldemort-centric film is shooting now, and is set to be released later this year. Italian production company Tryangle Films is still collecting donations to cover the production costs.
It's good news for fans who want to add their own official spin to their favorite franchise, as similar projects have not been so successful. Earlier this year, CBS and Paramount settled a lawsuit with the creators of a Star Trek fanfilm that required substantial changes to the movie, including removing the name Star Trek from the title, cutting it down to two 15-minute parts, and refraining from using public crowdfunding sites.
[h/t Movie Pilot]