2023 should have been a celebratory year for Warner Bros. It’s the studio’s 100th anniversary, but since it merged with Discovery in 2022, started canning finished films like Batgirl as tax write-offs, and became embroiled in the ongoing strikes in Hollywood, the mood hasn’t been one of celebration. When CEO David Zaslav gave a Boston University commencement speech this May, graduates booed him and chanted, “Pay your writers!” A month later, there were reports that Warner Bros. was negotiating to sell off half its movie and TV assets.
One asset it holds is Harry Potter, now the subject of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Tokyo - The Making of Harry Potter. The sprawling four-hour tour opened on June 16, 2023, on the site of the former Toshimaen amusement park in Nerima. Tickets continue to sell out online weeks in advance, so Japanese fans seem undeterred by all the bad press for the studio or creator J. K. Rowling, whose comments on transgender issues in recent years have also courted controversy. I did take the tour on September 7, but the biggest highlight was when it was all over, and I stepped outside to see this gorgeous pink sunset. Life after movies.