You probably know that there are Harry Potter worlds at Orlando theme parks and in California, too. But is The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Disney or Universal Studios? And on which entertainment platforms can you watch the Harry Potter films?
Here are the quick and easy answers that you need to know if you are wondering whether Disney owns Harry Potter and whether Harry Potter lands are at Disney Word or Disneyland.
No rumors, just facts!
Does Disney Own Harry Potter?
While it seems like Disney owns everything, including Star Wars, Marvel, LucasFilm, ABC television network and more, they haven’t bought all Intellectual Property rights.
No, Disney does not own Harry Potter.
Is Harry Potter in Disney World or Disneyland?
No, you will not find a Harry Potter land in either Walt Disney World in Orlando or Disneyland in California.
You will not find Harry Potter rides, merchandise or restaurants anywhere on Disney property.
If you have planned a visit to Disney, don’t worry. You can easily visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter by going to Universal Orlando Resort or Universal Studios Hollywood, both of which are located near their competing Disney theme parks.
Does Universal Own Harry Potter?
If Disney doesn’t own the rights to Harry Potter, does Universal own them?
No.
Warner Bros. owns the rights to Harry Potter and has licensed them to Universal.
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Who Owns the Harry Potter Rights?
When it comes to Intellectual Property, things can get confusing. There are a variety of rights that can be bought, and the owners can vary.
Harry Potter rights are distributed in the following ways:
- Warner Bros. owns the Harry Potter movie rights
- JK Rowling owns the Intellectual Property rights to books and movies
- The Scholastic Company owns the USA rights to publishing
- Bloomsbury Publishing owns the UK rights to publishing
- Universal Studios owns the theme park rights, licensed by Warner Bros.
NBCUniversal has acquired exclusive rights to show the films on TV. NBCUniversal has commercial TV rights for the 8 films and other properties through April 2025.
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Could Disney Have Bought Harry Potter?
Yes, the Disney company could have bought the rights to Harry Potter but didn’t.
Disney could have bought the book rights, but didn’t. Instead, Scholastic bought the rights to the Harry Potter series for $105,000 in a bidding war.
Seems like a good investment for Scholastic, right?
Rumors suggest that J.K. Rowling was in negotiations with Disney to bring Harry Potter to Disney theme parks. While it is not hard to believe, there is not any solid evidence found on the internet to confirm that the meetings or negotiations took place, or the details.
So, while most people love to tell the stories of J.K. Rowling visiting Florida to scope out the theme park expansion or what Harry Potter world would have looked like at Disney World, we are not going to spread the stories that it is true until finding some definite evidence. Please do send us links to actual news reports if you find them!
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Is Warner Bros. Owned by Disney?
No, Warner Bros. is a separate film studio not owned by Disney.
While Disney does own many studios, including Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures, it does not own Warner Brothers.
Warner Bros. is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which also owns HBO, CNN and a variety of other business units.
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Is Harry Potter on Disney+?
Because Harry Potter is not a Disney movie and is not made by their production companies, you cannot watch Harry Potter films on Disney Plus.
You can find Harry Potter films on Peacock, which is a division of NBCUniversal. They are also found on HBO Max.
Want to watch Harry Potter movies on Amazon Prime? You will need to pay to rent them, as they are not free on Amazon.
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Does Disney Own Fantastic Beasts?
Nope. Just like the Harry Potter franchise, Fantastic Beasts is also owned by Warner Bros.