Harry Potter and The Cursed Child: latest fan-made trailer goest viral and joins Home Alone 3

There was somewhat of a confused look among the NationalWorld TV team this morning when coming into the “office,” with news that a new trailer for a forthcoming Harry Potter movie had been released. We thought it might be a little early since the Hollywood Strikes had finished and production was getting back underway in Tinseltown - but we were met with an older-looking Harry Potter and a re-appearance of Dumbledore. Was this a secret project finally seeing the light of day post-production?

Well, no - it’s again 2023’s cause celebre/technological advance du jour (delete as appropriate) Artificial Intelligence once causing mischief in the entertainment world. The trailer is for a fictional film adaptation of the current West End stage show, “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” itself based on the book series written by JK Rowling. Sadly, “Potterheads” are going to have to wait until the much-anticipated Wizarding World series on HBO Max. 

But with how realistic the trailer is, it is easy to quickly jump to the assumption that a film is in development without delving into the problems creating a film featuring the original cast members can be, owing to Rowling’s previous comments about trans-rights. The duplicity lends itself to another recent, well-made fan-trailer that made the rounds only a few days again - “Home Alone 3,” which took a darker approach to the beloved John Hughes family favourite. 

The fan-made trailer making its way onto the internet is not new, but with the advent of AI it has become far much easier to trick the viewing public - gone are the days of sharply cut moments from a film franchise to create a new trailer for a fictional work. Many might recall when a trailer for “Toy Story 4” made its way online with many false plots being publicized until Pixar officially released a trailer for the film. 

But the big difference between the latest two trailers that have gone viral and those other fan-made trailers is the “realism” involved - several fan-made trailers intentionally try and subvert the original nature of the film in question, while on this occasion, the “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” trailer was very much in-line with the marketing that Warner Bros. has previously revealed to “Potterheads.” 

It’s not the first of its kind, however, as five days earlier YouTube creation team Teaser Pro also threw their digital hat in the ring with their take on what a big-screen adaptation of “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child” could look like, carefully editing clip of the core cast in other films, including Radcliffe’s role in 2012’s “The Woman in Black.”

One of the more popular subversions with these fan edits was a trailer for Stanley Kubrick's horror classic "The Shining" but edited to make it appear as a light-hearted romantic comedy. The stark contrast between the actual movie and the trailer confused and amused viewers. While on the more surrealistic side of things, a creative fan re-edited scenes from "The Avengers" movie to mimic the style of a sitcom complete with a laugh track. The resulting trailer left people scratching their heads at the unusual crossover.