Warner Bros Discovery focused on developing franchises like GoT and Harry Potter

The president of Warner Bros Discovery international has said there will be a future focus on developing its franchises, such as Game Of Thrones and Harry Potter.

The media company counts news broadcaster CNN and the streaming services Discovery+ and HBO Max among its portfolio.

At the RTS London Convention 2022, Gerhard Zeiler said during a keynote speech: “Where we will focus more is the development of franchises.

“Yes, we have also an incredible slate of franchises, think of Harry Potter, you think of originals and animation series.

“But we need to develop more. Think of Game Of Thrones, which House Of The Dragon is one spin-off, and also maybe there will be different ones and additional ones. That’s where we focus on.

“But the brands we have, whether it’s Warner Bros, CNN or HBO, to keep the quality and also the shiny quality of this appliance – that’s for sure a task which we have to execute.”

Aside from House Of The Dragon, a Game Of Thrones spin-off starring Kit Harington as Jon Snow is also reportedly in the works.

Mr Zeiler also dismissed suggestions cinema is “dead” and said some films will continue to have theatrical releases.

He said: “Everyone who ever believed that the theatrical business, that the cinema, is dead, has been proven wrong so many times, and will be proven wrong in the future.

“The theatrical business is here to stay and that’s good.

“Yes, of course the pandemic changed (things), and we see that in the numbers.

“Not everyone is still feeling safe to go back to the cinema or if she and he goes back it has to be really a big film.

“But if you look at the numbers of the film releases so far, you’ll see that you have less movies in the cinemas. But the big ones are much better successes that anybody would have forecasted before.

“So it’s really about a ‘must have’ when it comes to the feature film strategy.”