We live in a time in which IP is king. At this point, if a given property was even vaguely popular, it’s probably getting a reboot, revival, reimagining, or sequel of some stripe. Harry Potter is one of the most popular franchises in the world — or at least it used to be, before its creator took a sharp heel turn into the sort of abject villainy that would have been roundly condemned by the heroes of her own fictional universe. But even She Who Must Not Be Named’s abhorrent personal views cannot put this cash cow back in its pen, which means we’re getting a full HBO TV adaptation of the Harry Potter novels, whether we want one or not. (And even though it’s only been about 15 years since the final installment of an eight-part blockbuster film franchise was in theaters.)HBO’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will officially premiere this Christmas, and everything about this series seems determined not to rock the boat. (Though ostensibly by titling itself thusly, it’s going to have to go through the hassle of changing its name every season, which feels like a lot of effort.) Yes, this is a project that almost no one asked for, but it’s also one that doesn’t appear to be even doing the basic things that reboots or revivals are meant to do.cnx.cmd.push(function() {cnx({playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530",}).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796");});If the initial teaser is anything to go by, this is a Harry Potter that is completely uninterested in interrogating or reconsidering anything about the way the original films or novels told the story of the Boy Who Lived and the world he grew up in. And it feels like nothing so much as a carbon copy of what has already come before. Just without John Williams’ magical score helping to elevate its occasionally ridiculous material this time.“There is nothing special about you,” Bel Powley’s Petunia Dursley intones morosely at an appropriately adorable young Harry (Dominic McLaughlin). And you really do have to feel for the kids who are going to be stuck in the middle of all this, because she might as well be speaking for this series as a whole.Nothing about this first batch of footage is especially compelling; in fact, most of it looks like slightly less interesting (and much more poorly lit) recreations of moments we’ve seen already. Perhaps there’s an audience for a show that essentially features Nick Frost cosplaying the late Robbie Coltrane’s Hagrid and Janet McTeer doing her best Maggie Smith impression to play Professor McGonagall. But mostly, it’s exhausting. Who is this show for? What are we meant to be taking away from this? Is it planning to say anything new at all about these characters? Does anyone behind the scenes even care if it does?Probably not. After all, Harry Potter is a brand before it’s anything else. And that brand has to serve many masters, from its publishing house sales reps to the multi-million dollar theme park business that relies on kids getting their parents to buy an officially licensed wand from Ollivanders that looks the same no matter which Wizarding World it comes from. And that’s maybe the least magical thing of all. The post The Harry Potter Series Trailer Presents A Milquetoast Carbon Copy appeared first on Den of Geek.