Chris Columbus would love to return to the Harry Potter franchise

It’s almost easy to forget but Chris Columbus helmed the first two installments of the Harry Potter franchise. While Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were hugely successful, it could be argued that Columbus didn’t really put a significant visual stamp on the films and they didn’t really hit their stride until the third film, The Prisoner of Azkaban, which saw Alfonso Cuaron taking over at the helm. We could probably debate all day about which Harry Potter film is our favorite but Columbus does deserve some credit for kicking things off with the franchise. With murmurs of there being a big-screen adaptation of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child in the works and with The Sorcerer’s Stone approaching its 20th anniversary this month, Columbus is expressing that he would love to return to the franchise.

While speaking with “Variety” about the 20th anniversary of The Sorcerer’s Stone, Columbus was asked if he thinks there will be more Harry Potter movies to go along with the prequel series Fantastic Beasts and the director said, “I would love to direct The Cursed Child. It’s a great play and the kids are actually the right age to play those roles. It’s a small fantasy of mine.”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child begins nineteen years after the events of the 2007 novel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and follows Harry Potter, now Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic, and his younger son, Albus Severus Potter, who is about to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The 2016 British two-part play was written by Jack Thorne and is based on an original story by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne.

I suppose picking Chris Columbus to direct again wouldn’t be a horrible choice. These adaptations were going to make money no matter what so it really comes down to critical reception. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is 81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and it was warmly received, grossing $1.007 billion worldwide. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets followed in 2002 and grossed $879.6 million globally and improved just a tad over its predecessor critically with an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Needless to say, he handled the first two installments well enough but they didn’t hit their real critical heights until after these films.

Would YOU want Chris Columbus to return to the Harry Potter franchise?