After the massive success of the Harry Potter series and movies, it was bound for another product to appear to bank off of the success. In 2016, this came to life as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a play, premiered in London coinciding with the screenplay that. The fans did not disappoint. Almost every seat was filled and the play would make about two to three million dollars weekly. Morgan Ross, an avid Harry Potter fan, said that he had to buy tickets one month in advance to watch it. Even more astonishing, in March 2020, the play even held a Guinness World Record as one of the highest grossing plays making around 174 million dollars.
But what comes up must go down and for the play, it soon started to lose the magic it once had. Dubbed with the name ‘Sophomore Sump’, in 2023 and late 2024 there was less attendance. The whole frenzy to watch it or even buy the book went down significantly as the revenue they gained weekly cut in half and tickets were cheaper. One factor people claim that contributed to it, was that people didn’t really have a reason to watch it a second time and it was a one and done type of situation. Some fans felt it didn’t reach to par as the movies had. With that and the high maintenance to keep the play going with its expensive sets and illusions used, the Cursed Child wasn’t in the best place.
This all changed in June 2025, when Broadway posted a trailer to tease that starting in November and through March 2026, Tom Felton will be reprising his role as Draco Malfoy. Broadway took no time to promote it. Felton was seen on both the Today Show and Jimmy Fallon Show, videos were posted on him trying the costume, and him seeing the set for the first time. This was exciting to all the fans that wanted to see the man who made Draco Malfoy a more popular character in the book. With all the hype, his time on stage was extended to May 2026 giving him an extra two months to play Harry Potter’ s nemesis.
On November 11th, the Cursed Child’s first show with Felton as Draco Malfoy, there were multiple videos posted with one having the crowd give a standing ovation when they saw his character appear on stage. Single handedly, Felton was able to turn around the franchise and get it back up on its feet and running. The prices of tickets are back to its original price from when it first premiered, people now have to pre-order tickets again, and the playwright is earning more than it did when it first debuted. Tom Felton was able to give the show the push it needed to keep going and leave people wanting more.
