Tales of Beetle the Bard: The Movie?

As the holidays wind down, I have begun perusing the hefty build-up of news stories I have not yet had time to read. It was this wandering that brought to my attention a bulletin from early December: Warner Bros. reportedly has expressed interest in bringing The Tales of Beedle the Bard to the big screen. The volume of five short stories was written by Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling and was based on a fictional book of the same name mentioned in the last Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows. The Vault's gut reaction: Why must every studio milk a franchise dry? A purely rhetorical question, of course, as it is common knowledge that money makes the world go 'round, and to not wring every last dollar from a gold mine is considered sacrilege. And as Cinema Blend's Josh Tyler points out, with only a few more films left in the Potter-franchise, "the magical gravy train is coming to an end," leaving Warner Bros. to look for a new source of income.

But can the WB seriously be considering making Tales into a film? It would take an extremely lucky combination of talent to turn the book into a successful feature length film. This is not simply because of the short story aspect of the material; some critically acclaimed films are based on short stories: Rear Window and Fort Apache are the first movies that pop into my mind. But these are a combination of five eclectic short stories. It is highly unlikely that even an fervent audience of Potter fans would sit through a film that is based on the premise of a wizard reading aloud the Tales to children, with each subsequently appearing on screen. These stories would have to be taken individually and expanded upon. Would the films be connected to the wizarding world established by Rowling or made to stand on their own two feet, with a quick credit to Tales for inspiring the material? Not all the short stories seem ideal for film adaptation (small spoilers ahead): while the exploits of a wizard who uses dark magic to prevent himself from falling in love seems like potential material, will the saga of a boy and his pot with a foot really garner any critical acclaim?

Obviously the rumors of a film based on The Tales of Beetle the Bard are still just rumors. But what do you think? Is there a future franchise in the making?