Harry Potter (film series)

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Harry Potter film series
Image:Harrypotterfilmsyears1-5.jpg DVD boxset of the first five films. (UK)
Directed by	Chris Columbus ( Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets) Alfonso Cuarón ( Prisoner of Azkaban) Mike Newell ( Goblet of Fire) David Yates ( Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince)
Produced by	David Heyman
Written by	Novels: J. K. Rowling Screenplays: Steve Kloves (PS, COS, POA, GOF, HBP, DH) Michael Goldenberg (OOTP)
Starring	Trio cast: Daniel Radcliffe Rupert Grint Emma Watson Other principal cast: (two or more films) Ralph Fiennes Richard Harris Michael Gambon Gary Oldman Maggie Smith Alan Rickman Robbie Coltrane
Music by	John Williams (PS, COS, POA) Patrick Doyle (GOF) Nicholas Hooper (OOTP, HBP)
Distributed by	Warner Bros., Later Universal Pictures outside USA\UK.
Release date(s)	2001 – TBA
Running time	750 min.
Country	United Kingdom  United States
Language	English
Budget	$655 million
Gross revenue	$4,480,956,067

The Harry Potter films are a fantasy series based on the Harry Potter novels by British writer J. K. Rowling.

The five films currently released became the highest grossing film series of all time, with USD$4.48 billion in worldwide receipts. The series consists of five motion pictures with the latest instalment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, released in cinemas in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 12 July 2007, and in Canada, Asia, Australia and the United States on 11 July 2007. In the United States, the revenue from the midnight opening was $12 million and first day revenues overtook Spider-Man 2's record ($40.4 million) for the highest Wednesday opening at $44.2 million.

Warner Brothers holds the rights to produce adaptations of the two remaining novels, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The first of these entered production in the fall of 2007 and has a projected release date of November 21, 2008, and will be directed by David Yates.

Origins

In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights for the first four Harry Potter books to Warner Bros. for a reported £1 million (US$2,000,000). A demand Rowling made was that the principal cast be kept strictly British, allowing nevertheless for the inclusion of many Irish actors such as the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore, and for casting of French and Eastern European actors in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire where characters from the book are specified as such. Rowling was hesitant to sell the rights because she "didn't want to give them control over the rest of the story" by selling the rights to the characters, which would have enabled WB to make non-author-written sequels.

Although Steven Spielberg initially negotiated to direct the film, he declined the offer. Spielberg wanted the adaptation to be an animated film, with American actor Haley Joel Osment to provide Harry Potter's voice. Spielberg contended that, in his opinion, there was every expectation of profit in making the film, and that making money would have been like "shooting ducks in a barrel. It's just a slam dunk. It's just like withdrawing a billion dollars and putting it into your personal bank accounts. There's no challenge." In the Rubbish Bin section of her website, Rowling maintains that she has no role in choosing directors for the films, writing "Anyone who thinks I could (or would) have 'veto-ed' him [Spielberg] needs their Quick-Quotes Quill serviced." After Spielberg left, talks began with other directors, including: Chris Columbus, Terry Gilliam, Jonathan Demme, Mike Newell, Alan Parker, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Tim Robbins, Brad Silberling, and Peter Weir. Petersen and Reiner then both pulled out of the running in March 2000. It was then narrowed down to Silberling, Columbus, Parker and Gilliam. Rowling's first choice was Terry Gilliam. However on March 28, 2000 Columbus was appointed as director of the film, with Warner Bros. citing his work on other family films such as Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire as influences for their decision.

Steve Kloves was selected to write the screenplay for the film. He described adapting the book as "tough", as it did not "lend itself to adaptation as well as the next two books." Kloves was sent a "raft" of synopses of books proposed as film adaptations, with Harry Potter being the only one that jumped out at him. He went out and bought the book, and became an instant fan. When speaking to Warner Bros. he stated that the film had to be British, and had to be true to the characters. David Heyman was selected to produce the film. Rowling received a large amount of creative control for the film, being made an executive producer, an arrangement that Columbus did not mind.

Warner Bros. had initially planned to release the film over the July 4, 2001 weekend, making for such a short production window that several proposed directors pulled themselves out of the running. However due to time constraints the date was put back to November 16, 2001.

Production

Chris Columbus directed the first two films, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Alfonso Cuarón directed the third, and Mike Newell directed the fourth. The fifth, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was directed by David Yates, he will also direct the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Columbus also worked as producer on the first three films.

Rowling's first choice for director was originally Terry Gilliam, but Columbus' involvement as screenwriter on the 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes encouraged Warner Bros. to select him in preference. It is similar to the Harry Potter series in that it includes three leads that bear a strong resemblance to the Harry, Ron and Hermione of Rowling's description (as does a character named Dudley to Draco Malfoy). They investigate a supernatural mystery in a Gothic boarding school, where staff include the Professor Flitwick-like Waxflatter, and sinister Rathe. Scenes from the film were used to cast the first Harry Potter film.

In 2000, the virtually unknown British actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint were selected from thousands of auditioning children to play the roles of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, respectively. They have played their characters in the first five films, and on 23 March 2007, Warner Bros. confirmed that all three would return for the sixth and seventh. Other notable Potter character portrayals include Robbie Coltrane's Hagrid, Alan Rickman's Severus Snape, Tom Felton's Draco Malfoy, Maggie Smith's Minerva McGonagall, and Richard Harris and Michael Gambon's Albus Dumbledore (Gambon took over for the third film following Harris's death in 2002). Each reprised their characters for Order of the Phoenix, along with Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, and Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort.

The first four films were scripted by Steve Kloves with the direct assistance of Rowling, though she allowed Kloves what he described as "tremendous elbow room". Thus, the plot and tone of each film and its corresponding book are virtually the same with some changes and omissions for purposes of cinematic style and time constraints. Rowling has asked Kloves to keep being faithful to the books.

The fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released by Warner Bros. on July 11, 2007, in English-speaking countries, except for the UK and Ireland which released the movie on July 12. Ironically, Order of the Phoenix is the shortest film in the series so far (at 138 mins.), whereas its book counterpart is the longest book in the series (at 257,045 word count).

The sixth, Half-Blood Prince is scheduled for a worldwide release on the 21st of November, 2008. Production of Deathly Hallows is confirmed, but no date has been set. If the year-and-half gap between each of the movies is maintained, the movie will probably be released around mid-to-late 2010.

Response

All the films in the series have been a tremendous financial success, causing the franchise to be seen as one of the major Hollywood tent-poles, akin to Star Wars, James Bond, Shrek, Spider-Man, The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean.

However, opinions of the films generally divide book fans right down the middle, with one group preferring the more faithful approach of the first two films, and another group preferring the more stylised character-driven approach of the later films.

Some feel the series has a "disjointed" feel due to the changes in directors, as well as Michael Gambon's interpretation of Dumbledore differing from that of Richard Harris's.

Chris Columbus's approach was extremely faithful to the source material, recreating the book as much as possible. A criticism is that his two films contain much action but little emotion, undeveloped characters, and an abundance of expository dialogue. Such a strict recreation of the book also results in a slow pace, and consequently, the films are accused of being too long.

Alfonso Cuarón's approach was more stylised and lively, using many handheld long takes and dark uses of colour. Unlike Columbus, his dislike of expository dialogue or explanation of backstory (most notably the Marauder's story) led to criticisms of his approach being "style over substance". His re-imagining of Hogwarts and student attire caused some to feel the continuity of the series had been hurt, though some find it to be closer to the descriptions in the novels. Furthermore, his quickfire pacing led to a shorter film, leading some to call Cuarón "lazy". However, the film is often perceived by critics to be the finest in the series.

Mike Newell's approach focused more on humour and character development. Newell delved more into interactions between the students and their relationships, creating the feeling of a British boarding school. A criticism is that Newell left in moments of slapstick, childish humour (such as Madame Maxime eating something out of Hagrid's beard) in favour of the book's subplots, resulting in a rushed, disjointed film.

David Yates took his movie in an entirely different direction. He focused more on the tone of the book, ensuring that the film was as dark as its counterpart. This has led to criticisms that the movie is missing the delight and "magic" that instalments three and four had. However, it is unclear whether these "problems" should be attributed to Michael Goldenberg (the screenwriter, taking over for Steve Kloves) or rather to Yates himself. On the other hand, some have seen his direction thus far as an improvement; comparable to Cuarón's dark style.

It is worth mentioning that perceptions of the films have changed over time. For instance, at the time of its release, Chamber of Secrets was almost universally praised as superior to the first film, due to the darker tone and improved acting of the leads. However, as later entries became even darker and the performances continued to improve, it became less praised and thought of simply as "more of Columbus doing the same thing as the first". Furthermore, both films were criticised for lacking character moments, but the repeated airings of "Extended TV Versions" on the ABC and ABC Family networks, which incorporate deleted scenes into the films, have been able to add a few character moments back in. Columbus's films have benefited the most from these "Extended" versions.

Rowling has been constantly supportive of the films, and evaluated Order of the Phoenix as "the best one yet" in the series. She wrote on her web site of the changes in the book-to-film transition, "It is simply impossible to incorporate every one of my storylines into a film that has to be kept under four hours long. Obviously films have restrictions novels do not have, constraints of time and budget; I can create dazzling effects relying on nothing but the interaction of my own and my readers’ imaginations".

Films

As of November 2007, the Harry Potter film franchise is the highest grossing film franchise of all time, with the five films released so far grossing $4.48 billion worldwide. Higher than all 21 James Bond films and the six films in the Star Wars franchise, with the figures not adjusted for inflation.