Harry Potter Movies

[foleyfanforever88 0]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but from what I've heard, I'm really pissed that they left out everything about

Ron and Quidditch

. It was important in the book and it wouldn't have taken much to put it in the movie.

[the max 0]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but from what I've heard, I'm really pissed that they left out everything about

Ron and Quidditch

. It was important in the book and it wouldn't have taken much to put it in the movie.

 

Was it really that important of a storyline in the book? Really? I just remember it being more of a comedy thing and expanding Ron's character

when he led them to the Quidditch Cup

. Best left out.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

I haven't seen the movie yet, but from what I've heard, I'm really pissed that they left out everything about

Ron and Quidditch

. It was important in the book and it wouldn't have taken much to put it in the movie.

 

Was it really that important of a storyline in the book? Really? I just remember it being more of a comedy thing and expanding Ron's character

when he led them to the Quidditch Cup

. Best left out.

 

How is it best left out? Quidditch has always been a huge part of the series and they wouldn't have had to add more than 5 minutes to the movie to explain how Ron got on the team and won the big match.

[Anakin Flair 0]

It was the easiest thing to cut, as it served no real purpose in the movies and they don't seem to care about developing Ron's character anyways.

[Craig Th 0]

It's the one thing I can live without in the movie.

[cd213 0]

I just got back from seeing the movie tonight. It was by far the best of the series. It was very enjoyable. I really am excited to see the next film even though I know it won't be out for a couple of years, I'm thinking 2009 and the last one in 2010.

[bob_barron 0]

November 21, 2008 is the release date for HP6. The 7th will be summer 2010

[EricMM 0]

Look, I'm terribly sorry.

 

Yes, some of these actors seemed to be BORN for these parts (Snape, Lestrange)

 

But, my god, total hackjob. The past three movies have practically eliminated all of the subtext which made them, and book six (and I hope seven) so special.

 

Yes, Umbridge was a big part of the fifth book, but so was Snape, and Malfoy. In fact, Snape and Malfoy have been big parts of all the books for a reason, because I'm sure they will factor into seven as they did into six. Rowling has been building these characters in her head and books for going on twenty years now, she knows what she's doing, and in the books she has space to do so.

 

On the screen, no time is provided for back characters, everything needs to focus on the major new events (the Triwizard tournament, Umbridge) and the regular characters are completely written out. But they're the ones who will tell the final story, mark my words. Unfortunately, by the seventh movie, I'm afraid anyone who didn't read the books simply won't have the backstory to give a hoot.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Not much of a Potter fan, but I must say Alan Rickman is so awesome as Professor Snape.

[cd213 0]

You can't put everything from the book into the movies. In fact at the longest book at over 1000 ages, if they put everything into the movie it would be like 5 hours long. There are some things that are left out because the filmmakers didn't feel them to be a huge part and will not be missed.

[bob_barron 0]

Look, I'm terribly sorry.

 

Yes, some of these actors seemed to be BORN for these parts (Snape, Lestrange)

 

But, my god, total hackjob. The past three movies have practically eliminated all of the subtext which made them, and book six (and I hope seven) so special.

 

Books are a totally different entertainment medium then movies. What works on the page doesn't always work on film, especially when it would make the movie 10 hours long

 

Almost every movie adaptation of a book does this. Fans were just lucky that the first two books were relatively short, and that Chris Columbus was afraid to make any big changes.

[vivalaultra 0]

Here's a list of everything that was different between the movie and the book:

 

Differences between OotP (book) and OotP (movie)

 

Looking at the list, there seems, to me, to be a lot of stuff from the book that seems very important to the plot that wasn't included:

 

Dumbledore explaining the Prophecy to Harry, telling him who gave him the Prophecy, etc.

 

Harry's rampage at the end of the book after Sirius's death.

 

All of the stuff about Aunt Petunia and Dumbledore.

 

The Aurors attacking Hagrid and others during the O.W.L. exams.

 

A lot of the Occulmency stuff with Snape and Harry viewing Snape in the Pensieve.

 

Firenze the Centaur teaching at Hogwarts.

 

The revelation that Prof. Umbridge sent the dementors to attack Harry.

 

The two-way mirror that Sirius gives to Harry.

 

Snape mocking Sirius about staying at the house and not leaving, possibly causing him to go to the Dept. of Magic in the first place.

 

Harry deciding he wants to become an Auror.

 

Anything about Percy Weasley.

 

Most backstory about the Black family. Originally, Kreacher wasn't in the film at all, but Rowling told them to include him in the movie as he figures heavily into the storyline in the last book.

 

 

 

There was some stuff that was cut that was basically just giving advancement to minor characters (Ron and Quidditch, Mrs. Weasly and the Boggart) but a lot of stuff that they cut definitely seems to figure heavily into the plot of the story. Some of the stuff that they didn't include seems to suggest that they might have to deviate even further from the book's plot in the upcoming movies, or at least make some dramatic changes to explain things.

 

[EricMM 0]

Thus my entire problem with these movies.

 

When the author has to basically say, "Please stop dicking with my plot, you're going to make it lose sense" you've got a problem!!

[bob_barron 0]

Rowling has had nothing but praise for the adaptations, calling Phoenix the best yet.

 

I remember with Azkaban (the first movie to not go line for line from the book), she said she got goosebumps" from seeing this film because it contained things that inadvertently foreshadowed information to be revealed in coming books. (from wikipedia)

[vivalaultra 0]

Well, of course she has to say it's the best yet. If she said, 'This movie is a complete piece of crap. Don't waste your time.' that wouldn't be good for business. The difference between Azkaban and this one is that in Azkaban, I don't think that any of the plot deviations/changes left out important plot events; they were mainly stylistic. And in that movie, they had the whole stopping time plotline which would be really hard to film in a linear way. The discrepancies in Pheonix, I think, were more detrimental to the overall plotline, as the stuff that they left out or glossed over, to me, were more important to the story than the things that Cuaron changed or cut. And I just love Alfonso Cuaron as a director so he gets a free pass anyway.

[bob_barron 0]

In its second day of release, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix continued its torrid pace at the North American box office collecting $18.4M boosting the two-day cume to a robust $62.6M. Down a steep 59% from Wednesday's record $44.2M opening day haul which included midnight grosses from Tuesday night, the Warner Bros. franchise pic is well-positioned to conquer the weekend all around the world.

The two-day start is just slightly below the $64.3M that Spider-Man 2 grossed three years ago in mid-summer during its Wednesday-Thursday bow, but ahead of the $51.5M that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King took in back in December 2003. Both of those monster hits saw their two-day starts amount to approximately 42% of the five-day opening weekend tally. A similar ratio from the new Potter pic should mean a debut in the area of $150M by Sunday night.

 

Phoenix fell by a considerable amount on Thursday after a fan frenzy led Wednesday to a record opening for that day. The highly anticipated Star Wars Episode I suffered a similar 57% drop after its then-record Wednesday launch in May 1999 and still collected 39% of its five-day opening in the first two days. The fifth wizard film averaged a stunning $14,974 from 4,181 theaters during its first two days and expanded slightly to 4,285 theaters as of Friday.

 

--boxofficeguru

[bobobrazil1984 0]

this movie was great I thought, and while not as well-made a film as Azkaban, this was better than Goblet. Goblet was more faithful but something felt hackish and ordinary about the directing. I thought this had some mild artistry to the directing. The 1st half was especially strong, in creating the totalitarian propoganda-ish atmosphere. I thought the 2nd half was a bit weaker, with Umbridge's comeuppance and the final battle feeling clumsy.

I felt the actual screenwriting here was stronger than the previous films.

[Craig Th 0]

Look, I'm terribly sorry.

 

Yes, some of these actors seemed to be BORN for these parts (Snape, Lestrange)

 

But, my god, total hackjob. The past three movies have practically eliminated all of the subtext which made them, and book six (and I hope seven) so special.

 

Books are a totally different entertainment medium then movies. What works on the page doesn't always work on film, especially when it would make the movie 10 hours long

 

Almost every movie adaptation of a book does this. Fans were just lucky that the first two books were relatively short, and that Chris Columbus was afraid to make any big changes.

Bob have you read the book yet? No. You can't really say anything.

 

The revelation that Prof. Umbridge sent the dementors to attack Harry.

 

The two-way mirror that Sirius gives to Harry.

I totally forgot about those two things missing. Assholes.

[bob_barron 0]

I'm going to start the book after I see the movie again today.

 

It doesn't change the fact that books and movies are totally different, that almost every movie adaptation of a book has significant changes and that to try and cram everything key from the book into the movie would cause the movie to be ridiciously long and bloated.

[Craig Th 0]

I think you are a fan of the movies more than the books. Which is a damn shame.

[bob_barron 0]

Back from seeing it again! This time I saw it in regular and not 3-D, and it was still awesome.

 

I'm a big fan of both the movies and books. Some books I like better then the movies, some movies, better then the books.

 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix grossed an estimated $26.4M on Friday, its third day of release, and lifted its total to a stellar $89M. For the three-day weekend period, a gross of about $70-75M could result boosting the five-day opening to the area of $140M. --boxofficeguru

 

Hmmm, that's slightly below expectations

[At Home 0]

I think it's only fair that movies leave different shit out of books. I mean, their audience are the readers (tweens, teenagers) and if they did EVERYTHING in the book, it would be expensive, long, and probably make the movie a little bit more boring. I don't think that there has been one movie that hasn't left out some detail of a book. It's not like they just willy nilly throw things out.

[benn 0]

I just saw Order of the Phoenix and I agree with Mole and feel sort of mixed about it. My biggest issue wasn't so much them leaving things out, because OOTP is probably the most bloated of the books and its easy to get a little bogged down in it. And some of my favourite scenes were left out like Fred, George and Harry going apeshit after the first Quidditch match, and the reunion with Lockhart in St. Mungos. I thought that some of the things that were changed didn't need to be changed. They weren't any more difficult to film than what was in the film, and they wouldn't have dragged the film on much. As it was, the whole thing felt a bit disjointed because the first half of the story especially was so hacked up. I'm talking about things like:

 

Henrietta betraying them to Umbridge rather than Cho, and Dumbledore's escape.

Ron and Hermione being made prefects.

Dobby finding the Room of Requirement and warning them about Umbridge coming.

More detail about Hagrid and Maxime's trip to find the giants.

More detail about Fred and George developing their joke shop products and Harry funding them.

Ginny introducing them to Luna rather than Hermione.

 

I also thought that they should have given Ginny a lot more lines. She's a secondary character along with Luna and Neville in the book, and more important than both of them for Half-Blood Prince, but she didn't do much except hover in the background for most of the movie. There were a couple of times where her looks and movements were hinting that she maybe didn't approve of Harry and Cho, and the scenes with the DA and in the Ministry where they showed how powerful she is, but she had practically no dialogue at all.

[vivalaultra 0]

The problem isn't cutting things out of a book to make a movie; of course there's going to have to be certain things cut. The specific problem I had with the cuts in this movie is that the things that they left out seem like things that would've helped the plot. In the case of the Harry Potter series, the movies don't just serve as standalones. They're meant to all build off of each other. If you cut out an essential plot element in the fifth movie (and I think that there were at least a few things I would consider essential plot elements cut from the movie) that's going to affect the next movie and the movie after that. Also, this movie was the shortest of the Potter movies so far, so it's not like they cut stuff out to save time. It's not like they cut out inconsequential stuff; they cut out things that are integral to understanding the story, at least as far as the plot of the series thus far is concerned. If I hadn't read the book or any of the preceding (or following) book(s), I wouldn't have any knowledge of the stuff that they left out and it wouldn't have bothered me at all. However, having read all of the books, I know what they did cut out, and some of it I understand why they did it (the 'Weasly is Our King' stuff), but other stuff, I just don't see how they decided it would be better to not have that stuff in there. I don't think it was a time issue, this being the shortest of the films so far. I think it has something to do with whether you read the books and then see the movies or see the movies and then read the books. If you see the movies first, you enjoy the movies and then go read the books and the stuff that they cut from the movies that's in the books is extra information that rounds out the plot. If you read the books first and then see the movies, then the stuff that they cut out is sacrilege and detrimental to the story.

[bob_barron 0]

Viva hits the nail on the head.

 

I've read the first 200 pages of Phoenix so far- really enjoy it. Luna Lovegood is beyond awesome in both the book and the movie. Can't wait to finish Phoenix, and then see the film again

[benn 0]

You're probably right, they're trying to have the movies stand alone for people who are too lazy to read the books. The problem that I had with this movie is just that a lot of the things that they changed and a couple that they left out, at least in my opinion, would have made it easier for people who haven't read the books to follow what was going on.

 

It's the same kind of reason why I was pissed that they didn't explain that James was an animagus too, and why he, Sirius and Pettigrew became that way in the first place. EDIT: In the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, I mean.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

If she said, 'This movie is a complete piece of crap. Don't waste your time.' that wouldn't be good for business.

 

Pretty much. Look at what happened with Sahara.

[the max 0]

Not a bad movie as long as you don't think about the book while you're watching it. If you're like Mole, who thinks that the books should be transcribed as screenplays, it'll come off as choppy and very fast. If you can just sit back and enjoy it as a different medium than print, you'll enjoy yourself. I liked it as a movie. Some stuff that I like in the book got cut, but as a movie, it was very well done.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

I'm going to start the book after I see the movie again today.

 

It doesn't change the fact that books and movies are totally different, that almost every movie adaptation of a book has significant changes and that to try and cram everything key from the book into the movie would cause the movie to be ridiciously long and bloated.

 

I agree with this. Even the book Order of the Phoenix was pretty long and bloated. Generally speaking I'm a bigger fan of the books than the films, but a literal translation isn't going to work on screen.

 

There were only two cuts that I didn't really care for, not because of what happened in the book, but because I think it would have made the movie better.

 

1. The lack of time for/lack of resolution to the Harry/Cho relationship. It didn't really seem to serve any purpose in the film. It needed to be expanded more or dropped entirely.

 

2. The lack of any real fight between Sirius & Bellatrix. The duel in the book is more dramatic. Here he is fighting Lucius instead and she just pops out afterwards for one spell.

 

Other than that this was the best of the big live action summer films thus far this year.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I haven't read the books, so I can't compare anything to those. But I was way disapointed with the movie. Personally I love 2 through 4, with 4 being tops. This was such a letdown. Although it did seem to fly by, but when it was over it didn't seem like much happened.