Harry Potter Movies In Trouble In the Long Run

[cindysphynx]

--- In HPFGU-Movie at y..., "luminary_extraordinaire" <ktchong73 at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> However, in the movie business, novelty wears off quickly. We will 
be 
> seeing Hogwart and another Quidditch match in the next movie, and 
> again in the third movie, and AGAIN in the forth movie.
> 

I think you make a very good point.  WB hopes to milk 8 movies out of 
7 HP books, and I think they are going to be disappointed with how it 
all turns out in the end.  I'm not sure even I can handle 8 movies 
with the same characters/sets/costumes, etc, especially if these 
movies are 3+ hours in length.  I'm not sure that the trouble is 
necessarily the repetition of things like Quiddich, though.  

I predict we will see a big drop-off in ticket sales for CoS.  That 
is because I will be stunned if Columbus takes any chances at all 
with CoS to keep the HP franchise fresh.  First, he doesn't seem like 
the kind of guy who takes chances.  Second, he will feel he shouldn't 
mess with success.  Third, he probably doesn't have the talent to do 
CoS differently from PS/SS (although there are a few very talented 
directors who probably could show us more than one good style).  
Fourth, CoS is essentially the same type of plot (mystery) as PS/SS, 
so his hands may be tied.

Fifth and most importantly, though, is that there just isn't time to 
make a tremendously good CoS.  They are really rushing CoS too much, 
in my humble lay opinion.  Trying to punch it out in one year is too 
fast for a special effects picture with child actors who can only 
work a few hours a day.  In PS/SS, we got several problems that could 
have been cured had Columbus and crew had more time.  Examples 
include bad centaurs, wobbly child acting scenes that could probably 
have been addressed with a few more takes, and Peeves being dropped 
not because the story required it but because the special effects 
were not up to scratch.  

If I were the producer (Ha!), I would want to add a few months to the 
CoS filming schedule, stretch out CoS post-production until Summer 
2003 or thereafter, and then get myself a new director for PoA and 
GoF to give the films a fresh look.  And as I've said many times, I 
would do GoF as one film to avoid saturating the market with two GoF 
films one month apart.

Cindy (offering her services to produce a solid three-hour screenplay 
for GoF, and proposing as a first step that the QWC be dropped 
entirely for the GoF movie)