Well then, what to keep in GOF movie?

[Elizabeth Catherine]

In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, Dina Lerret <redina at m...> wrote and 
I snipped a bit:
The first two movies didn't show HRH on the train back. The first 
movie showed Harry getting on the train, but in the second movie, he 
didn't even make it out of the Great Hall! They may or may not make 
it the train scene but Hermione being able to 'blackmail' Rita 
Skeeter does have impact on OotP.  If it wasn't for that, I'd say 
the entire Rita Skeeter conflict could be axed.

Now me:
Wow Dina, your original post gave me a lot to think about!  I agree 
that perhaps the whole Rita Skeeter sub plot could be axed.  She 
could be left as a "referred to "character, for ex: "can you believe 
what the Skeeter woman is writing; how does she know all that?" In 
OotP, Hermione, desperate for a way to help get Harry's side out, 
stumbles upon the whole Rita/Beetle secret animagus info and 
contacts her with the blackmail.  The fact that Rita 
is "downtrodden" in OotP could be altered to suit the movie 
storyline.  
I still maintain that in order to keep the movies as authentic to 
the books, something that I believe JK wants and why she retains 
control, is for Warner Brothers to make a longer movie out of both 
books 4 and 5 than perhaps they realize at this stage.  We will see 
how PoA survives the editing process.
Liz