GoFlength--money talks?

[sophiamcl]

About a week ago, I read the following on the Askaban Club-site:

"Wizard News has now learned, according to reliable sources 
inside Warner Brothers, that they are looking INTO the possibility 
of making Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire INTO one movie, 
four hours long, with an intermission. " The heading of this little 
blurb clearly states that it is just a rumour, but it got me thinking 
nevertheless.

I am one of the people who signed the online petition and sent 
WB a letter as well, in the hopes of rescuing GoF from being 
butchered into a 2 1/2 h movie. However, in the entertainment 
business "money talks"--and often has the final say-so too. From 
a WB-point of view, there might be many financial drawbacks to 
making a 4 h movie, even if there are Potter fanatics like us out 
there (or here, as the case may be) who would love to see it 
happen. 

Which of the following posts on the balance sheet carries the 
most weight (I don't have any statistics on this, and so not 
consider myself an authority: I'm just guessing here): a)The 
scores and scores of people who really want to see it but are 
content to do it once and are happy that way , b) nutters like us 
who want to watch it ten-odd times while it's still in cinemas. My 
guess would be the first. So, even if WB made a GoF that 
sucked, just about everybody would still go see it that one time, 
and it might not make that big a difference if the obsessives 
didn't return. I'll have to be honest: Even if it's butchered, I'd 
probably still return a few times just to see a particular scene or 
two again--especially since we know the trio is staying on...

As for the four-hour version: Though there will be some truly 
scary stuff in it, it's Harry Potter, and Harry is still synonymous 
with family entertainment. If I were a mother of three, would I 
really take them to a four-hour movie? (I guess if they badgered 
me long enough...) Even if there's an intermission, can you 
imagine the length of the line outside the restrooms? It would 
just be a hassle.

And another thing: The ticket price of a four-hour movie, though 
perhaps a little higher than that of your average feature, would 
still be a lot lower that the combined ticket-prices of the two 
movies that could be shown in the same space of time. Wouldn't 
that be considered a drawback for the cinemas?

Having said that--this isn't just any movie we're talking about, it's 
Harry Potter, and he's hot stuff. Before Harry noone would ever in 
their wildest dreams have imagined children  willingly plowing 
through--zipping through--700 p. tomes en masse, so who's to 
say a four-hour movie can't be incredibly successful and 
lucrative?

Besides, WB would want to make sure the fans come back for 
more, and they have some articstic pride too, right? So maybe 
there's hope even if the above rumour isn't true. Though we know 
Kloves has been asked to produce a script for a 2 1/2h GoF, 
there's still time for WB to change their tack, still time to listen to 
the nutters...

Sophia