MOVIE: length of movie

[caliburncy at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 26169

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., jacqbeagle at b... wrote:
> Now I know I'm not quoting from the most reliable source but...
> 
> The News of the world is reporting that Harry Potter and the 
> Philosopher's Stone is currently four hours long, and that Chris 
> Columbus now has the task of making it shorter (because Warner Bros 
> don't think that kiddies will be able to sit through it).

Okay, I'm not a Hollywood expert (by no means), but as I understand it 
(and please someone who knows better correct me if I'm wrong) this 
four hour thing (which has been reported in several recent sources) is 
getting mildly misinterpreted by a couple people.

The four hours is *not* the current director's cut or anything 
similarly 'final'-ish and right now Chris Columbus is working to make 
it shorter for his *own* reasons, not WB's, at least not yet.  Once he 
shortens it to his own cut (say perhaps, two-and-a-half to three hours 
maybe, who knows?), WB will quite possibly tell him to shorten it 
more.  :-(  Let's hope they don't.  But anyway, the four hours 
probably includes stuff that Columbus himself would want to cut.  It's 
not a final cut.  So once he makes a director's cut (which may end up 
on the DVD), it will most likely be far shorter than four hours.  But 
none of that will be unjust cutting at the hands of the studio execs, 
it will be at the hands of general film editing, the kind that goes 
into any movie.  Only the further cuts made to the director's cut will 
be studio-mandated (probably to fit some superficial length quota).

My rather layman's understanding of the different editing stages where 
cuts are concerned is as follows (probably all with wrong names--I 
don't know the correct Hollywood jargon):

* Initial length of all filmed footage (except perhaps footage that 
was immediately canned) (I think they're past this stage in the 
editing process)

* *Several* initial cuts (Somewhere in here is I think where the four 
hours version fits in)

* Director's cut (Not finished yet--may end up on the DVD, who knows?)

* Final theatrical release cut (What we will see in the 
theater--hopefully identical to the director's cut, but probably a bit 
shorter)

Anyway, I guess all I mean is don't make TOO much of the four hours.  
Many of the cuts still to be made to it are simply for the sake of 
good editing.  Only after they've made a more final cut will they have 
to take things out to appease WB.

Or something.  Like I said, if there's someone with a more "insider" 
positioning please correct me.  I'm sure I've said something wrong or 
misleading in the course of this post.

-Luke, who would LOVE to see a four hour HP movie anyway (provided it 
was good and not just long with no particular reason)