I'm of the opinion that a full live-action remake would be less faithful to the books, not more. Just a hunch, the films overall followed the stories so closely and in such an iconic way, they attempted just about everything that would be worth seeing onscreen that it would really require a new angle for a remake of the entire series -- book by book for 7+ years watching brand new kids age all over again -- to be worth it.
A lot of times I see people bring up a remake, it always seems like people just want live-action movies again that look and feel pretty much like the ones we got with all the detail in the costumes and sets and props and just being even closer to the novels. And I don't think that's ever going to happen, people underestimate how big of a task and commitment the movies really were, to keep that cast and watch those kids growing up, spending money on building all those sets and preserving them for 10 years, getting those great actors, John Williams' iconic theme. Plus the whole design of the Harry Potter movies is SO impressive and will remain that way for decades, I think, even as the CGI ages. No one's going to think they can top it anytime soon, especially as the whole thing just becomes more iconic and beloved through rewatches and more kids becoming fans and people experiencing the theme parks.
There are two ideas that I like that I could see happening. One would definitely be an animated series. I don't necessarily mean like a cartoon for Nickelodeon although it could be good if it was something like the Airbender series, but it could potentially be like a really strange or unique style for HBO or Netflix or something, maybe stop-motion or graphic novel animation, but that also really follows the books and can take that time. It would cost less than the movies so could probably get away with taking more chances. It could be bloodier since that's easier to swallow in animation or doing things with the visual style, and you definitely wouldn't have to worry about the cast. You could have different actors for Harry and it wouldn't matter. I could see a rabid Harry Potter fan who spent their adolescence drawing fan art eventually spearheading something like that.
Another one would be a live-action prequel, either movies or maybe a mini-series, that covers all the backstories that they left out of the WB films, so it's really all new stuff. My preference would be a mini-series of around 10 hours or so, that would start with Dumbledore and Grindewald, their friendship, Ariana's death, their battle, then follow Dumbledore into Hogwarts as he meets Tom Riddle and we get the rise of Voldemort from all the HBP memories, then flash forward to the Marauders, Lily, and Snape at Hogwarts, becoming Animagi, the full Worst Memory, the Shrieking Shack, then the war uprising and we see them choose sides, form the Order, go into hiding. The series ends of course with Godric's Hollow, Sirius' arrest, Pettigrew's escape, Lupin and Snape both left alone, and the final scene would be Dumbledore (gotta end with him since he's the constant through the mini-series), McGonagall, and Hagrid at Privet Drive reenacted. Call it The Boy Who Lived.
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If John Williams Scored Harry Potter 4-8: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6HqJLDCy3kZodnQ-NNewovSKPU4Q1dm4
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declankc-49674
8 years ago
It would just be a live action tv series for HBO or Netflix...we don't need these strange mediums.
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!!!deleted!!! (59101971)
8 years ago
Why would anybody put all that time, money, and labor into another 10-year-long completely faithful live-action remake when the WB films are so definitive and will likely remain so for our lifetimes? It makes no sense to me.
Maybe it'll become a tradition that every 100 years or whatever people do another re-adaptation, like how ballet companies do Nutcracker every Christmas. I have no idea, it sounds crazy to me. If we say they don't change or combine the books, then a completely faithful re-adaptation would have to do pretty much everything WB did and match/surpass its quality (or else what's the point?), plus all the stuff they left out and they would most likely have to do it with comparatively less money and resources, because the hype isn't as big. It sounds like a nightmare. Remakes happen all the time, even of beloved movies, but an entire series on this scale and depth, starring kids, with an epic story that takes place over 7 years? At least with animation it's an entirely different vision and there's no limit to what you can draw.
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If John Williams Scored Harry Potter 4-8: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6HqJLDCy3kZodnQ-NNewovSKPU4Q1dm4
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chris-r-copeland
8 years ago
I don't find the movies definitive at all. I loved the cast, but the plot changes were too severe to make them definitive.
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!!!deleted!!! (59101971)
8 years ago
I get that and believe me, I could go on forever with all the problems I have with the movies, but to me it's ultimately irrelevant to the big picture of how much the films really captured the world for people, and enraptured those who never read a page. The whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
Most people love the movies, anyway. The cast, the sets, costumes, music...I don't think the plot flaws affect their popularity much at all, except to those who are especially hardcore about the books. The films were exceedingly well-produced and got down all of the big memorable and iconic moments, characters, locations, spells, quotable lines, creatures, objects.
For most people they were more than enough. The film world is part of everyone's collective imaginations and vocabularies and as I said, I think it's just going to cling on further as time passes with these spin-offs, the theme parks, HP marathons on TV, gifs and screenshots whenever a new theory goes viral etc. Also the mere fact that they were coming out simultaneously with the books....when I say definitive, I'm not merely talking about the stories but the wizarding world and HP phenomenon/fandom as a whole. What makes Harry Potter such an amazing and iconic event in pop culture is not just the books but everything that happened around them from 1997-2007. The movies are an essential part of that in public memory. They're going to be impossible to ignore as we continue to define what "The 2000s" were, culturally, and while I think we're only just beginning to see new Potter stuff, I really think the original stories themselves are going to be pretty much left alone for how clearly they represent the Millenials. The way I see it, there's just way too much baggage around those 8 movies to have to battle against for awhile, and the quality of the adaptations is frankly the lowest hurdle.
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If John Williams Scored Harry Potter 4-8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtnLz_q7EfU&list=PL6HqJLDCy3kZodnQ-NNewovSKPU4Q1dm4
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kaylashields
8 years ago
I think you hit the nail on the head with this one. I'm a huge fan of the books and movies, and so many things about the movies are so iconic that it just wouldn't work to remake them all over again. Not to mention the fact that they've got the WB Studio Tour in London going on... what would happen to that? Anyway, the bottom line with the movie series as we know it is that it's not without its flaws and inconsistencies, but like you said, everything about the movies has become so beloved that any sort of remake would kill the magic. *cough cough Cursed Child*
I would personally love to see a sort of prequel mini-series. It would be awesome to see Harry's parents and the Marauders as they really were, instead of through the filtered lenses of Harry, Snape, Sirius, etc. and the snippets that we saw through the Pensieve. There's a lot of material they could cover, since we really don't know much about the details of their lives at Hogwarts. The only reservation I would have is the fear of it deviating too far from what we do know about the characters.
I'm also still really annoyed that we never saw any of the memories of Voldemort's mother and her life in the HBP movie. That was what I was most looking forward to when the movie came out, and we never saw any of it. Maybe they could do a show where each season covers a different time period (i.e. Voldemort's history, Dumbledore's history, the Marauders at and post-Hogwarts)?
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