Dane

Rumor has it that HP 4 will cost USD 308 mill, and surpass both Return of the King & Titanic as the most expensive movie ever!

Moreover, running time are expected to be close to 4 hours!!!

Jackskeleton

Rumors and the internet go hand in hand.

OldBoy

for 1 movie!! there is no possible way!!!!!!!!

FinkPish

If you've read the book, it is completely possible that this would cost that much and be that long.

I remember Spielberg talking about War of the Worlds and how he wanted that to be the most expensive movie ever made, around $500 million or something ridiculous like that.

Duder

To the OP: How about a source?

Libby

I heard the screen writer steve knowles was only condensing it into a 2 and half hour movie, which is insane because the book is over 600 pages. I can see why it might require a big budget. Im a huge fan of the series so the more HP the better in my opinion.

Jackskeleton

who needs sources when it's from THE INTERNET!

fumanstan

I have a hard time believe that the budget for a Harry Potter movie cost 300 million. Not a knock against Harry Potter, but diminishing returns from the first 3, there's no chance. Same with the run time. They'd split it in two parts before releasing it as 4 hours.

ZakVTA

I agree

Mr. Salty

That's Steven Kloves, not Steve Knowles.

Anyone who was paying attention to the behind-the-scenes stuff when "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" came out knows this:

The original plan was to split "Goblet of Fire" into two parts, ala "Kill Bill." One part would come out in November, with Part II six months later in May.

But Alfonso Cuaron convinced Mike Newell it was better to cut the material down, as he did with "Azkaban," to make one movie.

Dr. DVD

Amen!

jmaxlow

Return of the King isn't even close to the most expensive movies ever made.

jaeufraser

Actually, rumors are once you adds in all the funds for RoTK spent, it'd end up being a 175 maybe 200 million dollar film. I know all the reports like to say 100 million dollars per movie, but after the first one made so much money, New Line let Peter add tons of things in, do reshoots, and essentially add millions to the budget. RoTK was a very expensive movie.

And with regards to HP, while I doubt 300 million is accurate, it wouldn't surprise me to see this have a bigger budget than any of the previous films. Though each of these films have been reported in the 120-140 million dollar range, and I'd imagine this one would probably be in the high end of that. Even though these films have displayed disminishing returns at the box office, most sequels do, and HP Azkaban was stilll a HUGE hit, the number 2 film of the year (worldwide). And that's more than enough to jusitfy continually growing budgets. But 3 hundred million? Bah, BS.

Joe Molotov

I also heard it's going to have a PG-13 rating, and be super-dark, the darkest Harry Potter yet!

dcprules

Wow, if 300 + million is true...wow. I highly doubt someone would greenlight that much, even though it is Potter (especailly considering the last flick didn't gross even close to that here in the states).

I am curious how long the movie will be, because I hope it's not edited down way too much from the 600 page novel.

Kerborus

As a Harry Potter fan who keeps up with it daily, I'm sure this is false. The movie is said to be only 2 and 1/2 hrs long and I've heard nothing about a massive budget that's mentioned above.

HOWEVER, the fact that it ISN'T going to be 4 hrs long and have 500 million spent on it is a crime. Cuaron butchered the Harry Potter movie series with his last movie and failed to follow in the steps of Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi and Chris Colombus when adapting the source material of the movie they were making. Further, he managed to convince Newell to do the same thing. Harry Potter could have been one of the greatest moves series of all time, but seeing them destroy what Colombus did in the first two movies, I fear for the rest of the series. How will they get even half of what happens in 'GOF' into the movie? This is especially bad when you consider that the 4th book is the best of the lot. Truly sad...

RayChuang

If I remember correctly, the original production budget for all three Lord of the Rings movies was around US$300,000,000, actually almost a bargain on a per movie basis give so much complicated costuming, sets, and special effects used in the movie. I believe that the additional cost to do The Return of the King was around US$30,000,000 or so. Mind you, the three movies did make about US$1 billion in box office revenues, so I'm not surprised that New Line did greenlight more money available for better sets, costume designs and more lavish special effects.

Rammsteinfan

They have the money... go buy the rights to the Hobbit now!!!

jaeufraser

The original quoted budgets per film were in the range of 94 million a piece. That's what all the sites said. I'm just repeating a rumor that the budget ran upwards of 175 million. But who knows, 30 mil sounds a little more reasonable. I know his New Zealand location and owning the special effects firm WETA brought the cost down considerably. But the nature of three films shot at once, makes it quite difficult to really seperate budget on a per film basis. Nonetheless, they definately did greenlight addiitonal funds...difficult to say how much exactly.

And...Cuaron ruined the series? Bah, he made the first really good one. This won't cost 300 million either. All estimates seem to indicate 130 million production budget. There's no way that projection will increase by more than double. And while it is true grosses have been going down for these films, with insanely strong international receipts, HP is still a huge blockbuster franchise, so don't expect WB to soften up on their budgets or support of this franchise. It may have fallen, but it's still one of the biggest film franchises ever. I mean...#2 movie of the year...that's really pretty good.

tanman

I whole heartedley agree and think it is a shame that the last blow that he did was to convince them to keep it to one movie.

But this discussion has already been talked out. Right Jack

Dane

I´m totally aware that Internet rumors always has a way of gathering buzz/hype about any movie. Especially, when it come to big budget flicks or big name directors.

Anyway, here are some sources that deals with the rumors about Harry Potter 4 being the most expensive movie ever made.

In regards to the 4 hour rumor of HP 4, we just have to wait until it hits the silver screen. For now everything is just rumors.

SyndayMail

HPANA.COM

reverie

That's exactly what I was thinking. I have a friend, who is a great person, but he keeps telling me about all these things with movies and such that are going to happen, but then I find out his source was the internet (not official sites or anything mind you), and all credibility to the story goes away.

About the "War of the Worlds" thing.. did he just say that just so he can claim to have the biggest budget, or what? It just sounds funny.

Dabaomb

dryars

Well there are two types of ppl. Ones that read the book, and ones that didn't.

I personally haven't read the books at all, but from an entertainment stand-point. HP3 was great!

Kal-El

Amen to what Kerborus said. Azkaban was the most forgettable of the 3 movies.