bluetoast

Theatrically?

I'm thinking in these terms:

People were very sad to say goodbye to the Harry Potter franchises, both the fans and WB. So I'm wondering, could they have, last November (coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the first film) have released a theatrical documentary with new interviews, a la Michael Jackson's "This is It"? Even have unreleased scenes, or stuff from when they were kids to up the nostalgia factor.

For example, they'd talk about what scenes they held back or knew about years before they were filmed, and of course, stuff involving the main three characters. Maybe even end with the striking of the set so you could really milk the nostalgia.

If successful, it could set a bad precedent of holding back extra features on DVDs for franchises though.

whoopdido

That was an immensely popular series. I think they could release anything with the name Harry Potter attached to it and people would go see it.

I really wish they had filmed extended editions a la Lord of the Rings. I like the movies just fine but I'm re-reading the books (currently on Order of the Phoenix) and it boggles the mind how much was cut out. The vast majority of what was cut out was filler that wasn't intregal to the story, although they cut out some important things too, but honestly my favorite parts of the books is the filler stuff like when they're actually in class and just a lot of the in between stuff.

bluetoast

Yeah I wish we'd see extended cuts of substance. I remember hearing about 4 hour cuts of the first movie, and probably one or two more. Then again Chris Columbus said he had G, PG, R and NC-17 cuts of Mrs. Doubtfire as well. I'd pay good money for some of those.

CharlieK

I don't know how well this would do in theaters. There's such a marketing and PR push with every movie, that those who are interested may feel they already know a lot about the movies. I don't think people (beyond the die hard fans) would take the time & money to go out to see this. However, I do think this would make an event-type TV special. If this was done well, and didn't come off as just another EPK, it would do big ratings and would be a nice promo vehicle for whatever HP merch they're putting out.

whoopdido

A 4 hour version of the first movie? That seems hard to believe. The early books were much simpler. Certain things were still cut out but I have a hard time believing 90 minutes were cut. Starting probably with Azkaban I could easily see 4 hour plus versions of all the others. I'd be all over it if those versions actually existed.

Hokeyboy

I'd love to see the footage of Rik Mayall as Peeves that they cut out from the first movie...

My Other Self

Um, what?

bluetoast

Yeah that one was a bit out there, but he said in the special features that they had every type of rating.

CharlieK

Maybe because of Robin Williams' ad-libbing / improv.

Matthew Chmiel

This Is It was a hit as Jackson passed three-to-four months prior to the release and the film had musical performances for those bored during the filler / interview pieces.

A documentary about the Harry Potter franchise is more suited for a home video release as nobody would see it other than die hard fans. Your regular movie goer wouldn't give a flying fuck about it.

I think it's also too soon for a theatrical re-release of the films. However, I'm sure Warner has plans to milk the franchise dry and are already planning 3D post-conversions of the first six films to release one day.

JumpCutz

Which of course would be insufferable.

Rypro 525

Given that Robin Williams impoved a lot, i'm sure there are some really explicit improvs.

gp1086

While it wouldn't be nearly as popular as the book-to-film adaptations, this movie would still do quite well, especially if they incorporated certain deleted scenes that were never included on the DVD/BR releases. It almost seems like a no-brainer since it would be relatively cheap to put together and would still draw enough of a crowd to make at least $100 million. They could also release the deleted scenes down the line on the re-releases (something I hope they do - I'm looking at you OOTP).

Alan Smithee

Exactly- they won't sit for 5 minutes of end credits, why would they come to see a feature-length movie about the making of a movie? (Have there ever been any theatrical releases that were like that, not counting feature-length stuff for video release?)

Rypro 525

whats sad is that if Summit got desperate and wanted to, they could probably release a making of Twilight documentary into theaters next week, and it would make a fuck ton of money

Matthew Chmiel

You mean Lionsgate now, which is already desperate, will milk the franchise? I don't know if Meyer had carte blanche like Rowling did at Warner, but if she doesn't, expect Lionsgate to beat that dead horse harder than any Tyler Perry or Saw franchise they currently have under their possession.

No. It wouldn't. It wouldn't draw a crowd to a tune of $10 million, let alone $100 million.

gp1086

Agree to disagree

Solid Snake

Yeah...I think it'd be a waste money for WB. Sorry, gp1086. I don't think you understand how this stuff works. What's the highest grossing "making of the film" film in theaters? Hearts of Darkness? Fuck if I know.

General populace cares about narrative. A to B. Not following a film crew in the process of making films on a very popular series of books. Personally...I think it'd be boring cuz it'd be dumbed down for the audience. not that some of these things aren't but...really...think about who a good chunk of demographic watches these...I don't think they'd get a lot of the stuff entailed in making a film.

bluetoast

Well, who would have thought people would pay to see rehearsal footage of a concert that never took place? Which is why I am likening it to "This is It." I didn't see it but I don't think that had a narrative, and MJ fans ate it up for the most part. Of course this was after his death, and fans wanted something to see, and although the end of the series isn't as big a deal, it could also give some sense of "closure" aside from DP2.

gp1086

I completely agree with you on the general population and their love/desire for narrative.

I am talking 100% about the Harry Potter fans though, of which there are obviously a TON. I bet a decent chunk of them would check it out. Some would even see it twice.

What would the budget of this film be to WB? Maybe $20 million or so, tops, given they have pretty much all the footage already. Anything extra would be some interviews here and there.

With this in mind, they would require just 2 million tickets bought to break even (assuming $10 average price). I think that's very feasible and they would do much better than that. Perhaps my $100 million estimate was high, but I still think the film is a good idea overall.

whoopdido

What about Avatar? Christ, people were so into that movie that they went to it 20 times or whatever because they thought they belonged on Pandora rather than Earth. It seems like a certain percentage of people would eat up whatever was put in front of them when it comes to certain franchises.

PopcornTreeCt

I agree.

DRG

The problem is they've already released super-deluxe BluRay/DVD editions for almost all these films with tons of interviews, deleted scenes, etc. This is on top of the initial releases, most of which had a fair amount of extras to begin with. The die-hard fans have already seen all this stuff, and while I'm sure WB could easily scrounge up some unseen footage, it would just be the leftovers that weren't good enough to make the DVDs.

The difference between this and the Jackson thing is that "This Is It" was the closest thing anyone would have to the final project MJ was working on. Now, if there was a freak accident on the set of Deathly Hallows and all the major cast members died with only a third of the film completed... then I think the ensuing documentary would be a success.

Matthew Chmiel

Bingo.

When you think of it in this way, the concert This Is It had already sold out all fifty performances at the O2 Arena. The O2 Arena has a maximum occupancy of 23,000. With all 23,000 seats full for each performance, the concert was to make $115 million alone if each ticket went for an average of $100. We all know that's a generous, lowball estimate. This wasn't a concert that had interest in the UK and the UK alone. No. I had friends here in Vegas who already paid for their tickets before even planning travel arrangements. Now imagine that on a worldwide scale. Depending on the success of the O2 shows, Jackson could've done a world tour and walked away with a sum somewhere in nine figures.

It's easy to see why the film grossed over $250 million worldwide alone. It was the only chance for people to see the concert that was supposed to happen but never did. As someone who recently saw Cirque's Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, Jackson and Ortega had something grand and special planned for This Is It that most of us would've never seen unless the film came out. That's why the film was a success. If Jackson was alive today and the tour went on as planned and Sony then released This Is It as a film, nobody would've cared. It was released at the right time at the right place.