With classic movies like ‘Lion King’ and Cinderella being turned into remakes with higher budgets, fancier costumes and soundtracks, there is a possibility that Harry potter could be one of them.
The franchise definitely enjoys extreme popularity and fan following, its books and movies alike.
Here’s a fun fact you, as a Potterhead, might enjoy about Harry Potter: “The book sold 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours. 7. More than 500 million copies of the Harry Potter books have sold worldwide; more than 180 million copies have sold in the U.S. alone.”
It’s been almost 10 years since the last movie came out and fans all across the globe are still looking to rewatch and stream all Harry Potter movies in order.
So, if a future remake does happen, here are a few things I’d like them to change (not saying the original franchise was not fulfilling as it is, but since everyone has had ten years to anticipate, some changes would be more appealing).
More innovation with casting
Casting has to be one of the more important factors of any movie’s success. It can be seen in the previous Harry Potter movies — I mean who could be a better harry than Danielle Radcliff. Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have also brought so much depth to their own characters.
So, it is necessary that the remake can also stay honest to the books. Speaking of the novels, most of the characters had purposefully been left vague when it came to their ethnicity. A new diverse cast could not only bring inclusivity into the movies but also can give a new meaning for the movies to children and adults all over the world
Look at the bigger picture
It was pretty evident in the old movies that adaptations did not know what the next installment would be about. This caused some shallow plot holes and the directors struggled to introduce characters that were not a part of the previous movies. At the end, you couldn’t really blame them, since J.K. Rowling was still in the process of writing the books when the movie came out.
But now that we are all aware of the entire picture the novels portray, new movie adaptations can get rid of all these issues. The writers can know what things to cut and what to keep- in case they aid in the plot’s progression. This can allow for the movies to be more smooth flowing.
Prioritize consistency
The Potter movies are not exactly scattered or gaping with plot holes, but with the progression of the series, some aspects did tend to suddenly change, such as the entire landscape of Hogwarts in Prisoner of Azkaban.
The courtyard had also gotten bigger in Deathly Hallows when the directors had gotten to know there was supposed to be a battle there.
Thus, the entire Harry potter franchise needs to have one consistent voice. Not saying each installment cannot have different directors and writers- the movies should just make sense when watched all together. For that, the movie can take some help from the MCU. Despite it having hundreds of movies, all of them do feel interlinked and consistent.
Don’t base it on the initial movies
While the original movies had paved the way for successful movie adaptations, (which some still can’t seem to get right) everyone has already seen those. The new movies should not be remakes of the old versions, but should start new with a clean slate.
Use the original content, the books, to make decisions about the cast, sets, costume designing and effects. After anticipating ten years for something, it would be disappointing to see almost the same thing from the pre-existing movies.
Go for originality and reinvent some of the most iconic battles, rather that slacking off and just altering the old content a bit.
Focus on character building
Having all the content to base your adaptation on is a huge blessing that the previous movies did not have.
So, use that to your advantage. Hint at plots and characters that will appear later on in the books, rather than trying to forcefully integrate them into the plot. One thing that can be done is introducing characters before they are a major part of the story’s progression. Building a personality will give more depth to the character and their story.
Avid fans of the books are not only concerned with the main iconic duo, but also side characters that had played a role in the stories. By giving them more depth, fans will be able to form deeper connections with them rather than brushing them off once they are not a major focus.
By creating credibility to your movies, you will have a better chance of engaging your target audience.
Televising it rather than making a movie franchise
One of the biggest struggles for directors and writers of the original movie was cramming the huge amount of plot into a few hours of content. This caused movies to cut out parts and chunks of the book that some avid readers had been looking forward to.
Making Harry potter into a series rather than a few movies can erase this issue. A season could be allocated to each book, allowing each subplot to be focused on. This will prevent anything from the book to be left out. Warner Bros can utilize their own network called HBO Max.
This could allow the episodes to be as dark as the content of the books without any censorship. There would also be no restriction on how many episodes to pack in one season.
Explore other forms of cinema
CGI has made almost anything possible. From multi-colored explosions to superheroes fighting in space, almost anything is possible. But the word ‘almost’ shows where the limit is. Animated movies however, can possibly do anything and everything. They had taken the world more storm ever since Disney had released movies like ‘Frozen’ and ‘Moana’.
So, it is safe to say that there could be a possibility for Harry potter to be animated, rather than live-action. Battles could be truer to the books and Hogwarts can be portrayed as luxuriously as possible. The sky’s the limit.
Harry potter being as popular as it is, allows a huge audience to be anticipating any new content you put out with relation to the series. So, these seven things should be kept in mind when new adaptations are in discussion.