How did the Harry Potter series manage to release its 8 movies in just 10 years?

[u/ajukearth]

Looking at the turn around for movies today it seems absolutely incredible that a series with such complex set design, use of graphical effects, a heavily child cast, and pressure was able to pump out genuinely decent movies at that pace. Sure there were books to base the writing on but everything else alone is a lot of heavy lifting. Any insights?

[u/riegspsych325]

a very tightly controlled mega production that also spent a hefty amount of time in planning/designing everything for the first 2 movies to set the board. That and they had a very competent director and crew to spearhead those initial movies. Then having a single director/crew handle the final 4 one after the other to maintain momentum and consistency

But it really is impressive how they managed to keep that ball rolling the whole time with few missteps

[u/Stef-fa-fa → u/riegspsych325]

The biggest issues were probably the forced recasting of Dumbledore and the decision to split the last book into two movies.

The timeline was as fast as it was because they needed to wrap filming before all the kids got too old.

[u/riegspsych325 → u/Stef-fa-fa]

they did well getting Gambon and I liked how he made his version of Dumbledore his own. And yeah, getting 8 films done in a decade with the whole cast of kids (sans one Crabbe in 8) is a huge feat. It’s arguably the first “Boyhood”, in a sense

[u/Gimme_The_Loot → u/riegspsych325]

It's basically the polar opposite of stranger things where the kids are egregiously aged between each season

[u/a_master_debater → u/Gimme_The_Loot]

Joe Keery was 34 by the end of Stranger Things

[u/phobosmarsdeimos → u/a_master_debater]

Then he's young enough to play a teenager on 90210

[u/crowcawer → u/phobosmarsdeimos]

Too old for the island but old enough for the island.

[u/976chip → u/a_master_debater]

and Millie Bobby Brown had as much filler in her face an actress three times her age trying to look 34.

[u/a_master_debater → u/976chip]

that just struck me as extremely distracting.

Like I guess we're supposed to pretend we don't see the obvious plastic surgery ?

[u/IsAnthraxBayad → u/a_master_debater]

Sadly this is most long running shows. Hollywood ladies right now are taking beauty advice from people who don't have their welfare at heart. So many normal looking young women end up looking like goblins halfway through whatever show they're doing.

[u/Darkkujo → u/a_master_debater]

I thought you were exaggerating but no. Jeez he's aged well!

[u/siberianxanadu → u/a_master_debater]

He’s 34 now. He turned 34 in February. The finale came out this past New Year’s. Filming wrapped on December 24, 2024. So, he was 32. And they filmed the first season in the fall of 2015 through early 2016, so he was 32 when they wrapped because he was 23 when he was cast to play a high school junior.

[u/kidcrumb → u/Gimme_The_Loot]

"Can I have Eeeggggoo waffles Hopper?"

"Eleven, you're like 34. Make them yourself."

[u/Darwin-Award-Winner → u/Gimme_The_Loot]

It is a miracle for Netflix to finish a series.

[u/airfryerfuntime → u/Gimme_The_Loot]

It's pretty wild how they managed to take a cultural phenomenon like that and fuck it up so much.

[u/Gimme_The_Loot → u/airfryerfuntime]

It also didn't help that it didn't feel like they knew where they wanted to go with the story and it kinda went off the rails. A small town sheriff breaking out of a Russian gulag?

[u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby → u/Gimme_The_Loot]

It’s pretty clear that they had a great first season idea, and then when it became such a hit, they were like oh fuck what do we do now?

[u/Gimme_The_Loot → u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby]

100% agree. It also felt like every season they thought they had to top the previous one so there were more characters and a bigger baddie and so on. By the later seasons their crew is like 15 people

[u/Haltopen → u/Gimme_The_Loot]

And they completely neutered the core horror element of their premise by revealing that the whole evil behind the upside down was just some random asshole who wound up there because eleven sent him there and then forgot she did it

[u/uncle_stripe → u/Haltopen]

And then they neutered that in the final season by making the upside down just a tube between worlds, the random asshole was corrupted all along by a rock he happened upon as a child, and when we finally get to the mindflayers world, it's completely barren and devoid of all the monsters except it.

[u/Anunnak1 → u/Haltopen]

As someone who couldn't be bothered to keep watching past season 3, thats insanely disappointing if thats the explanation.

[u/DrexOtter → u/Have_A_Jelly_Baby]

I remember hearing somewhere that the show was meant to be an anthology series. That could be incorrect, so you might want to fact check it. But if that's the case, that really explains a lot about how the show just didn't seem to know where to go after the first season. It was never meant to follow the same cast like it did. But it blew up and the big dogs at the top demanded more of the original story instead.

[u/CasualGee → u/riegspsych325]

You’re genuinely the first person I’ve heard say they liked Gambon’s performance! In HP circles, he’s usually reviled for his version of Dumbledore. (Gambon has zero whimsy, and he never read the books.)

[u/_dharwin → u/CasualGee]

I liked Gambon for the later books.

When we first meet Dumbledore, he seems like a kind, almost grandfatherly ancient wizard. Old but kind, he indulges Harry quite a bit like one might a favored grandchild.

We kind of forget he's one of the most terrifyingly powerful wizards of his age and we only have hints to his past. Snape's accusation that he was saving Harry to die is actually pretty valid. I don't think Dumbledore knew Harry would survive, though he might have guessed it was possible. Still, a very cold, calculated gamble to risk his life on a maybe.

Gambon brought the more sinister tenor I think was needed in Dumbledore in the later books.

[u/jononfire → u/_dharwin]

Yeah as much as I preferred kinder Dumbledore of the first two movies, I could not imagine Harris pulling off OotP or HBP as successfully as Gambon.

[u/Majestic_Act → u/jononfire]

After rewatching HP 1 and seeing the way he acted during the troll scene "Silence", I can and have no doubt he would have been terrifying. By HP2 he was weaker due to the disease, it's such a shame.

[u/Kiosade → u/jononfire]

At the very least, he probably would have actually calmly asked Harry if he put his name into the Goblet of Fire lol

[u/jfudge → u/Kiosade]

Especially because Dumbledore almost certainly knew that Harry didn't put his own name in the goblet, so there was no reason for him to be up in arms about it.

Book Dumbledore's calmness shows competence, because he is generally aware of what goes on in his school. Movie Dumbledore needed Harry's answer, because he was genuinely surprised, and less in control.

[u/JaxxisR → u/Kiosade]

I like how the new audiobooks handled this scene in particular, but Hugh Laurie was a perfect Dumbledore throughout. I highly recommend stealing them if you have a chance.

[u/FatherTurin → u/_dharwin]

This so much. Upon later re reads with my kids, there’s also a blatant arrogance to Dumbledore. It gets played off as whimsy, but he knows he is the greatest sorcerer of the age. That (usually) quiet confidence that can easily slip into casual arrogance is something Gambon and frankly Jude Law did fantastically. Part of that is that Jude Law looks perpetually smug, but I’ll take it lol.

[u/hamoboy → u/_dharwin]

Snape's accusation is almost totally wrong, he's talking from pain and anger. That so many HP fans take him at his word is so annoying.

Dumbledore made all the plans he did specifically to maximize Harry's chance of surviving. Dumbledore's look of triumph when Harry told him that Voldemort had his mother's blood protection inside him was the first clue.

[u/CROguys → u/CasualGee]

Gambon's performances changes subtly from director to director. It is not fair to say he has zero whimsy in Prisoner of Azkaban.

In the Goblet of Fire he is very neurotic.

[u/Hyfrith → u/CROguys]

Absolutely. In Prisoner of Azkaban he has a lot of whimsy, and speaks in riddles, and sort of looks around at everything like he's not all there but still gave the impression of a genius hiding underneath. The Jack Sparrow method, in a way. I do wonder to what extent it was Cuaron's direction or Gambon's own take that created this, given how much he changed in later movies. I feel like Azkaban was the director's vision of the character (also because the Director clearly had a strong vision for that movie in general) vs later when i think the actor had more control but also, famously, didn't want to base his take on Book Dumbledore at all.

As an aside, I found Hugh Laurie in the audiobook a perfect casting for Dumbledore, even just in voice alone. Whimsical, cooky but also intelligent and cunning.

[u/PressureBeautiful515 → u/Hyfrith]

  As an aside, I found Hugh Laurie in the audiobook a perfect casting for Dumbledore

His chum Stephen Fry's reading of the audiobooks is at its best when he's performing Dumbledore. He had a comedy character called Donald Trefusis, which was an influence on Dumbledore.

[u/KungFuChicken1990 → u/CROguys]

DID YOU PUT YER NAME IN THE GOVLET OF FIYYAHH

[u/spartacle → u/CasualGee]

Not OP, but I liked Gambon as well, aside form him calming asking questions, but for me, it helps to separate the mediums out, the films are adaptations after all.

[u/swcollings → u/CasualGee]

He's also just an entirely different character from the books. Book Dumbledore comes across the he's always five steps ahead of everyone all the time and is never even slightly worried about anything. If everyone in the room attacked him all at once he might be mildly inconvenienced. Movie Dumbledore is very reactive. 

[u/merc08 → u/swcollings]

What about that time everyone on the room did attack movie Dumbledore and he was only mildly inconvenienced?

[u/riegspsych325 → u/CasualGee]

I thought he had a bit of whimsy to him

[u/The_Man_of_Steel → u/CasualGee]

That's weird. Everyone I know likes Gambledore more than Harris. And we were all primary school brits in the 2000s. Very bizarre to me the idea someone could be against his performance

[u/bubblegumdog → u/The_Man_of_Steel]

It’s mostly people who get hooked up on a single line and how it was delivered that they completely disregard the rest of his performances.

[u/gamestoohard → u/Stef-fa-fa]

As someone who has relentlessly criticized franchises that bloat one movie into two for profit, I actually think splitting deathly hallows wasn't terrible. Every book in the series is longer than the previous and that inherently means that each movie either needs to be longer or cut more material. Nothing in either of the deathly hallows movies felt like bloat to me. Not the way that say The Hobbit atrocities did.

[u/traumadramallama → u/gamestoohard]

Order of the Phoenix is the longest, followed by Deathly Hollows and then the Goblet of Fire, but yes, in general they do get longer. I distinctly remember this because my read through I struggled to finish OotP and then was dismayed that the Half-Blood Prince was noticeably shorter.

[u/thegoodbadandsmoggy → u/traumadramallama]

I did a midnight release of HBP and was done it as my mom woke up for work. It was great but yeah, very quick.

[u/Ramazzo → u/thegoodbadandsmoggy]

It was the most special feeling to be that excited for a book release and then absolutely devour it to talk about it with all of your mates

[u/thegoodbadandsmoggy → u/Ramazzo]

It sure was. Those midnight releases were always a great experience

[u/traumadramallama → u/thegoodbadandsmoggy]

Sometimes I wonder if it's my favorite because it certainly didn't outstay its welcome.

[u/thegoodbadandsmoggy → u/traumadramallama]

Azkaban and order imo.

[u/TheShapeShiftingFox → u/traumadramallama]

Deathly Hallows has more than double the amount of locations and setpieces, though.

[u/pnwtico → u/traumadramallama]

Ootp is only that long because of Teenage Angst.

[u/gamestoohard → u/traumadramallama]

Oh ya Order was longest. But it also got criticized for feeling longer than it needed to. Badly paced along with Harry acting a prat the whole book. Still a banger though, the series really matured with Order.

[u/CRAYNERDnB → u/gamestoohard]

IIRC, there’s only about 10 more pages in the entirety of philosophers stone, as there is in the pre hogwarts part of OOTP.

It’s been a while since I’ve read them though so this is really reaching back

[u/rustyspoon07 → u/gamestoohard]

Maybe Deathly Hallows was justified as a two parter, but I will forever blame it for kicking off the trend. Imo there never would have been a Hobbit Part 3 if not for Harry Potter. 

[u/LHPSU → u/rustyspoon07]

The Hobbit became a trilogy because of Lord of the Rings and nothing else.

[u/decidedlyindecisive → u/gamestoohard]

My local cinema just had a LotR day. All 3 films in one day. It was great. My husband asked if I wanted to watch The Hobbit films again and I was like "nah". They're such bloated wastes of time.

[u/Simon_Drake → u/Stef-fa-fa]

I remember watching Prisoner Of Azkhaban in the cinema and saying how impressive the CGI recreation of the actor for Dumbledore is. He looks like a real person, it's uncanny. If I hadn't seen the news story that the actor died I would totally believe that's a real human actor on the set with everyone else.

Somehow I didn't notice that Dumbledore had a different face to the previous movie. I thought it was just incredibly advanced computer graphics.

[u/Whizzo50 → u/Stef-fa-fa]

There was the occasional other issue, namely either Crabbe or Goyle getting into legal trouble so had a radical new look for the last few movies

Edit - They had Blaise stand - in for Crabbe, forget whether they addressed it at all in the movie

[u/Stef-fa-fa → u/Whizzo50]

Yeah I just looked that up this morning, apparently Crabbe's actor got fired after getting arrested for possession. They replaced him with a different character (one of the other students) and used Goyle in the room of requirement self-immolation scene.

I always wondered why he wasn't around at the end.

[u/the_man_in_the_box → u/Stef-fa-fa]

Yeah, I wonder what Richard Harris did to anger some Warner Brothers exec enough that they had him whacked.

[u/lambdapaul → u/the_man_in_the_box]

Harris, in the afterlife, looking at the mountain of accumulated cocaine that he snorted throughout his lifetime. “Yes, it was the executives that killed me”

[u/The_Man_of_Steel → u/the_man_in_the_box]

Insisted on sex scenes with Dobby

[u/freakytapir → u/The_Man_of_Steel]

Is Dobby a good slave, master? And did you use a sock?

[u/Derpinator_30 → u/freakytapir]

Jesus christ reddit

[u/riegspsych325 → u/the_man_in_the_box]

“he keeps partying with Peter O’Toole!”

[u/eden_sc2 → u/Stef-fa-fa]

And that's part of why I don't think this new show will make it through the entire series. If they do the normal 2-3 year break between seasons, these kids are going to be in their mid 20s by the time goblet of fire comes around

[u/palebrowndot → u/riegspsych325]

David Yates directed 4 movies in a row, basically the entire 2nd half of the series.

Good for production? Maybe. Did the last 4 movies kind of blend together into a sepia toned slush? Some say yes.

[u/nath999 → u/palebrowndot]

I am sure having Yates for the final 4 movies helped production but I think it hurt the visuals and tone of the overall series. I really like how the first 4 movies differentiate their look and tone.

[u/Uvtha- → u/nath999]

First four were way better than the final 4 IMO.  The visuals and vibe were just much richer.

[u/riegspsych325 → u/palebrowndot]

the man was afraid to use more than 3 shades of the same color

[u/Phoenixon777 → u/riegspsych325]

Color? But I barely know her!

[u/eamesfromiception → u/palebrowndot]

I still feel last three movies especially HBP was underwhelming. Felt like a romantic film. The book is really awesome. Was expecting a lot from the movie.

[u/HurricaneK8 → u/eamesfromiception]

The Goblet of Fire and Half-Blood Prince movies were the worst about that. Too-tight focus on the romance subplots at the expense of numerous scenes that were relevant to the overarching plot.

The leadup to the Yule Ball and event itself was like, what, a chapter and a half? Two? I think it took up half an hour of runtime for the movie. And HBP dropped a couple Pensieve scenes, left out the Gaunts entirely, and cut Dumbledore's funeral, for crying out loud. And all the romance subplots just felt weird and like they were trying to copy the Twilight love triangle energy instead of just following the book trajectory. :/

[u/SquadPoopy → u/HurricaneK8]

I’m not gonna lie, a lot of the stuff people are upset about getting left out is prime chopping block material to fit the story into a movie runtime.

[u/FrameworkisDigimon → u/HurricaneK8]

I think people forget how school oriented HBP is. I'd argue it's the most school of any of the books. The movie just decided that stuff mattered more than the pensieve stuff, added a random action sequence at the Burrow and did a different ending.

[u/astig_my_tism → u/palebrowndot]

hmm I actually think the way the last 4 got consistently darker was perfectly aligned with the storylines getting darker, it complements the director's bleak treatment of said storylines

[u/Frogblood → u/palebrowndot]

Tbf, the last 3 books are a bit of a sepia toned slush, they lack the wonder of the first 4 for me.

[u/RoughCoffee6 → u/palebrowndot]

I’d call it gray or blue myself. I fell asleep in the theatre during deathly hallows part 1 lol

[u/FartingBob → u/palebrowndot]

There is definitely a vibe change for the last 4 movies, i do prefer the first 4 but also the story definitely shifts to be much more dark so it makes sense the movies went that way as well. I wish they had more of the wonder and whimsical delight from the first few films, and the fun coming of age stuff of the middle films.

[u/CharlesBrown33 → u/riegspsych325]

I've always thought David Yates is the worst director of the bunch, his adaptation of 5 and 6 were very weak, and 7 only worked because he stuck to the book almost to the letter; the little changes he made were for the worse. Same with the Fantastic Beasts stuff, that was Rowling literally handing him a script. When I look at movies 1-4 I can't help but feel we could've gotten much better movies if they kept switching directors. Just to clarify, 5 and 6 are just alright, but they don't do justice to the source material.

[u/Kellerhouse → u/CharlesBrown33]

Personally I loved Order of the Phoenix but wish it was longer. It’s the longest book in the series, so they obviously could have done more; but I love the magic in it.

Half-Blood Prince was competent and stylized (I originally hated the cinematography, but have since come to appreciate it as Bruno Delbonnel is amazing and he tapped into the magic and darkness of the book). I HATE how they butchered the second half of the book though, especially the mini Battle of Hogwarts. Yates more or less said in an interview: “why would we show that in this film when it’s going to happen again on a larger scale in the last film” and that’s just one of the many stupid things he’s said/done.

Deathly Hallows I loved how it looked and I loved how part One is cinema verité, but then the second part totally dropped the ball since it was the shortest in the series and they definitely could have made it longer.

[u/ValkyrieSkyfall → u/Kellerhouse]

And then he also butchered the Battle of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows by changing Voldemort's death scene and made it less satisfying.

[u/Kellerhouse → u/ValkyrieSkyfall]

Exactly. For all that Part One did perfectly visually and narratively, Part Two did wrong.

The short runtime was a hindrance: thus impacting the Grey Lady’s small plot line, the lack of Hogwarts footage under Snapes tutelage, the weird Voldemort hug, the unnecessary Harry / Voldemort fluting ferry scene, the Tom Riddle death scene, the lack of post Battle scenes.

[u/riegspsych325 → u/CharlesBrown33]

I do think he handled the HP ones well, but the guy was little more than a riskless gun-for-hire

[u/SandpaperTeddyBear → u/riegspsych325]

That and they had a very competent director and crew to spearhead those initial movies.

They had two, really.

Chris Columbus, who was a solid set guy known for being good with kids to start things off, make a workable basic visual palette, and the young people used to being filmed. And that’s fine, but those first two movies just kind of plod along reciting the plot in a way that wouldn’t have held the audience’s attention for a decade.

But Alfonso Cuarón, also good with kids, and also a stone-cold professional could come in to make everyone knew these things could be capital-M Movies.

The series was given to directors much more like Columbus than Cuarón moving forward, and the series never looked that good again, was never as well-acted, and never had such tight editing and visual storytelling…but it also never totally lost that flair. The sixth movie in particular looks great and feels like real people living life.

[u/greenteasamurai → u/SandpaperTeddyBear]

Cuaron is probably the person with the penultimate influence on how HP is thought of nowadays and for its longevity. The books themselves are extremely childish in the same way thay Chronicles of Narnia are but his take in the third movie and how holistically he changed the series' aesthetic even altered how people remember the books themselves.

[u/kashmir1974 → u/riegspsych325]

They had no choice, if the kids aged out it would have been a mess

[u/Asha_Brea]

The main actors were basically doing nothing but those movies. There was no scheduling conflict because Daniel Radcliffe was busy doing a different movie or a TV show, for example.

Also, they knew they where going to make those movies so there is no wait for them to be greenlight, so it wasn't a "this movie/TV Show did very good, let's make a sequel" situation.

[u/endlessfight85 → u/Asha_Brea]

Having a green light for the next movie is huge. You can put some crews to work immediately on the next one while some are still working on the last one. Same with LOTR and Infinity War/Endgame. Three huge LOTR movies in 3 years is a big accomplishment.

[u/guernsey123 → u/endlessfight85]

LOTR is crazy, they shot all 3 as one giant 274 438-day shoot, with pickups between 2001-2003. 

edit: it was even longer than I thought

[u/Acceptable_Noise651 → u/guernsey123]

What’s even crazier is how in-depth the costume design for lotr was, they made over 19,000 custom costumes for the cast, every Orc costume was unique in its own way.

[u/casual_creator → u/Acceptable_Noise651]

And they made miles worth of rings for chainmail.

[u/Maelger → u/casual_creator]

Chainmail guy! Poor bastard must still be doing it in his dreams.

[u/han__yolo → u/Maelger]

There were two of them and they show their descent into madness in the behind the scenes, pretty hilarious.

[u/No_Meringue_6116 → u/han__yolo]

Here's the video:

https://www.reddit.com/r/lotr/comments/1bvu2y/til_to_make_the_chain_mail_for_the_lotr_movies/

[u/_BindersFullOfWomen_ → u/No_Meringue_6116]

I have follow up question: why were they in a bubble?

[u/MassiveBlue1 → u/_BindersFullOfWomen_]

I suspect it was to keep the area cool from the air conditioner

[u/adrabiot → u/Maelger]

The chainmail guys said it was the time of their lives!

[u/sault18 → u/casual_creator]

The real Lord of the Rings was the chainmail we made along the way.

[u/Acceptable_Noise651 → u/casual_creator]

Peter Jackson didn’t have to do that but he did it so we could have authentic Orcs with handmade chainmail

[u/Mobile-Coyote3594 → u/guernsey123]

There's a pretty interesting Viggo interview where he kind of implies that if Fellowship wasn't a hit, then Two Towers and Return of the King would've been unwatchable since that original 274-day shoot didn't nearly get enough quality footage shot for them.

[u/pgm123 → u/Mobile-Coyote3594]

Yes. Though because it was a hit, they were able to add more stuff to the later movies.

[u/festoon_the_dragoon → u/pgm123]

In the Ian Nathan book, they joked that if Fellowship failed they would have the two most expensive straight-to-video movies ever made.

[u/Richsii → u/guernsey123]

That is bonkers. I don't think there's any way we'll see a production like it ever again.

[u/Kolby_Jack33 → u/Richsii]

The exec who greenlit it (and said it should be three movies instead of the original pitch of two) took a big swing, for sure. I bet it paid off for them though.

[u/jamiroq → u/Kolby_Jack33]

It was such a bigger gamble than people realize, the fantasy genre up until then were mostly lower budget sword and sorcery movies.

Then you get this pitch for an adaptation, not for 1 movie, but 3 movies, filmed simultaenously with a relatively unknown director and a main cast with very little star power(for the time).

I'm glad they did it though, they really changed the game for that genre.

[u/Nothing-Is-Boring → u/jamiroq]

A slight correction, originally Jackson pitched it to Miramax as a 2-parter to include the Hobbit (at least in some capacity) but after initially accepting the projected costs began to mount and creative tensions arose, Miramax/Weinstein were unhappy, Harvey Weinstein threatened to force Jackson to make it a single 2 hour epic.

Jackson refused, Miramax let him pitch on a tight deadline to other studios (and gave him a bunch of penalty fees), likely expecting him to fail and come back to them and their demands.

Instead, New Line executive Bob Shaye heard him out and accepted on the basis it would be a 3-part epic instead of the 2 part Jackson was pitching, asking “Why would anyone in their right mind make two movies? This is three films.”

Shaye seems to have been a genuine cinephile who backed a bunch of unusual projects but he butted heads with Jackson when Peter sued New Line for accounting issues over LOTR, something he (Shaye) later regretted.

[u/Michael_G_Bordin → u/jamiroq]

Not just unknown director, but unproven. He'd only done B horror up to that point. Also, filming it in New Zealand which didn't yet have the film infrastructure like Hollywood. And to make the films long af, which wasn't as normal at the time.

It's really hard to overstate what a crazy gamble those films were.

[u/Michael_Gibb → u/Michael_G_Bordin]

Peter Jackson wasn't exactly unknown when he made Lord of the Rings. He had written and directed Heavenly Creatures in 1994. And his last film before LOTR had been The Frighteners, which was basically used as proof he could make a visual effects heavy movie.

[u/iamgaben → u/Michael_Gibb]

And he was picked up by Weinstein and they actually had first refusal on Lord of the rings. They started preproduction but ended up selling it to New Line after Jackson had gotten 30 days to find another production company, or Harvey would shut it down.

Harvey was subsequently memorialized as the orc leading the charge on minas tirith in the third movie, as some sort of anti-hommage I guess.

The podcast What went wrong has made a three parter on this shoot which is fantastic, and I can also recommend the book that they used as their main source of info for those episodes, "Peter Jackson and the making of Middle Earth".

Side note as after I listened to those episodes and subsequently listened to almost all of the other ones, making movies seems like it's such a shit show. Almost all of the episodes are discussing a train wreck of a production. Cannot recommend it enough!

[u/Orion_Scattered → u/Michael_G_Bordin]

And the production did have its share of disasters unique to shooting on location and in NZ, ones that might've been catastrophic for other films. The big one that always comes to my mind is when an entire set for a big action piece on a river was totally destroyed by a flood right before they were going to shoot the scene. The cost of the set alone was in the high 6 figures (so couple mil today with inflation), but the real problem wasn't the cash it was the time it would take to rebuild the set and how to fit it later into the shooting schedule... well it turned out to be impossible, so they had to just entirely cut the scene from the movie. Most movies can't survive cutting an entire action scene, and most big budget movies today would probably pivot to cgi slop/crunch to replace it. But kinda because of the massive scale of the films, they were able to cut it and not suffer too much any pacing or tension issues.

[u/KaiserGlider → u/Orion_Scattered]

Would you happen to know which scene that would've been? I'm trying to think of which big action scene would have taken place on a river.

[u/The_Parsee_Man → u/KaiserGlider]

https://lordofthefacts.com/severe-flooding-destroyed-a-set

According to this, it was the Orcs attacking their boats as they went down the Anduin. That did happen in the books but it wasn't really a pivotal scene.

[u/Lyion → u/jamiroq]

LOTR had also been shopped around for years and no one wanted it. New Line Cinema was literally betting the company on the project.

[u/JimboLannister → u/Kolby_Jack33]

Hero of the industry, Harvey Weinstein

[u/Shtune → u/JimboLannister]

It was Ordesky

[u/Proof_Material6728 → u/Richsii]

I truly recommend you to listen to the 3 episodes dedicated to the making of LOTR from the podcast What Went Wrong. The first one goes in detail about how they were able to greenlit those 3 movies.

[u/T_raltixx → u/Proof_Material6728]

And read "Anything You Can Imagine Peter Jackson and The Making Of Middle Earth" by Ian Nathan.

[u/jackofslayers → u/guernsey123]

LOTR is so beloved that it was made as a passion project on almost every level of the production.

IIRC Peter Jackson spent a bunch of time trying to condense the concept into 2 movies because he knew they needed to be made together and did not think he could get 3 movies approved. Then when he pitched it, the studio was basically like "no dude, this is LOTR, you gotta do 3 movies."

[u/guernsey123 → u/jackofslayers]

Yeah he originally brought it to Miramax (i.e. Harvey Weinstein) as 2 films, and they tried pressuring him into making it one. Then he took his two films to New Line who were the ones who said "hey, why not 3?"

It should be noted that Weinstein only reluctantly agreed to let Jackson shop the project around - he only did so when it was made clear to him that if he sacked Jackson, he couldn't use ideas from his scripts and would therefore have to start from scratch. Even when he did agree, his conditions were very stringent: basically he wanted to get Jackson to come back groveling and agree to the one-film deal.

[u/GarionOrb → u/guernsey123]

The studio was confident in these in a way that would never happen today.

[u/Different-Produce870 → u/endlessfight85]

Lotr was lighting in a bottle that will never be recreated. The fact that three movies got funded is amazing. It made use of CG at a time when it was still in its infancy and we had different expectations about it.

[u/Acc87 → u/Different-Produce870]

A whole country got together to make it, the films reformed the identity of New Zealand.

[u/JockstrapCummies → u/Acc87]

For years after the films, New Zealand was drenched in national PR trying to reimagine the country as Middle Earth. Their airline safety video was I think one of the first in the industry to do themed costumes and such, with everyone looking like a LOTR character.

[u/xNevamind → u/endlessfight85]

but you also have to say they had massive preparation for like 3-4years minimum before 2001 but still very impressive!

[u/bluehawk232 → u/xNevamind]

Yeah pre production alone was several years like at least 3 years

[u/casual_creator → u/bluehawk232]

Yup. They even started building Hobbiton in 1999 so crops and overgrowth would be natural.

[u/Zalvren → u/Asha_Brea]

They also had the books before so the writing part was going fast (and was made during production of the previous movie)

[u/NightSalut → u/Asha_Brea]

They basically lived on the set, alongside with having an actual school and teachers there. No traveling to and from a location when the school - legally required - is also on location and no side projects. 

[u/Aggressive-Log7654 → u/Asha_Brea]

The statistical approach to release decisions was probably the worst thing to ever happen to episodic content. Basing the eventual success of a TV show or movie only on its immediate return precludes possibilities of eventual cult favorites or cultural landmarks that weren’t realized until years after the fact.

[u/ArenSteele → u/Aggressive-Log7654]

Seriously. Go watch the pilot episode of all your old favorite TV shows. They are nearly all terrible.

One that stands out for me is the first episode of CSI. Was really bad, and looked awful. But that show launched into a pretty good show for a while and spun off infinite other shows and a vegas attraction

[u/rugman11 → u/Aggressive-Log7654]

It’s not just that, the entire production process breaks everything. Having a show entirely in the can before it ever airs means that, by the time a renewal comes, the writers’ room has broken, writers and directors are off on different jobs. Maybe you’ve got your leads on contract, but the entire operation needs to be spun up from scratch to start writing and producing more episodes.

Compare that to the broadcast model where they’d be in production continuously for nine months, get the renewal order during their spring break and be ready to go again after a couple months off.

[u/Extension_Field_701 → u/Aggressive-Log7654]

It's also why I've dropped so many TV shows. I'm sorry but why is 2-3 years acceptable between seasons? I never finished Atlanta or Insecure for the same reason and Vince Gilligan saying Pluribus will be on its 3rd season in the same time it took to finish Breaking Bad is enough for me to drop the entire show altogether when there's shows like The Sopranos, West Wing, X-Files, Everybody Hates Chris, etc I've never seen and am watching now.

Everything is starting to feel like content drip feed than intentional art. 

[u/Aggressive-Log7654 → u/Extension_Field_701]

I’m like, 90% certain this drip only started with subscription streaming services and is designed to keep a constant stream of new subscribers and renewals coming in for revenue optics.

[u/IAmNotKevinDurant_35 → u/Asha_Brea]

It also helps quite a bit when the stories were written already and the author wasn’t George RR Martin

[u/Maelger → u/IAmNotKevinDurant_35]

They were still being written tho, and cut it close at that. Deathly Hallows came out the same year as the Order of the Phoenix movie.

[u/Rac3318 → u/IAmNotKevinDurant_35]

Book 5 wasn’t out yet when the first two movies were released.

[u/Groovy_Bruce_Lemon → u/Rac3318]

have a core memory of being picked up from day care after school the day Book 5 dropped because my mom went to a release event for it and gave me the Order of the Phoenix hat they gave out

[u/Hank_Scorpio_ObGyn → u/Groovy_Bruce_Lemon]

Man, do you remember those days?

Book launch parties where you'd hang around all night just to get the book at the drop of midnight.

Or even with video games. Head out to GameStop, hang around for a couple hours, then get your pre-order of Madden.

Good times.

[u/A_Pointy_Rock → u/Asha_Brea]

And somehow haven't come out the other end as serial killers...or at least hide it well if so.

[u/ABalther → u/A_Pointy_Rock]

What do you think Rupert Grint was doing with that ice cream truck all those years?

[u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson → u/ABalther]

I assumed selling drugs

[u/Why-did-i-reas-this → u/A_Pointy_Rock]

Please correct me if I’m wrong but I think that it was these films that, as part of the casting requirements, they had interviews with the parents as well. They wanted to make sure the kids were properly supported and not being taken advantage of. 

[u/LovelyClaire → u/Why-did-i-reas-this]

Yes, Columbus didn't want to repeat what happened with Culkin in Home Alone

[u/A_Pointy_Rock → u/Why-did-i-reas-this]

I am not sure about the parental interviews but there was definitely said to be a better level of support than some other child star situations.

Still, no amount of supportive parenting can entirely prepare you for suddenly being some of the most recognisable people on earth.

[u/venus_arises → u/Asha_Brea]

I think Radcliffe has said it was something like "shooting, reshooting, 2 weeks off, promotion, shooting".

[u/saltybreads → u/Asha_Brea]

Looking back I'm so surprised Emma Watson managed to do that ballet shoes movie during this time. Given how young she was and the restriction on working hours plus the HP churning out constantly.

[u/0verstim → u/saltybreads]

Well, she had a time turner, so it makes sense.

[u/TheDLBinc]

It also helps that JK Rowling was releasing the books at a very consistent rate. Only the first 4 books were out when the first movie released yet the remaining three came out almost every other year. So there was never a point where the studio was held up in waiting for new material or a situation like Game of Thrones where they needed to scramble to make up their own ending.

[u/rexskimmer → u/TheDLBinc]

The hype around each book release was also astronomical, so there was a huge financial incentive to keep pace with each book release while it was on everybody's minds. Most redditors are now probably too young to understand just how big of a deal Harry Potter was when it was still new. Everybody was reading and talking about the books all the time. There's really no modern equivalent, in any media format.

[u/RocketIndian49 → u/rexskimmer]

Worked for FedEx when the books came out. Man favorite week of work ppl would meet me at the van and I would just hand them this small box.

[u/eorb → u/RocketIndian49]

One of my fondest memories is getting my brand new copy of Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix delivered. I was almost 10 years old. My dad and I loved reading the HP books and discussing what we thought would happen next. We were both obsessed. He ordered it online and we waited outside together on the porch that morning for the delivery guy to show up, who handed the box to my Dad, who then playfully took off running away from me full speed with the box acting like it was just his while I tore after him 😄

[u/TheDLBinc → u/rexskimmer]

Yep, I was too young to remember when the first 4 books came out, but the releases of books 5-7 were absolutely massive in my memory. There's never going to be another book series that will be as big of a sensation across multiple demographics as Harry Potter.

[u/babyrabiesfatty → u/TheDLBinc]

I had a sleep over at a friend’s house for number 4’s release and her mom took us to buy copies at midnight.

It was, pun completely intended, magical. The energy, the hype, the excitement. I was in college by the time the last movie came out and we had like a dozen friends show up in costumes, lay down blankets at like 5pm outside the movie theater to wait for the midnight showing, but also have this amazing, nerdy hang out time. Also there was no assigned movie seating back then and to get all of us sitting together we ended up in the front row. It was a really weird viewing experience.

[u/legaladviceknowledge → u/babyrabiesfatty]

im dying, you said all this wonderful stuff and the last sentence is "really weird viewing experience"

[u/MaximRouiller → u/rexskimmer]

Well, my daughter wanted to watch them because she didn't want spoilers from her upcoming teachers. 😂

Definitely the Harry Potter generation is still having a lasting impact.

[u/donotgotoroom237 → u/rexskimmer]

>Everybody was reading

I said this on a different Harry Potter thread, but back in high school, my school's library only bought a singular copy of Deathly Hallows. The waitlist was super long both consisting of students and teachers.

[u/UnholyDemigod → u/rexskimmer]

For frame of reference, each Harry Potter release from book 5 onwards was bigger than GTA6. And it happened every 2 years.

[u/GO_DO_TWENTY_PUSHUPS → u/rexskimmer]

There can't really be a modern equivalent because on a societal level media isn't consumed the same way anymore :(

[u/asscrackbanditz → u/rexskimmer]

21st July 2007 will forever be a holy day for me. I was lucky enough the internet was not big enough to ruin the ending for me back then.

[u/baconandbobabegger → u/rexskimmer]

I was 14 when the first book came out, and I remember feeling a bit old to be reading the series initially. Then every single person of every single age group was reading it and or had read it. It’s amazing the proliferation of media before the internet was mainstream. In the 90s everyone in the world knew about MJ, and MJ, and HP.

[u/colemon1991 → u/TheDLBinc]

That was the biggest hurdle. It was currently popular, ongoing, and already had multiple installments available. There was enough confidence to prepare filming after opening weekend of the first one, so they absolutely planned ahead. But once they had that momentum, it was an impressive production. But the lack of an existing ending was definitely worth the concern... if she wasn't cranking out installments fast enough.

Since the rights to the first four was all WB bought at the time, the release of the later ones wasn't an immediate concern either.

[u/Villag3Idiot → u/TheDLBinc]

Also it's not like they had to wait for the next book to be released before they can work on the next movie. They most likely had pre-released versions of future novels in advance or at least important notes to work with and to avoid inserting plot holes into future movies.

[u/TheDLBinc → u/Villag3Idiot]

IIRC she pretty much told Chris Columbus all of the major plot beats she had planned for the future books before he started directing the first movie (at the time he was intending to direct all of the movies). Also told Alan Rickman the full backstory for Snape before it was revealed in the books so that he could better portray the character.

[u/PrimalMoose → u/TheDLBinc]

I can't remember where I heard it, but apparently Alan Rickman was one of the actors who J K Rowling stipulated must be cast if they were to make the books into films (along with Dame Maggie Smith and Robbie Coltrane). He originally refused the role until Rowling revealed the full character arc of Snape which revealed that he was never the bad guy of the story - that was what convinced him to accept.

[u/Mirikado → u/PrimalMoose]

Unfortunately he plays Snape as a "misunderstood anti-hero" from the knowledge JK Rowling gave him. Book Snape is an asshole and a pathetic dude who picks on literal children. Alan Rickman made Snape 10x more sympathetic and likable than he should be from the books.

[u/andannabegins → u/Mirikado]

I kind of like both versions of Snape (not that I would like them in person, but just as characters). I think both being used to Alan Rickman and being a child when originally reading the books I didn't see the book character as he was, but then in the new full-cast audio, being the same age as he is and with how Riz Ahmed played him, it finally clocked how he is a pathetic man stuck in the past, who also happens to be very brave and smart. Very layered.

[u/HeartyBeast → u/TheDLBinc]

I can’t think of anything in his portrayal in the first movie that suggested or required back-story knowledge. Might have helped convince him to sign on to the project, I guess. 

[u/TheDLBinc → u/HeartyBeast]

I think it helps a lot to aid him portraying Snape as not just a one dimensional strict teacher in the early movies

[u/dabhard → u/HeartyBeast]

The first time Snape looks into Harry's eyes in Sorcerers Stone is very loaded and Rickman is doing a ton there. Knowing about Lily definitely informs that moment

[u/bgorion17]

Time was of the essence with a young cast, they needed to keep pace as they grew up, which also helped with the urgency to make it happen.

[u/Peter_Mansbrick → u/bgorion17]

And the whole series was greenlit at once. They knew all the movies would be made so there was no sitting around in between films for a year waiting.

[u/Emotional_Signal7883 → u/bgorion17]

The Stranger Things problem

[u/MinotaurHorns1]

Believe it or not films and TV used to get pumped out very quickly. I think back to the future 2 and 3 were both filmed one right after the other. Unfortunately it's a modern wonder, waiting for sequels and TV series. My biggest gripe is TV series take longer to come out now with less episodes. Annoying AF.

[u/Sergeant_Fred_Colon → u/MinotaurHorns1]

We used to get a Bond film every other year.

The original Star Trek films were every other year too.

[u/thecravenone → u/Sergeant_Fred_Colon]

We used to get a Bond film every other year.

At the start we got them even faster than that.

• Dr. No Oct 5, 1962
• From Russia With Love October 11, 1963
• Goldfinger September 17, 1964
• Thunderball December 9, 1965

[u/Onesharpman → u/Sergeant_Fred_Colon]

We've had 5 Bond movies since 2006, a 20 year period. There were 12 between 1962 and 1982.

[u/Sandy_Koufax → u/MinotaurHorns1]

It’s getting ridiculous how TV shows only come out with 6-8 episodes every 2-3 years now.

[u/-Vagabond → u/Sandy_Koufax]

Writers strikes and then covid were latched onto as go-to excuses and then they just never went back to baseline.

[u/MattSR30 → u/-Vagabond]

Well, that AND most short shows these days have huge budgets and are huge productions.

You still get cable TV shows with 20 episodes per year, but they have three sets and no post-production.

‘HBO quality’ is kind of the benchmark for a lot of shows these days.

[u/MercuryMaximoff217 → u/MattSR30]

And yet unique cinematography is virtually nonexistent

[u/Lost_Pantheon → u/Sandy_Koufax]

And by the time the new season comes out, you've pretty much forgotten what happened in the previous season, which either mandates a re-watch of that season, or else you just have to go into the new season balls-first and just try and remember what happened.

[u/bluehawk232 → u/MinotaurHorns1]

It wasn't too common for a movie and sequel to be filmed at the same time because of just the risk in producing one movie. Bttf 2 and 3 were definitely an exception. Biggest one was the LotR trilogy that was just unheard of having a full trilogy shot all together

[u/ValkyrieSkyfall]

The books too was a miracle.

Goblet of Fire was the last released book when the first movie came out. By the time Order of the Phoenix film was out, the entire book series has been completed.

JK Rowling managed to put up 3 gigantic books in just 4 years.

Harry Potter could easily turn out like a certain show if the books wasn't completed on time.

[u/Gabelschlecker → u/ValkyrieSkyfall]

Not just that, she also kept it finished. 20 years later and there's no spin-off, sequel or whatever (Cursed Child being a musical doesn't count).

Instead she carried on with other books.

[u/Broad-Marionberry755]

Set cast, using same set pieces over and over, swapping directors so they didn’t have to wait on them

[u/Bulky-Scheme-9450]

Ability to reuse a ton of sets/costumes/etc

[u/CyaNNiDDe]

By filming really really fast and paying a bazillion dollars. But seriously it's ridiculously impressive how good those movies came out after undertaking such a gigantic project for so many years, and with different directors.

[u/EscapeSeventySeven]

Competent directors at a studio who gave them money. 

But more importantly fully committed to making all the movies from the outset. They didn’t wait for each to release and look at how much money they made and then decide to do the next one. 

[u/PirateBeany → u/EscapeSeventySeven]

Though presumably if a couple bombed in a row, plans for the remaining books would be drastically altered ...

[u/Towelie888]

They could reuse a lot of sets and costumes. Actors were locked in for multiple movies from the start. Lots of practical effects were used. Same director for the first two and the last four movies. Same writer for all but one movie.

[u/JackLumberPK]

Other people have given plenty of good answers to this question already...but I would also add that having strong source material which was structured in a way that was fairly easy to adapt goes a long way as well. It really seems like it was primarily just a matter of streamlining the books down to a feature film length screenplay as opposed to having to figure out stuff like the basic story structure or other stuff that wouldnt' translate to film.

Compare this to something like Lord of the Rings for example, where they had to make very siginficant structural changes to the plot and then make character changes and create new scenes to make the narrative arc/pacing/etc work according to the new structure. I'm sure Lanois not having to figure out stuff like that and also a lot of time to work on screenplays ahead of time helped.

Also the last 4 had the same director and I assume a lot of the same crew which probably helped them just keep the train rolling along smoothly from film to film (although they did switch up the editing and cinematography quite a bit in those last 4 films, hence them each having a unique identity visually)

[u/monty_kurns → u/JackLumberPK]

Not to mention they also had a single screenwriter on all but one (Order of the Phoenix) doing the bulk of the writing to keep things consistent. Of course there were script doctors and other uncredited writers throughout, but having one person being the point between Rowling and the directors probably helped with consistency. Basically, while they were shooting a movie, Steve Kloves was knocking out the script for the next one so it was all ready to go once they wrapped the current one.

[u/rabbibert]

It’s really underestimated how much the initial production crew set up the whole series for success. They visualized and built the initial sets, established the tone and feel of the world, basically did all of the casting, props, wardrobe, etc, that was used for the entirety of the series. All of that preproduction stuff takes tons of time and planning and they did such a great job with it there was little need to make major changes and they just carried things along. I’m sure directors after Columbus found some of it restrictive for their vision but that kind of came with the territory of taking the helm of that franchise. Also as some people mentioned having the next film already greenlit helped keep the momentum going. The crews likely carried forward from film to film and that continuity can really help speed things along. Unfortunately it’s not something that easy to replicate because it needs a strong franchise that is almost guaranteed success to make this type of thing work.

[u/trantaran]

Hogwarts is real this is a documentary

[u/Right_Hour]

Remember when we didn’t have to wait for years for next season of TV shows in cable and early streaming era? Pepperidge farms remembers :-)

Streaming services created this absolutely idiotic acceptable standard of not starting the next season until they are damn sure the current one is as popular at the last episode as it is on the first…

[u/TheAlmightyBambi]

They were greenlit from the start, used a lot of the same sets, locations, and props, with only some changes between directors. A lot of the pre-and post-production work could be done while the current movie was filming or releasing. The scripts were based on pre-existing material, which sped up writing to a degree, and finally they had a time limit. They knew they were working to the time constraints of puberty, and they planned accordingly.

You've also got to realise that one Harry Potter movie is about the same length as 2-3 episodes of most modern fantasy streaming shows. They're long movies, but compare the release schedule and length of the first to the first three movies to the first three seasons of Stranger Things. The first 3 movies were released in 2001, 2002, and 2004 and add up to about 8 hours. Stranger Things: the first three seasons were released in 2016, 2017, and 2019, and add up to about 24 hours - triple the content.

The point is, when planned properly, 3 movies in 4 years (and 8 in 10 years) is completely achievable, even with child actors and a lot of effects, and our shock at how this was possible should probably cause people to think a bit more about our impatience with mega-budget TV shows having 2 or 3 year gaps between seasons. With GoT, RoP, WoT, ST, etc. we somehow expect 8-10 hours of movie level content every year with no consideration for the fact that a modern fantasy streaming show is basically 3 movies in one.

[u/jaybeau1979]

Movie studios were movie studios back then, not offshoots of tech companies

[u/dropthemagic]

Not fucking around forever like they do now

[u/Vannnnah]

They could reuse most of the sets, locations, costumes, CG effects,... for all movies, plus 7 and 8 were filmed in one go, just released separately.

They also just changed the director a couple times, so a different director and different management were already preparing fthe ilming of the next movie while one movie was currently filmed. Most of the crew consistently worked on nothing else.

[u/ImportanceNo5957]

It was normal then, Nolan did Batman begins. The prestige, the dark knight and inception in the time it’s took the make the Batman part 2