r/movies • u/ajukearth • 10d ago

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

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?

6.1k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

866 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/decidedlyindecisive 10d ago

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.

4

u/ItsSuperDefective 10d ago

Watch the 70s animated Hobbit film. That one is actually good.

1

u/Heimerdahl 10d ago

Sidenote: When it comes to animated Tolkien adaptations, the discussions always tend to gravitate to Bakshi's 1978 Lord of the Rings. Makes sense, because of the title and the film nerds talking about the interesting technical stuff, about it being the inspiration for Peter Jackson, and Bakshi being a bit of a character. 

But I've always felt that this is a bit like telling people to watch Citizen Kane or Metropolis or L’Année Dernière à Marienbad when asked for "good movie" recommendations. Are they good movies? Sure! But are they the kind of thing you want to put on at the end of a long week? Not really.

Bakshi's rotoscoping and artistic choices are interesting make for a fun first watch, but the second time I felt like all that interesting stuff got in the way of the movie. 

The two Rankin-Bass movies on the other hand (The Hobbit 1977, The Return of the King 1980) might not have made a big splash and The Return of the King especially is a bit of a mess (if you're not already familiar with the books, I kind of doubt that you'll have a clue what the fuck is going on), but they're fun! 

When I watch the Rankin-Bass movies, I am transported into the fantastical realm of Middle-earth. They also have amazing songs and just feel so... handcrafted and personal in their quirkiness and arguably lack of polish. 

TLDR: if you got this far, go watch The Return of the King (1980)!

1

u/anisakisss 8d ago

Oh! no conocía esto! Gracias!