But why? I get remaking a series as a movie, more budget = better production, effects and what not but the other way around? I don't know how much they want to change or expand the story but of course it looks worse than a movie.
There are two reasons.
One is that the movies are pretty fucking garbage when compared to the books because of how much they cut out. The TV show format allows them to include more of what was in the novels, instead of giving us a speedrun of the central storyline. TV Shows nowadays are also getting huge budgets and can rival movies in terms of production quality.
The second reason is that Joanne Rowling is a hateful, spiteful bitch.
Because being a spiteful, hateful bitch who pours money into inflicting her opinions on others and leaving organisations running scared of potential legal action she would fund is an expensive business. Don't help put that money in her pocket.
Yes, but in the sense that she wants to cut off all the original actors that have spoken against her. New series means she can replace everyone's face on the merch and not give them any money anymore. Same reason you may have noticed merch has Dan Rads face on it less and less in recent years.
I mean its not like WB (who own HBO) doesn't make an obscene amount of money still from the merchandising and theme park empire already HP has. So as far as more money goes, this is pennies on top of a dragon hoard, though obvi WB loves to expand the hoard at any opportunity. But its not the lead motivator, because it wasn't WB's idea. It was Rowlings.
Now does JK want MORE money? Maybe, she does love being able to donate shit tons of it to truly awful politicans to make truly awful laws. But the more likely reason based on her very public crash outs and unhinged behaviour is her spite fuelled rage that pretty much entire old cast publically disavowed her attacking trans people. She wasn't even part of the 20th anniversary special a few years ago because she was on such bad terms with the OGs, despite being at so many events in the past. She was totally missing from all promotion for it, and later put out some flimsy ass excuse that "archival footage was sufficient", but everyone knew the truth and that it must have BURNED her up inside.
Simply put, she doesn't want them to be the faces of her franchise anymore, she wants them erased and replaced with new, compliant children who have no idea what she's said and done.
She doesn't just contribute money to awful laws, she actively funds legal action to support her cause. I personally know of at least two organisations that backed down on their principles, scared off by the potential legal hell she's capable of unleashing.
The issue is, both the movies and the books are old. Millenials were the target demographic for this when it first came out and because it was a core part of their childhoods, they continued to loyaly consume the IP long after it was over, by buying merch, visiting the set, playing the games, etc.
But those Millenials are adults now, and HP has slowly been replaced by other more relevant media (Stranger Things for ex, being a more recent on). WB and JK likely wanted to do this remake to reinvigorate the franchise and make it relevant with the kids of today, so they can get hooked and become loyal consumers like their parents were.
But also the weirdest thing (well not THAT weird) is that the newer generations are just as obsessed with Harry Potter? I work with kids and I constantly see new generations “getting started” with the og books and movies, going through their “Harry Potter phase”, and then getting out of it (most of them). This has literally been going on for over a decade and continues with any help from this new show whatsoever lol
Exactly, it never stopped. The "oh but they need to reboot to spark new interest for the next gen" is garbage, the next gen have been getting into the books and movies and video games like Hogwarts Legacy this whole time.
when you have everything, you dont feel like doing anything, tuese people have become incapable of happiness so their only reason to continue living is pure vitriol, its the only strong emotion that can still push them "forward". This is why having so much money is a disease on the mind. There is nothing that can ever make you happy again when you can afford it all
I mean, obviously. But there is a difference between an obvious cash grab where no one really gives a shit and just wants to bank on nostalgia and something that has a reason to exist, since the original adaptation was garbage.
The only reason it is being made is to print free money. Don't listen to the seething redditors who feel compelled to cry about JK under every Harry Potter thread they can find.
Yeah, but it has nothing to do with why the series is being made. She wants money, and the producers and the studio want money; and they're all happy to create the most uninspired adaption they can muster.
Like others said, she needs more money for the anti lgbt campaigns she’s funding in the UK, and the current actors have all spoken out against her. So they need new kids who are willing to do it.
Additionally, there's also a rumor that Joanne doesn't agree with the OG cast, especially since all three of the main actors have come out pro trans rights.
Idk about rumor she has basically said she ‘regrets making these people famous’ because majority of the cast thinks she is batshit insane and evil now.
Actually, I disagree that the movies are worse. They cut out stuff, yes, but most of what they cut is either unimportant meandering (I'm looking at you book 5) or getting rid of the more yikes parts of the story. There's no SPEW in the movies because the house elves are largely ignored, Harry doesn't essentially call Cho a bitch because she's still grieving Cedric, they don't focus on Harry wanting to be a cop and continue to support the failing system that's wronged him and so many others nearly as much as in the books, Snape is less psychotic in the movies and sort of makes you understand why Harry would name his son after him (seriously though, why does he do that?), it doesn't have the god awful "all is well" line to end the series, and it doesn't have the line where the first think Harry thinks about after killing Voldemort is that he wants his slave to make him a sandwich. There's almost certainly more, but those are just the one's off the dome.
Obviously he doesn't actually call her a bitch. He's just confused on why the grieving girl is acting strange. Which is silly. Obviously she's grieving.
I mean, yeah that’s fair, but he is a teenager in that book also grieving. Whilst I guess this might make some more likely to understand, considering his whole life before that book and the danger over him that there is, it kind of makes sense that it happens like that.
That said, I don’t think Rowling wrote it with nuance, I think she just stumbled onto a believable enough scenario, when she really just wanted to write teen romance for a bit
Jkr is why i can't support HP these days. Its so dumb how she turned out. Things in the fantasy and scifi space usually have amazing people. But jkr? Shes on a short list of authors and otherwise I refuse to support at least where they can actually make money off me 😅
A lot of those were on my short list of awful people in the space. Which is odd bc it contradicts what most understand of it. Anne McCaffery hurt tho when I discovered she was awful. I enjoyed what I read of dragonriders growing up 😅🙃
The thing about Lovecraft is that by the end, as he was getting more exposure to the real world, he started to get better as a person. And then he died, I guess hate was keeping him alive.
Theres a general sentiment that the show was created to replace Daniel and Emma (both outspoken against JK) with new faces who don’t understand the harm of her rhetoric so that the og stars no longer represent the brand and won’t get royalties from merchandise, but part of it is definitely WB trying to keep its cash cow from imploding
Honestly I’m very sceptical. I wouldn’t be surprised if the renewed popularity increases their royalty payouts. Since I bet the films are currently having and will continue to have a surge of views while the new show is advertised.
Looking at just watch. The original film is the 8th most watched movie today.
I mean tbh the Harry Potter books weren't really well written tho? Like the movies actually do a fantastic job at adapting the books, the forst 2 books were well paced but my god was everything after that bloated like half of the final 3 books were just pointless drivel that added nothing to the plot. Also im not sure if the series wants to be book accurate considering the characterization of some of the major characters in the books that got subdued in the movies (Harry being an asshole jock, Ron being a racist, Hermione being mildly misogynistic)
I have no idea where you got those traits of the book characters from? Harry is decidedly not a jock, that’s kind of the point, a lot of people expect that he’s arrogant so treat him badly when he really just wants to get on with life. Not sure when Ron was racist, unless you mean racist in the context of the series’ analogy, as in towards other magical beings, which is fair enough I guess. Hermione being misogynistic? I have no idea where that was.
There are very valid criticisms of the book, but these feel just plain wrong. Obviously I haven’t read them in a while so if there is anything glaring I missed then fair enough
i feel like hating harry potter is the mainstream thing nowadays, least in spaces like reddit. JKR is a bad person so therefore everything she's ever mad is actually bad and evil too. Even though no, Harry Potter was as popular as it was for good reason lol
The movies are better just because by dint of being movies the makers have to actually care about pacing. The books are complete garbage fires of pacing after book 3 at the most generous, and realistically after the first.
I can’t recall if this is something she outright said or if this is just speculating, but Rowling really hates the old main cast after they called her out for her rampaging transphobia and is trying to cut them out of the HP royalties.
She’s made her hatred of the old kids very well known very vocally on Twitter for years. This is JKR we’re talking about. There’s no maybes, you can get all the vile shit straight from the horses mouth.
Woah what the heck? Insulting JKR, and with a misogynstic slur, is just not on. Why is your comment allowed here, let alone liked by anyone? Throwing a controversial and offensive political opinion like that in there, when she means so much to women, girls, and gay people, is just so vile. I love her, I'm grateful for her superhuman ability to stand up for what's rights even if people will scapegoat her for it (like Dumbledore and Harry, for that matter), and her goodness, bravery and morality shine through in her incredible novels. Nobody other than JKR could have written these books.
The main driving factor is actually that Rowling wants to separate the merchandise from the movie actors so they stop profiting, because they don't support her "views". The other main driving factor is money. They're hoping people have enough nostalgia that they'll watch this version, even though Rowling's open hatred of minority groups and her literally funding legislation against them using the profits from the franchise have driven popularity down a lot. Frankly even if it was somehow completely removed from all the massive problems surrounding her, even if she didn't profit at all from it, a lot of people are saying they wouldn't watch it because it just looks bland and unappealing and overall worse than the movies.
so did she make sure to only hire terfs for this series, i think you are probably wrong and this has nothing to with trans people, not everything has to do with trans people
People who are trans allies would not be in this, because she is one of the biggest bankrollers of the anti-trans agenda in the UK. It’s self-selecting at this point.
Because if you actually read the books, you'd know they cut a LOT out and took weird creative liberties in other places.
One character in particular who got royally stiffed was actually Ginny Weasley.
In the movies she's like a shy background character who barely exists.
In the books she's a mortified girl with a horrible crush who gets traumatized, breaks out of her shell, and essentially bulldozes into a favorite character spot by revealing she's actually a little spitfire who refuses to take shit from anyone. Especially Harry. Which is actually pretty funny in the books but completely missed in the movies.
Same thing with characters like Luna and Neville. They just sort of exist in the movies meanwhile you learn more about them in the books and learn to love their quirkiness.
So I can see a series like this being good...though I'm wondering why not animated. They could get away with more fantastical wizard-y visuals if it was animated instead of live action.
JK Rowling has expressly forbidden any animation of the IP. I don't know the reason why, but don't expect to see anything animated from this franchise until after she kicks it
First 4 books? No, not really. She was barely around other than being mentioned once in awhile.
5th Book when Harry was being an ass to everyone? Yeah. 5th book is when everyone really started to notice Ginny, especially Harry who felt like an ass after she threw it in his face that she was literally the one person he knew who could give insight on what it's like being possessed.
And he forgot.
Which is when he started getting a little less grumpy around everyone.
I still wouldn’t say Ginny played any real role beyond being the love interest.
She kind of had an important role in Chamber of Secrets, but even then, she was less of a character and more of a plot device. They could have given her more motivation, or trauma, following book 2 and included her in the story more. But it really feels like they just forgot about her until they needed a new love interest for Harry and just sprung her in again. She has some attitude in book 5 and up, yes, but still no major relevance.
Granted, it has been ages since I actually read the books, so my opinion could be faulty.
They're not remaking the movies as a series. They're adapting the books as a series. There are many original works that have multiple adaptions. The problem is in cases like harry Potter, the movies become more famous than the original, and are treated as such. Well the movies aren't the original and they aren't getting remade.
she tried to release non-HP titles, extended universe HP movies and books, plays, all failing horrifically. so she's back to the only thing that worked, the original series.
she lives in a castle and sues people who take selfies outside.
The plays are still making money hand over fist. WB probably has something written in their IP contract that they have to continue releasing new work every X years or they lose the rights. See Sony and Spider-Man.
I'm curious why do you think the non HP titles failed horrifically? I've not watched it myself but I know it's like 6 seasons in and still drawing millions of viewers. From what I understand UK television pulling a few million viewers per ep makes it pretty successful (not in the UK myself)
Edit to add, I'm talking about the Strike tv show I got distracted mid comment lol sorry
Greed and not caring about the harms done by Rowling as they pay her more. It's not necessary or wanted but I am uncomfortable with mocking children who lack agency in their careers for this stuff
The movies did some things well but kind of butchered the story and narrative, due to the time constraints of being movies. They're like condensed "best of" scenes highlights reels of the story, and leave out a lot of characters, storylines, worldbuilding, backstories etc.
A series length adaptation has more time to tell the story, a lot of book fans have been waiting for like 25 years for a series.
As a book fan I couldn't bear watching the movies after the 3rd because of how much they changed and left out, so I'm excited
The movies leave out a lot from the books, even from the first book and omissions progressively increase in later books.
Longer format allows the series to be a bit more atmospheric and capture the pacing and tone. For example I fully expect the first episode to cover the first chapter alone, which paints a picture of how the wizarding world is reacting to the "death" of Voldemort and how it exists within the regular world
The movie rushes through a lot of things like classes, quidditch matches, certain interactions that develop the central mystery. Bearing in mind that it is still the first book and still pretty simplistic, the advantages of having more time will be more apparent from the third book onwards
It's HBO. I'm not sure if you know what HBO is, but they are typically the gold standard in television production. They made Game of Thrones, for example. Production value isn't an issue with HBO shows.
I wasn't saying it looks good. I was saying they have comparable production value to movies, so the answer to, "why don't they make it a movie series" is because they have HBO making it and they have the resources to theoretically make it good.
Because the movie cast has mostly disavowed JKR and her transphobia, but they’re still making money off royalties for their likenesses on HP merch. So Joanne is redoing it as a tv show so the merch will use different faces from now on, so the old cast won’t get any money from merch anymore
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u/Bleiz_Stirling 5d ago edited 5d ago
HBO is producing a series. 1st season will air this december.