*** Official "HARRY POTTER & THE PHILOSOPHER'S/SORCERER'S STONE" Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Richard Kim]

This may be the first time in movie history that most viewers of a movie have read the book first.

I think you're forgetting a little book called "Gone with the Wind."

 

[RobertR]

I think you're forgetting a little book called "Gone with the Wind."

At the time of the movie release of GWTW, the book had sold 1.5 million copies. I think it's safe to say that the movie audience was far in excess of that.
Harry Potter, OTOH, has sold over 100 million copies. If, say, 60 million of those readers see the movie, then the total number of tickets sold would have to be over about 120 million for the readers not to constitute a majority. At an average ticket price of $6, that would mean a box office take of $720 million.
[Edited last by RobertR on November 16, 2001 at 12:55 PM]

 

[Tom Ryan]

Remember, though, that 100 million readers is worldwide, not in the U.S. Certainly a $720 million worldwide gross is nothing to scoff at, one of the biggest ever, but it's not as phenomenal as a $720 million domestic gross. However, I think Harry Potter will do BIG BIG numbers either way......$80-$100 million this weekend.
-Tom

 

[Mark McLeod]

So I saw it last night after work at a soldout midnight screening the chain I work for was having. Since it was soldout I got less then a stellar seat. Having not read the books I thought it was pretty good but lacked something to make it outstanding.
Since I'm in Canada, I saw the "Philospher's Stone" version. Basically the word is said maybe 5-10 times throughout the whole movie. Unless delivery is vastly different in the "US cut" then I don't see this and the title change as a big issue. It's certaintly not something that would prevent me from buying the DVD.
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Mark McLeod
Link Removed

 

[Hubert]

Saw it tonight at a sold out screening, and I thought it was fantastic. I thought Columbus did a great job of cutting where he needed to and staying true to the books. Notwithstanding, that I only know the story of the books, and have never read the books all the way through. But I do know the stories and many details of the book. It seemed he did a perfect balancing act between doing what he needed to do and doing what he wanted to do.
I thought Williams score was a perfect fit for the scenery and the movie itself. The problem I had was that the theater had it way too loud, and that's saying a lot coming from me. Because I like it somewhat loud.
I thought cinematography and set design was outstanding. I would like to see it again, but even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, it still seemed somewhat long. Effects were also great too, with only a slight number of scenes that looked fake. Even though those 2 or 3 scenes visually fake, they were still very good.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

I saw the movie last night, and overall I think it's a wonderful film, one I want to see at least another time or two while it's still in the theatres. I think the film captures an incredible amount of detail from the book, and for the first hour or so I was completely enthralled, feeling like I was really there, experiencing first-hand everything that J. K. Rowling had envisioned.
However, somewhere in the second hour (I believe it was right after the Quidditch match), and lasting all the way to the end, the storytelling lost something of its momentum, and I found myself feeling quite a bit lost as to following its direction. Oh, the scenes were there (well, most of 'em), but the editing of them together was, frankly, rather atrocious after a certain point, which seriously detracted from trying to follow the mystery the movie was setting up. I was able to follow it only because I had read the book and knew what was coming next -- which also was a bit of a curse, because there were changes from the book, which I think might've been part of the problem.
For example, the whole Nicolas Flammel bit was wrong and rushed, and as this was at the crux of the whole thing, which set the trio of sleuths on the "right" path, many of the scenes that revolved around it felt really awkward and didn't make complete sense to the mystery of the story. It wasn't Hermione who realized the answer of who Flammel was, it was Harry Potter; the book Hermione presented explained Flammel and his relation to the Sorcerer's Stone. But the movie didn't explain that at all -- since Harry's role with the Famous Wizard cards here was dropped, the bit of mentioning Flammel's name earlier in the movie had no impact whatsoever when Hermione "discovered" him (it made it seem like she just found the right book out of thin air). And doing that also relegated the whole Famous Wizard cards to just mere eye candy instead of the important plot device they were supposed to be.
There were many other scenes that were either badly edited or were changed from the book (like the whole missing enchantments-guarding-the-Stone explanation from Hagrid, which made those scenes at the end seem too ... pat) -- this was probably to get the movie's time down to something manageable -- which, in my opinion, really hurt the flow of unravelling the mystery aspect of the story. I understand Columbus *did* film every scene in the book, so I'm really hoping for a Director's Cut (along with the theatrical version, of course) when the DVD comes out.
But don't mistake my complaints above for disliking the movie -- far from it. I felt enchanted by it greatly; I felt the overwhelming wonder that Potter was feeling (especially that first hour or so), and I was grinning ear to ear throughout all of it.
Hopefully when I get a chance to see it again, and read others' explanations here of certain scenes, some of the nitpicking will disappear, because the movie really did capture that magical essence of the book, and because of that, this film will most certainly be as much a success as its books.
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[Dana Fillhart]

P.S.
Why does it seem so many people here really despise the Home Alone movies? I think they're great films to watch repeatedly, especially around the Christmastime holidays, and I think Chris Columbus did a fine job of directing both of them.
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[TerryRL]

BOX OFFICE UPDATE
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" now owns the record for the biggest opening day tally in history. The film earned a record-breaking $29.4 million yesterday, surpassing the $28.5 million haul of "The Phantom Menace" on it's opening day.
'Potter' also took the crown for the biggest Friday opening ever by passing the $25 million mark of last summer's "Planet of the Apes". TPM opened on a Wednesday.
'Potter' is currently on pace to also topple the four-year record of "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" as the biggest opening film in history. 'The Lost World' debuted with $72.1 million back in 1997, 'Potter' is on pace to earn between $85 and $90 million for it's opening. Ouch.
Next weekend, 'Potter' will set it's sights on the record of biggest second weekend haul, which is currently held by last year's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". That film opened with $55 million and had only a miniscule percentage drop to earn $52 million in it's second weekend. 'Potter' will likely earn between $57 and $62 million for it's sophomore frame. Both films benefit from the fact that their follow-up weekends fell on the Thanksgiving holiday frame.
The real question is will 'Potter' have the legs to dethrone "Titanic" as the biggest hit film in history? "Titanic" earned a staggering $1.8 billion worldwide. I don't think 'Potter' will be the iceberg that sunk "Titanic" (I know, bad pun), but I do think 'Potter' will end up being one of the top ten biggest hits in history. I'm expecting a $350 million domestic haul and a worldwide tally of over $800 million.
In any event, 'Potter' will easily become the year's biggest hit, as well as the biggest hit film ever for WB.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I managed to get tickets online for my family for a 1:50 PM showing tommarrow... based on your experiences, how early should we show up to get good seats?
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My DVD Collection
My Preorders
My Wishlist
Potter is coming...

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

I got to the theater 25 minutes early and all the center seats were either saved or gone. I would recommend 45 minutes if you want to get the great seats. I know...
~Edwin

 

[TerryRL]

Edwin is right. I took my daughter to see it and we were told to be there no less than 45 minutes before it started. We showed up an hour before and we still had to wait in a huge line before being seated.
By the way, early estimates are saying that Potter will become the first film in history to earn over $30 million in a single day. Today's (Saturday) mark is expected to be in the area of $32 million. Wow.

 

[Patrick G]

The real question is will 'Potter' have the legs to dethrone "Titanic" as the biggest hit film in history?

No way in hell. You won't have half the teenage girls in the country paying to see this one 10 times. It will have nowhere near the repeat business.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

$32M should be easily attainable, if not more.

You won't have half the teenage girls in the country paying to see this one 10 times. It will have nowhere near the repeat business.

I also don't think it will beat Titanic at all.
~Edwin

 

[JohnS]

You have to remember something else...If kids go PARENTS GO! just more added box office.
I really think it's going to have strong legs!
Kids are going to want to see this NUMEROUS TIMES!
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[Tyler Ruggeri]

Harry made $29.5 million yesterday alone, guys. It's going to be one hefty weekend.
Tyler Ruggeri

 

[Danny R]

Harry Potter, OTOH, has sold over 100 million copies.
One thing to remember... book sales, unlike movie tickets, do not necessarily represent the number of readers.
I would bet that the number of actual readers is easily double or triple the book sales, as families would likely not buy multiple copies for each member, but share one volume. Not to mention the huge number of readers found for each library copies.

 

[RobertR]

I would bet that the number of actual readers is easily double or triple the book sales

I agree. If anything, that strengthens the probability that most viewers of the movie have read the book.
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[Tom Ryan]

Ha! Yes indeed....after going to the movie last night, I said to myself....I bet this movie made $30 million today! Well, I was close enough. We have a huge parking garage downtown and it was nearly full! This was the fullest I've ever seen it! I even had to park almost out on the rooftop under the rain.
Well, I went in to wait for my friend on the first floor of the theater (he had our tickets), and there was nobody there. It was an hour before my showing. I said "that's weird, wonder where they are...I guess they all pre-bought their tickets". Then my friend comes in about fifteen minutes, and sure enough....two floors up, huge lines of people waiting to see Harry Potter (for a 9:45 showing no less! I think getting out at 12:30 is pretty late for little kids, even on Fridays). There were even several people dressed up in capes, hats, and round glasses.
Let's see, during the trailers we had some stupid 3-D thing that required glasses that they gave out to everyone. Then....the Lord Of The Rings trailer. Everyone was shushing everyone else and watching it in awe. Then, after it was over everybody broke out in applause and cheering!
Unfortunately, they also cheered after the "Snow Days" trailer or whatever it was with talking dogs, and one other trailer. But I got the feeling that the general enthusiasm was begun by the LOTR trailer. That one's going to be BIG.
Well, I'll save my review of the film (loved it, though) for the other thread, but those were my thoughts on the crowds.
-Tom

 

[Holadem]

Well, I can tell you I totally underestimated the damn, thing, by 4-5pm yesterday everything was sold out in the city, including the 1am shows

Same today it seems, I will try tommorow...
--
Holadem

 

[Aurel Savin]

http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/17/harry.box.office.ap/index.html