Will there be an extended version of the Harry Potter movie?
In an era when remakes and director's cuts have become the norm in Hollywood, the story of Harry Potter, the "boy who is hard to die", has finally come to good news.
Chris Columbus, the director who directed the first two Harry Potter films, took advantage of the 20th anniversary of the release of The Philosopher's Stone and said that he hoped that his original three-hour version of the Philosopher's Stone would meet fans, and in this version, everyone would have the opportunity to see a very popular character in the original novel.
Some veteran Fans may know that the first Harry Potter movie wasn't just the 2.5-and-a-half hours you see now, it also had a longer director's cut.
Twenty years after the release of Philosopher's Stone, Chris Columbus finally responded positively, leaving a lot of material in the editing room that had not been put into the main film, including one of the famous characters in the series: the prank elf Peeves.
In a recent interview with TheWrap, Chris Columbus recalled the original extended version he played during a test screening in 2001.
"We'll know if the film was a success because we're going to do a few test runs ahead of schedule. Especially during the Chicago test screening, we played a three-hour clip version for the first time. After watching it, parents felt that the movie was too long and the children thought it was too short. Then I thought that the children's attention span may be shorter, so it is also good to cut the movie shorter. ”
（“We knew that the film worked because we did a couple of previews. Particularly a Chicago preview where our first cut was a three-hour cut. Parents afterwards said it was too long, the kids said it was too short. I thought, well, the kids presumably have a shorter attention span so this is a good thing.” ）
In the interview, Columbus also expressed his willingness to have Warner Bros. release a longer director's cut of him.
"We have to put Peeves back in the movie."
I believe that Ha fans also very much want to see what happened in the deleted 30-minute clip.
Peeves is a very existential character in Harry Potter, and he brings a lot of joy to the reader in the original novel, especially the fragment of him "bullying" Umbridge, which is simply a delight for the students who have been holding back for a semester.
Moreover, Peeves appears in every novel, and some key plots are also involved in him. After he was completely removed from the movie, it also made some plot developments that could not be explained.
For example, why the Disappearing Cabinet at Hogwarts was damaged, Draco needed to sneak it out to repair it. Because during the time of "Chamber of Secrets", Peeves broke the cabinet.
Not long ago, Warner Bros. announced that it would officially hold a reunion event for the actors of the Harry Potter film, including Chris Columbus, director of The Philosopher's Stone, three protagonists, "BellaCretes" Helena Carter, "Draco" Tom Felton, "Weasley Twins" Phelps Brothers, "Mr. Weasley" Mark Williams, "Ginny" Bonnie White, "Dean" Alfred Enoch, "Neville" Matthew Lewis, "Luna" Ivina Lynch, "Professor Quirrell" Professor Quirrell "Ian Hart, and others will be in attendance.
Unfortunately, though, for reasons that are well known, J.K. Rowling is not on the invitation list.
The event will air on HBO Max on January 1 next year.
Whether the director's extended version of "Philosopher's Stone" is possible to broadcast, maybe there will be an answer at that time. After all, the directors have spoken, is Warner really willing to give up another wave of opportunities to make money?
If the 3-hour Philosopher's Stone could be re-released, I would still be willing to buy another movie ticket.