The Argument for Day & Date Release
The day and date release is one that sees a film hit the cinema, the DVD shelves and outlets such as itunes all on the same day. It is a release method rarely used; yet it is one that could increase film revenue, combat piracy and improve the cinema going experience.
U.K. film critic Mark Kermode has long been stating that this release method will in fact be the future of cinema and it is a claim made with good reason. Despite the claims of James Cameron it is clear that 3D is not the solution to decreasing film piracy, as evidenced by the fact that his 3D spectacular Avatar was the most downloaded and pirated film of its year. This year’s most pirated film is Fast Five, another film that did very well at the box office, proving that piracy does not always have an adverse effect on the profit potential of a picture.
A way however that these high levels of piracy could be turned into high levels of profit by the studios is through day and date. Many people download films to relive them, without the expense and hassle of another trip to the cinema. Some download because they want to watch a film when and where they want to watch it, something that current release schedules do not allow. In the gap between a film no longer playing at the cinema and the films DVD release, there is a window in which the film is not available to the public through any “legal” means and instead if they wish to seek out and see your film in that period, they have no other choice than to turn to piracy or downloading.
Piracy affects the smaller films the most. The blockbusters have no right to complain about piracy when they make the money that they make and it is infact the independent and smaller budget films, which are most vulnerable to piracy having a negative effect. These smaller films don’t get wide releases, aren’t available at any near cinemas and therefore if people wish to see them, they will turn to the Internet. If people were given the choice of downloading a high quality, legal version of the film on their computers for a reasonable price, I have no doubt that many would do it. A lot of this piracy may just be pure law breaking by people who have no intention of paying for a film, however in offering people a high quality version of a film when it is released, you are offering more of an attraction and alternative away from piracy, whilst also allowing them the freedom to choose when and where they view your film.
Most pirate copies of films are terrible quality anyway, people downloading or not downloading, want to watch films in good quality. Therefore through day and date, you beat the pirates to the punch, make camcorder copies of films that float around online worthless and give those who do not wish to see the film at the cinema, or cannot see the film at a cinema, a more legal, higher quality alternative, that in no way damages the potential profits of your film. It really is a win win situation for the studios as whether people want to watch their latest release in the cinema or at home, they are paying for it. Rather than having them pay for one way to see the film at one time (Either at the cinema, or on DVD) they are giving them all the options at the same time. The DVD/Blu-Ray market would flourish as a result and therefore home film viewing becomes much more profitable.
Now of course the ones who are most hurt by day and date are not the consumers, not the studios but the cinemas. With day and date there will of course be less incentive for people to go to the cinema. However this does not mean the end of the cinematic experience, it will in fact mean an improvement of it. Under day and date, those at the cinema are people who want to be at the cinema, who want to view the film in that way and have paid for the film in that way, behaviour will be golden. There will be no loud talking, shouting, texting or any other activities, which can ruin the viewing of films; people will be there because they want to be there.
As Mark Kermode rightly points out, under day and date, the cinemas that will survive are the cinemas that offer customers value for their money and an enjoyable experience. No longer will we have sloppy presentations of film, sticky floors and seats and be able to hear Footloose while you’re trying to watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy...cinemas will raise their game because they will have no other choice if they want to survive.
What cinemas sometimes fail to recognize as well, is that they drive people towards piracy. Going to the cinema is becoming more and more expensive and less and less enjoyable. If somebody paid a large amount of money for an experience, which was ruined by talking, poor projection, sticky seats etc., would they seriously pay for that experience again, when there is a significantly cheaper, more enjoyable alternative? The current state of cinema management in certain countries is driving people towards piracy more than anything else. Day and date would change that, cinemas would realize they have to be worthy of their customers and change their game.
It is a movement that may never be embraced because of the fear it would strike in the heart of cinema owners, however it is one that could at least give significant opposition to piracy and improve going to the cinema...isn’t that what everybody involved in film wants? Perhaps this movement would lead to a proper and deserved push of the IMAX format, offering a true big screen, unlike anything you can see anywhere else experience to customers. In my eyes, as long as all cinemas don’t wipe off the face of the earth (Which they won’t as even under this movement loads of people will still want to go to the cinema) then this release strategy has nothing but positive elements.
If we are serious about combating piracy and making going to the cinema a better experience then we have to seriously consider day and date.
What do you think? Do you agree that cinemas themselves contribute towards piracy? Do you believe that day and date would discourage people from piracy? And encourage cinemas to improve the experience they offer? Or do you fear that the movement could end going to the cinema completely? Do you think that piracy would still flourish?
Give us all your thoughts on day and date, piracy and the cinema going experience in the Your Say section.
U.K. film critic Mark Kermode has long been stating that this release method will in fact be the future of cinema and it is a claim made with good reason. Despite the claims of James Cameron it is clear that 3D is not the solution to decreasing film piracy, as evidenced by the fact that his 3D spectacular Avatar was the most downloaded and pirated film of its year. This year’s most pirated film is Fast Five, another film that did very well at the box office, proving that piracy does not always have an adverse effect on the profit potential of a picture.
A way however that these high levels of piracy could be turned into high levels of profit by the studios is through day and date. Many people download films to relive them, without the expense and hassle of another trip to the cinema. Some download because they want to watch a film when and where they want to watch it, something that current release schedules do not allow. In the gap between a film no longer playing at the cinema and the films DVD release, there is a window in which the film is not available to the public through any “legal” means and instead if they wish to seek out and see your film in that period, they have no other choice than to turn to piracy or downloading.
Piracy affects the smaller films the most. The blockbusters have no right to complain about piracy when they make the money that they make and it is infact the independent and smaller budget films, which are most vulnerable to piracy having a negative effect. These smaller films don’t get wide releases, aren’t available at any near cinemas and therefore if people wish to see them, they will turn to the Internet. If people were given the choice of downloading a high quality, legal version of the film on their computers for a reasonable price, I have no doubt that many would do it. A lot of this piracy may just be pure law breaking by people who have no intention of paying for a film, however in offering people a high quality version of a film when it is released, you are offering more of an attraction and alternative away from piracy, whilst also allowing them the freedom to choose when and where they view your film.
Most pirate copies of films are terrible quality anyway, people downloading or not downloading, want to watch films in good quality. Therefore through day and date, you beat the pirates to the punch, make camcorder copies of films that float around online worthless and give those who do not wish to see the film at the cinema, or cannot see the film at a cinema, a more legal, higher quality alternative, that in no way damages the potential profits of your film. It really is a win win situation for the studios as whether people want to watch their latest release in the cinema or at home, they are paying for it. Rather than having them pay for one way to see the film at one time (Either at the cinema, or on DVD) they are giving them all the options at the same time. The DVD/Blu-Ray market would flourish as a result and therefore home film viewing becomes much more profitable.
Now of course the ones who are most hurt by day and date are not the consumers, not the studios but the cinemas. With day and date there will of course be less incentive for people to go to the cinema. However this does not mean the end of the cinematic experience, it will in fact mean an improvement of it. Under day and date, those at the cinema are people who want to be at the cinema, who want to view the film in that way and have paid for the film in that way, behaviour will be golden. There will be no loud talking, shouting, texting or any other activities, which can ruin the viewing of films; people will be there because they want to be there.
As Mark Kermode rightly points out, under day and date, the cinemas that will survive are the cinemas that offer customers value for their money and an enjoyable experience. No longer will we have sloppy presentations of film, sticky floors and seats and be able to hear Footloose while you’re trying to watch Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy...cinemas will raise their game because they will have no other choice if they want to survive.
What cinemas sometimes fail to recognize as well, is that they drive people towards piracy. Going to the cinema is becoming more and more expensive and less and less enjoyable. If somebody paid a large amount of money for an experience, which was ruined by talking, poor projection, sticky seats etc., would they seriously pay for that experience again, when there is a significantly cheaper, more enjoyable alternative? The current state of cinema management in certain countries is driving people towards piracy more than anything else. Day and date would change that, cinemas would realize they have to be worthy of their customers and change their game.
It is a movement that may never be embraced because of the fear it would strike in the heart of cinema owners, however it is one that could at least give significant opposition to piracy and improve going to the cinema...isn’t that what everybody involved in film wants? Perhaps this movement would lead to a proper and deserved push of the IMAX format, offering a true big screen, unlike anything you can see anywhere else experience to customers. In my eyes, as long as all cinemas don’t wipe off the face of the earth (Which they won’t as even under this movement loads of people will still want to go to the cinema) then this release strategy has nothing but positive elements.
If we are serious about combating piracy and making going to the cinema a better experience then we have to seriously consider day and date.
What do you think? Do you agree that cinemas themselves contribute towards piracy? Do you believe that day and date would discourage people from piracy? And encourage cinemas to improve the experience they offer? Or do you fear that the movement could end going to the cinema completely? Do you think that piracy would still flourish?
Give us all your thoughts on day and date, piracy and the cinema going experience in the Your Say section.
The Dark Hype Rises
This year is arguably the most anticipated year for movies of all time. We have the end of Twilight (Which will be a joyous occasion for most), Ridley Scott returning to Sci-Fi (and hopefully good filmmaking) in Prometheus, a return to Middle Earth with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the cinematic realization of The Hunger Games, the return of the Amazing Spiderman, the union of Thor, Captain America, Iron Man and the Hulk in The Avengers and some Batman movie called The Dark Knight Rises. While many will argue about which of these films is the most anticipated and which of these films will make the most money, there is no doubt in my mind that Christopher Nolan's conclusion this his Batman trilogy, will be the movie "event" of this year. In my (admittedly short) moviegoing life, I have never seen or felt such excitement for a film. However, dare I say it, could The Dark Knight Rises do a Phantom Menace?
Let me clarify that rhetorical question. I do not expect the films to be comparable in terms of quality however is it possible that this immense and intense level of hype around The Dark Knight Rises could cause a Phantom Menace esque reaction? deserved or not. How many films could live up to the current amount of hype placed upon The Dark Knight's shoulders? The trailer broke the record for most itunes downloads for a trailer, people have driven long distances just so they could see six minutes of the film in IMAX, YouTube is awash with countless reviews of both trailers as well as the prologue, some with no intention of watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, went in so they could see the one minute teaser trailer on the big screen, it is following on from one of the most successful films commercially and critically of all time. The amount of pictures leaked from the set got to a ridiculous level as a clip of Joseph Gordon-Levitt walking down a street became news worthy on many film sites, everybody had their eyes on what Nolan was doing.
Batman Begins arrived for me with only one piece of fanfare, it was a Batman film, it then became at that point one of my favourite films of all time. The Dark Knight came with the added fanfare of all the reviews I had heard and read before seeing it but I still went into the movie with a relatively low level of exposure and hype. I approach The Dark Knight Rises, months before its release with a much higher level of hype than I ever had for the other two, films where I had only seen the trailer once and in the case of Batman Begins had read no reviews. The question at the crux of this article is the following, with the internet being what it is...is it now at all possible to come to a movie, completely fresh? will the internet kill The Dark Knight Rises? You could argue that it didn't kill The Dark Knight but that movie became something nobody could have anticipated, it became a cultural phenomenon, it grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and it expanded the audience for Batman considerably. The Dark Knight may be this generations The Empire Strikes Back, it is the film that filmmakers of the future will look back on as a huge influence, it opened peoples eyes to the possibilities of filmmaking, people saw it multiple times in cinemas, it transcended its source material.
This fear over the fate of The Dark Knight Rises comes from somebody who wants the film to incredibly well. Christopher Nolan is the filmmaker that Hollywood needs more of and I believe in Christopher Nolan, what I don't believe in is the commenters on IMDB, Twitter or other internet forums. In the end I know it doesn't matter what other people think of a film if you or I personally love it and if it makes enough money but the Dark Knight Rises is going to be one kind of threequel. The Godfather Part III, seen as immensely inferior to its predecessors and in fact unnecessary, to many ruining what had come before it and by some rejected as even part of the Godfather story, its own maker joining that crowd. Will it be a Return of the Jedi? where it is neither an abomination nor the best in the series. Or it will do a Return of the King? be huge critically, commercially and get Nolan the Oscar he deserves...
If I was in charge of the advertising campaign for this film, I would now go on a complete radio silence. No more posters, no more trailers, let other films hog the spotlight and fight for the audiences attention. People know The Dark Knight Rises is coming, they want to see it, the job is done. The hype for this movie is at such a point that they could have released no trailers and people would be just as, if not more excited. If The Dark Knight Rises can still emerge this summer with mystery and with perhaps a readjustment of expectations if early year releases such as Prometheus or The Avengers fail to deliver, it could beat the hype like The Dark Knight. The questions I pose with this article are can the internet and hype kill a movie? Will it kill The Dark Knight Rises? and what kind of threequel will this be? A Godfather Part III, A Return of the Jedi or a Return of the King?
Personally, nothing will hinder my hype for this movie and that worries me but not as much as it excites me. In the end I don't think anything can live up to this hype which is why I am going to do my best to cut myself off from this crazy Batman world that has formed on the internet so that when July rolls around I can be like, "Oh yeah, The Dark Knight Rises...bring it on" I won't let the hype kill this movie for me, I'll let the movie decide whether it wants to be remembered or not (And if so for the right reasons) but I doubt whether many will adopt this approach. He has defeated numerous villains but has The Dark Knight faced his biggest battle of them all? a villain he cannot defeat? Forget the fire rises, the hype rises and Nolan better have a masterpiece up his sleeve to avoid an internet outpouring of "What a disappointment", "It wasn't as good as The Dark Knight" and numerous other IMDB posts and tweets which will try to initially distort the internets view of this film. If everybody gave Toy Story 3 and Deathly Hallows: Part Two such big passes, Rises should have no issue with the critics (Who will enter into a bloodbath for the first review) but as somebody who runs a website and realizes a lot of movie discussion online, I wouldn't be able to handle a year in which The Dark Knight Rises Sucks became a trending, agreed upon topic online. So perhaps the hype killing Dark Knight Rises may be a good thing, as Bruce Wayne says in Batman Begins, "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible" Perhaps The Dark Knight Rises will become the symbol for our over publicized, over analyzed, over exposed film hype machine and lead to a revolution in the way in which people market and approach the movies they anticipate.
For good or for bad, "The Dark Knight Legend" may become something very real in the film industry.
Give us all your thoughts in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Let me clarify that rhetorical question. I do not expect the films to be comparable in terms of quality however is it possible that this immense and intense level of hype around The Dark Knight Rises could cause a Phantom Menace esque reaction? deserved or not. How many films could live up to the current amount of hype placed upon The Dark Knight's shoulders? The trailer broke the record for most itunes downloads for a trailer, people have driven long distances just so they could see six minutes of the film in IMAX, YouTube is awash with countless reviews of both trailers as well as the prologue, some with no intention of watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, went in so they could see the one minute teaser trailer on the big screen, it is following on from one of the most successful films commercially and critically of all time. The amount of pictures leaked from the set got to a ridiculous level as a clip of Joseph Gordon-Levitt walking down a street became news worthy on many film sites, everybody had their eyes on what Nolan was doing.
Batman Begins arrived for me with only one piece of fanfare, it was a Batman film, it then became at that point one of my favourite films of all time. The Dark Knight came with the added fanfare of all the reviews I had heard and read before seeing it but I still went into the movie with a relatively low level of exposure and hype. I approach The Dark Knight Rises, months before its release with a much higher level of hype than I ever had for the other two, films where I had only seen the trailer once and in the case of Batman Begins had read no reviews. The question at the crux of this article is the following, with the internet being what it is...is it now at all possible to come to a movie, completely fresh? will the internet kill The Dark Knight Rises? You could argue that it didn't kill The Dark Knight but that movie became something nobody could have anticipated, it became a cultural phenomenon, it grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and it expanded the audience for Batman considerably. The Dark Knight may be this generations The Empire Strikes Back, it is the film that filmmakers of the future will look back on as a huge influence, it opened peoples eyes to the possibilities of filmmaking, people saw it multiple times in cinemas, it transcended its source material.
This fear over the fate of The Dark Knight Rises comes from somebody who wants the film to incredibly well. Christopher Nolan is the filmmaker that Hollywood needs more of and I believe in Christopher Nolan, what I don't believe in is the commenters on IMDB, Twitter or other internet forums. In the end I know it doesn't matter what other people think of a film if you or I personally love it and if it makes enough money but the Dark Knight Rises is going to be one kind of threequel. The Godfather Part III, seen as immensely inferior to its predecessors and in fact unnecessary, to many ruining what had come before it and by some rejected as even part of the Godfather story, its own maker joining that crowd. Will it be a Return of the Jedi? where it is neither an abomination nor the best in the series. Or it will do a Return of the King? be huge critically, commercially and get Nolan the Oscar he deserves...
If I was in charge of the advertising campaign for this film, I would now go on a complete radio silence. No more posters, no more trailers, let other films hog the spotlight and fight for the audiences attention. People know The Dark Knight Rises is coming, they want to see it, the job is done. The hype for this movie is at such a point that they could have released no trailers and people would be just as, if not more excited. If The Dark Knight Rises can still emerge this summer with mystery and with perhaps a readjustment of expectations if early year releases such as Prometheus or The Avengers fail to deliver, it could beat the hype like The Dark Knight. The questions I pose with this article are can the internet and hype kill a movie? Will it kill The Dark Knight Rises? and what kind of threequel will this be? A Godfather Part III, A Return of the Jedi or a Return of the King?
Personally, nothing will hinder my hype for this movie and that worries me but not as much as it excites me. In the end I don't think anything can live up to this hype which is why I am going to do my best to cut myself off from this crazy Batman world that has formed on the internet so that when July rolls around I can be like, "Oh yeah, The Dark Knight Rises...bring it on" I won't let the hype kill this movie for me, I'll let the movie decide whether it wants to be remembered or not (And if so for the right reasons) but I doubt whether many will adopt this approach. He has defeated numerous villains but has The Dark Knight faced his biggest battle of them all? a villain he cannot defeat? Forget the fire rises, the hype rises and Nolan better have a masterpiece up his sleeve to avoid an internet outpouring of "What a disappointment", "It wasn't as good as The Dark Knight" and numerous other IMDB posts and tweets which will try to initially distort the internets view of this film. If everybody gave Toy Story 3 and Deathly Hallows: Part Two such big passes, Rises should have no issue with the critics (Who will enter into a bloodbath for the first review) but as somebody who runs a website and realizes a lot of movie discussion online, I wouldn't be able to handle a year in which The Dark Knight Rises Sucks became a trending, agreed upon topic online. So perhaps the hype killing Dark Knight Rises may be a good thing, as Bruce Wayne says in Batman Begins, "People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne but as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible" Perhaps The Dark Knight Rises will become the symbol for our over publicized, over analyzed, over exposed film hype machine and lead to a revolution in the way in which people market and approach the movies they anticipate.
For good or for bad, "The Dark Knight Legend" may become something very real in the film industry.
Give us all your thoughts in the Your Say section.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister,
Michael Dalton
Potter and Me
When Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone hit cinemas across the world, I was six years old. Now as the final film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two gets ever closer to release, I am approaching my sixteenth birthday and will in fact be spending it at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. I have seen every single Harry Potter film at the cinema and in four different countries. Philosopher’s Stone I saw in Holland, Chamber of Secrets I saw in England, Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of fire in Holland, Order of the Phoenix in Canada and Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows: Part One in Switzerland. In the ten years in which the Harry Potter series has been a firm fixture in the movie going calendar it has had a tremendous impact on the film industry. While it may be missed by studio heads due to the billions of dollars it has made in worldwide ticket sales, it will truly be missed by the people who invested in the story of a boy wizard and his journey from the boy living in the cupboard under the stairs to the man who is the only one able to face down true evil. The end of the Harry Potter series comes at a time when I am enjoying my last summer before I start my final two years of school education and where the world will start to become a much bigger and scarier place with much more pressure and demands than before, in short I must soon become a man and due to the immense presence that this series has had in my life, its conclusion is further restating the fact for me anyway that childhood is over.
There are two memories I have of going to see The Philosopher’s Stone, it was the first time when I went into a cinema and it was light and when I came out it was dark. I also remember thinking to myself at the time that the film did not feel that long. Seeing Chamber of Secrets is something that I cannot remember as vividly as seeing Philosopher’s Stone but I do remember seeing the spider scene on the big screen. Azkaban is a film that I again remember seeing on the big screen and is in fact my favourite of the books. Seeing Goblet of Fire is where my next earliest Harry Potter film viewing memory is at its most vivid. I remember the cinema being completely sold out; In fact I seem to have a memory of people sitting on the floor of the cinema just so they could see the film. At that point in my life I had never seen a cinema so packed and an audience so enthusiastic.
The film releases of Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince were around the time when I was becoming more and more of a film fan and as I had read all the books, less and less interested in Harry Potter. My particular disappointment with Half Blood Prince lead me to a stage where I was not greatly anticipating the release of Deathly Hallows: Part One, the way I anticipated the earlier films as a child. However going into Deathly Hallows: Part One with a group of friends, finding my seat, an odd sense of anticipation struck me and I found myself viewing a film which actually worked its way into my top ten for the year.
The release of Deathly Hallows: Part Two should be the end of this entire journey. Whether the film can live up to expectations remains to be seen but one thing is for sure, the journey of this series has been intensely personal for thousands if not millions of people. I am not crying while I type this, I did not cry reading the final book and I expect no tears when the final credits roll on Deathly Hallows: Part Two. Yet even as somebody who has become less of a Potter fan as I grow older I can still recognize and appreciate the impact that this film series has had not just on a pop culture level but also on my early film going experiences. Like them or hate them the Harry Potter films have always been “event” cinema. I have memories attached to this series and it has served as a backdrop as I made my own journey from boyhood to manhood. The Harry Potter series has been there for as long as I can remember (In fact the first book was published just before I was two years old) and while this film marks a significant end point for the immediate future, the Harry Potter series will never die for the reasons I stated above. A generation has grown up with this tale, with the seven books, the eight films, the countless merchandise, the games, the theme parks and the story at the core of it, the characters are so relatable that this is a book and film series that will stand the test of time. For my generation and for those who also face testing new times once the summer ends, Harry Potter has been the saga of our childhood and while all the posters are proclaiming “It all ends” the legacy of this series, is in fact only just beginning.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister
Michael Dalton
What memories do you have of seeing the Potter films? Are you sad to see it come to an end? Let us know in the Your Say section and be sure to join us Sunday, for our online marathon of the first four Harry Potter films.
If you want to enjoy the first four Harry Potter films and see the beginning of the series one last time before “It all ends” then join Movie Parliament, Sunday the 10th of July at 8PM (GMT+2) for an online Harry Potter marathon. Follow the schedule and watch the first four films, following our live blog whilst doing it and commenting with your opinions about the films and the franchise as a whole. Learn more about this event here
There are two memories I have of going to see The Philosopher’s Stone, it was the first time when I went into a cinema and it was light and when I came out it was dark. I also remember thinking to myself at the time that the film did not feel that long. Seeing Chamber of Secrets is something that I cannot remember as vividly as seeing Philosopher’s Stone but I do remember seeing the spider scene on the big screen. Azkaban is a film that I again remember seeing on the big screen and is in fact my favourite of the books. Seeing Goblet of Fire is where my next earliest Harry Potter film viewing memory is at its most vivid. I remember the cinema being completely sold out; In fact I seem to have a memory of people sitting on the floor of the cinema just so they could see the film. At that point in my life I had never seen a cinema so packed and an audience so enthusiastic.
The film releases of Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince were around the time when I was becoming more and more of a film fan and as I had read all the books, less and less interested in Harry Potter. My particular disappointment with Half Blood Prince lead me to a stage where I was not greatly anticipating the release of Deathly Hallows: Part One, the way I anticipated the earlier films as a child. However going into Deathly Hallows: Part One with a group of friends, finding my seat, an odd sense of anticipation struck me and I found myself viewing a film which actually worked its way into my top ten for the year.
The release of Deathly Hallows: Part Two should be the end of this entire journey. Whether the film can live up to expectations remains to be seen but one thing is for sure, the journey of this series has been intensely personal for thousands if not millions of people. I am not crying while I type this, I did not cry reading the final book and I expect no tears when the final credits roll on Deathly Hallows: Part Two. Yet even as somebody who has become less of a Potter fan as I grow older I can still recognize and appreciate the impact that this film series has had not just on a pop culture level but also on my early film going experiences. Like them or hate them the Harry Potter films have always been “event” cinema. I have memories attached to this series and it has served as a backdrop as I made my own journey from boyhood to manhood. The Harry Potter series has been there for as long as I can remember (In fact the first book was published just before I was two years old) and while this film marks a significant end point for the immediate future, the Harry Potter series will never die for the reasons I stated above. A generation has grown up with this tale, with the seven books, the eight films, the countless merchandise, the games, the theme parks and the story at the core of it, the characters are so relatable that this is a book and film series that will stand the test of time. For my generation and for those who also face testing new times once the summer ends, Harry Potter has been the saga of our childhood and while all the posters are proclaiming “It all ends” the legacy of this series, is in fact only just beginning.
By Movie Parliament Prime Minister
Michael Dalton
What memories do you have of seeing the Potter films? Are you sad to see it come to an end? Let us know in the Your Say section and be sure to join us Sunday, for our online marathon of the first four Harry Potter films.
If you want to enjoy the first four Harry Potter films and see the beginning of the series one last time before “It all ends” then join Movie Parliament, Sunday the 10th of July at 8PM (GMT+2) for an online Harry Potter marathon. Follow the schedule and watch the first four films, following our live blog whilst doing it and commenting with your opinions about the films and the franchise as a whole. Learn more about this event here
