The Harry Potter Film Franchise

The Harry Potter Film series began in 1999 when J.K.Rowling sold the film rights for the first four Harry Potter books to Warner Brother Studios. In the negotiations, Rowling insisted that all the principle cast members be kept strictly British. She was also granted quite a bit of creative control for the film, which the directors welcomed. After a seventh month search, the coveted role of Harry Potter went to child actor Daniel Radcliff. Rowling has said she couldn’t imagine there was anyone better to play Harry. Cast to play Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger were two unknown actors, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

There were quite a few directors who worked on the films including Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newekk, and David Yates. All the directors worked very well together and helped their successor with the next film. Some critics have said that the result of different directors has made the series disjointed. However, some appreciate the individual style and evolution of the series as a result. Steve Kloves wrote all but one (the fifth) of the screenplays for the series and thanks to Rowling’s participation with screenwriting the scripts all stayed fairly true to the books. There have been six different cinematographers in the film, with Bruno Delbonnel being nominated for an Academy Award for The Half Blood Prince. John Williams provided the haunting and well known Harry Potter theme music for the series, known as Hedwig’s Theme. Sadly he was actually only able to work on scoring for the first three films.

Since the first movie’s release in 2002, the Harry Potter series has respectively grossed over $7.7 billion worldwide. Each movie has been nominated for Academy Awards, some of which include Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Makeup. They have all been consistently well rated, earning an average rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. The success of  the Harry Potter  franchise has made it a major contender to Hollywood’s elite films such as James Bond, Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.