Gregory Pace/FilmMagic/Getty ImagesĬuarón was no stranger to Hollywood, with pictures like 1995’s A Little Princess and 1998’s Great Expectations in his rearview, but he was quickly becoming an adult-oriented auteur who didn’t easily fit in the family blockbuster space. (It should be said that the director was also not the studio’s first choice, instead being selected after Kenneth Branagh and Guillermo del Toro passed on the job.)Īlfonso Cuaron (left) with the cast of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Years before Disney-owned Marvel plucked indie filmmakers like Taika Waititi and Chloé Zhao to play in their multi-billion-dollar toy box, Harry Potter established a prototype for that pipeline by hiring Cuarón. Cuarón, not Columbus, was the first to direct an entry in the series that wrestled intently with the entire saga’s coming-of-age journey. hired Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón to helm Prisoner of Azkaban, arguably the creative zenith of the Potter films that also represented a tonal turning point for the franchise. But on the basis that Columbus would miss his family growing up if he committed to 10 years of movie-making, the filmmaker left after 2002’s Chamber of Secrets. This wasn’t originally supposed to happen.Ĭolumbus, whose biggest film before Harry Potter was 1990’s Home Alone, was slated to direct seven films in the series (before the decision was made to split Deathly Hallows into a two-parter). However, one in particular stands head-and-shoulders above the others: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, from 2004.Īcross all eight movies, four separate directors - Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, and David Yates - brought something unique to the table. Primarily an advisor and producer on only the last two movies (both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), Rowling was involved only up to a point.Īnd it’s with that comfortable distance that we can say the Harry Potter films are still quite good as the movies finally become available once again on HBO Max (they were available at launch, but quickly disappeared due to complex licensing deals).
She didn’t cast the actors, build the sets, set up lenses, sew the costumes, compose the music, or edit the films together. Though Rowling penned every book and faithfully adapted them into a film series that grossed $7 billion between 20, she didn’t make every creative decision along the way. Rowling has expressed horrifically regressive views on trans people, we can take comfort knowing Rowling wasn’t involved in everything that made the story of Harry Potter special.
MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images/MediaNews Group/Getty Images A Harry Potter cosplay meetup at Comic-Con 2018 in San Diego.
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