ROTTEN TOMATOES: David Yates Directing Final Harry Potter Film?

David Yates Directing Final Harry Potter Film?

by Jeff Giles | February 21, 2008

Summary

It appears as though David Yates will be the one helming the final Harry Potter film -- but his decision comes at a price for fans anticipating another literary adaptation. Back to Article

(21-40 of 48 posts) | Reply

jpbresnihan writes:
on Feb 21 2008 11:33 AM

i always looked at the last three potter books as a trilogy on its own. so i think it seems fitting that yates finished what he started, doing order, prince, and hallows. they'll all three have that style continuity that didnt so much connect chamber with azkaban, azkaban with goblet, and goblet with order.

but really we wont be able to tell how good of a decision this is until we see the next film.

(Reply to this)

jpbresnihan writes:
on Feb 21 2008 11:35 AM

i always looked at the last three potter books as a trilogy on its own. so i think it seems fitting that yates finished what he started, doing order, prince, and hallows. they'll all three have that style continuity that didnt so much connect chamber with azkaban, azkaban with goblet, and goblet with order.

but really we wont be able to tell how good of a decision this is until we see the next film.

(Reply to this)

TheGreatOne13 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 11:36 AM

Yeah I like how everyone blames the fifth film on Yates when it was the first film written by a different screenwriter...in fact I actually liked the fifth one, definitely better thant the first two Columbus films....if your complaining about a lot of things missing, blame the screenwriter...Im fine with him finishing this thing up

(Reply to this)

TheGreatOne13 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 11:40 AM

oh yeah and Steve Kloves wrote Half Blood Prince so I think we should be back to form for those of u who didnt like the fifth one

(Reply to this)

pughtastic writes:
on Feb 21 2008 12:06 PM

Well, while everyone is berating Order of the Phoenix the film, let's not forget it was based on a book. While I enjoyed the book, the characters were definitely written to be less likable in it than they had previously been. Kind of the wo-is-me-teenager book of the series.

(Reply to this)

knowingtoast85 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 02:13 PM

Strange, I far preferred "Order of the Phoenix" to any of the other movies. If I hear one more person complain about how Yates' film excised Hermoine's house elf subplot, I'm going to...well, probably not do anything. Although I've only read the first two books, a house elf subplot sounds like the absolute worst thing to include in a movie series already famed for getting longer in the tooth with each entry.

And we finally got a wizard battle. Thank God. I almost didn't want to see these movies anymore.

(Reply to this)

Loose Seal writes:
on Feb 21 2008 03:05 PM

just as long as they don't have the cheesy epilogue, i'm fine

(Reply to this)

~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Feb 21 2008 03:08 PM

Shatter24 pretty much said what I wanted to say. Newell has a definite for excising the extraneous and still leaving us with a solid movie. Yates isn't really that good of a director. The entire school year, the one Rowling so carefully crafted to showcase Umbridge's evil....was reduced to an upbeat montage. Wow. Add the unnecessarily changes to the dementors and Floo communication, and I really don't see why anyone would want Yates to handle the finale. Del Toro would have been great, seriously. And Cuar�n would have been nice, too. And I'd have no qualms with Newell either. So of all the competent directors who have done/want to do a Harry Potter film, they chose possibly the least qualifed and talented of them all. Great. Can't wait to ride the inevitable downward spiral in quality.

(Reply to this)

homer42016 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 03:19 PM

I can't believe this! In adapting the books, he's the worst of them all! I just can't get over the fact that he managed to turn the longest book into the shortest movie. Plus, the magic and charm that was present in all the previous movies isn't there. I really hope they get somebody else between now and the time when that movie comes out.

(Reply to this)

duckmanx88 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 03:41 PM

i really liked the ending of OOTP but the entire lead in into it was pretty crappy. i know they have to change some things from the book but they totally changed too much. OOTP was rated the lowest of the HP films for a reason on RT. we need the guy from GOF. he knew how to condesne the film and still give it the action and fun throughought the film.

(Reply to this)

Nimbussunshine writes:
on Feb 21 2008 04:18 PM

I would have to agree with many of you; that Cuaron is the best director of the series. He took a story that many of us new on multiply levels and improved upon it; seeing things in the background, wide angle shots, and a comical effect on many of the characters that we love and hate. He placed the characters in our realm by letting the kids wear real clothes instead of the robes they usually wear; it allowed us to relate to them more.

Mike Newell was hailed as the director who would bring more realism to the stories due to his experience with the British school system, but what he delivered was a bland story that lack any suspense.

The Ootp was better than The Goblet of Fire, but it was missing many of the substance that provided the story with weight.

Twelve million people know how the story ends; bring back Cuaron and pay him whatever he wants, so we can have an exciting movie experience on the last hurah.

(Reply to this)

N720MF writes:
on Feb 21 2008 06:17 PM

The only Harry Potter movie I can remember actually caring about was the 3rd one.

(Reply to this)

sullibrandon writes:
on Feb 21 2008 06:59 PM

I have to say that this news about ruined my day. Ootp was by far the worst of the bunch. I don't judge movies based on what they cut out from books, what I do judge them on is coherence, and the film completely lacked that. Several characters were done away with unceremoniously with barely any explanation at all, mainly Cho and Sirius, and the whole thing was a stupid mish-mash. The final battle with all the Death Eaters was boring. They were shouting, "Stupefy!" "Expelliarmus" and so on, and all the spells DID THE SAME FREAKIN THING. It was dark and dreary and unexciting, and then the Order versus the Death Eaters all swishing around in white and black blurs was a cop-out. The battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore, though - THAT was epic. Truly epic.

Unfortunately, though, it did make the most money, so WB has no reason to change directors. Think about this, though - the only reason it did make so much money was because of the hype AND because it was released so soon before the final book hit shelves. What better publicity could you ask for? Most HP5 fans I've talked to thought it was the worst. So now that we're all poised for Half-Blood Prince to suck, if it does, the box office tally will go dramatically down, say a few hundred million dollars, and then maybe WB will realize how much Yates sucks, and get somebody different.

Of course, if Half-Blood Prince is good (and I sincerely doubt it will be), then I'll be happy to see Yates direct the final, though still a little disappointed that neither Cuaron nor del Toro will be. POA has been the best film, period.

(Reply to this)

nevermachine writes:
on Feb 21 2008 07:19 PM

bleh! very disapointing...
I was really hoping that Alfonso would be back... was OotP really so much of a sucess that they would waist the rest of the whole friggn series on him? well, at the very least, (Spoiler) they have to kill off that rotten dumbledoor imposter in #6. what a terrible choice in casting- "DIDYOUPUTYOURNAMEINTHEGOBLETHARRY!!" god. dumbledoor is much nicer in the books. Considering that most of the next film will playout around the conversations between harry and dumbledoor about voldemort (and the fact that they have cut every "dumbledoors last words with harry" scene very short in the past 3 films), that guy has got to get his **** together if he thinks that anyone will miss him.

(Reply to this)

nevermachine writes:
on Feb 21 2008 07:39 PM

hmmm. yes, i guess it is unfair to blame Yates completely for a poor potter 5 when it was largly due to the writters, but i cannot agree with Nimbussunshine more:

Yates did not do anything special with the series, not a damn thing.
if a wizard battle is all that really impresses you, i can see why you have never read the books. (it was better in book!)

what i really cannot understand is why Dave McKean has not been back to art direct since the amazing work he did in #3. i hope to god that he will at least be involved in Hallows.

(Reply to this)

zetabosio writes:
on Feb 21 2008 07:47 PM

Was Yates too cheap? Or what was it??? Or are the studios just desperate to milk out all the potter movies they just want to risk any delays because of negotiations or whatever????

Who would I like:
1. Cuar�n
2. Del Toro
3. Danny Boyle

(Reply to this)

zetabosio writes:
on Feb 21 2008 07:51 PM

In reply to this comment (#1592179)
Neee... Columbus was far the worst of 'em all... He just sticked to copy-paste chapter by chapter (like in Rent) without questioning himself what elements are needed to make a good film work.

(Reply to this)

DarthWonka writes:
on Feb 21 2008 07:59 PM

What I think we have yet to see is a Potter film that completely sweeps us into another world and makes us forget about the books entirely and get us caught up in the universe of the FILM. LotR knocked it out in the first go. SW knocked it out in the first go, then pushed it even deeper in the second. Here's how it's going to go down: These first seven Harry Potter movies will be completed, but, in about say, thirty to fifty years, when the books are classics and these movies are forgotten for the thin cash-ins that they are, a team with supreme vision will come in and give all seven books the charming, magical cinematic treatment they deserve. Trust me, this series will not be the end of Potter on screen. Remakes will come. Remakes WILL be better.

(Reply to this)

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 08:15 PM

I would like THE GIVER become a movie, I read the book when I was younger and I'd really liked it. I wouldn't care if they got another director.

(Reply to this)

quato34 writes:
on Feb 21 2008 08:36 PM

Am I the only person who thinks that TERRY GILLIAM should be directing the final movie? Aside from Cuaron, he would probably be the best with this material. I love Del Toro, but I am worried he might camp it up a little too much (a la Hellboy).

(Reply to this)