The Harry Potter film franchise will be recognized by the British Academy of Film and Television with the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema honor at the BAFTA Awards on Feb. 13. Author J.K. Rowling and producer David Heyman will accept the honor on behalf of the franchise, which has grossed $5.4 billion worldwide since the first Potter film was released 10 years ago.
Feb 3
2011
10:15 AM ET
'Harry Potter' to receive special BAFTA award
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YAY! Now if the Oscars could just follow suit.
Yay! On an slightly unrelated note, I wonder what book Jo is writing now…
A POLITICAL FAIRYTALE.
Sorry, had caps lock on.
Love Harry Potter but the first two films were garbage, as was, to an extent, the 6th one. I think the 7th one is redeeming them all though.
The first two were garbage.
The sisxth one was not. Far from it.
The sixth one was truest to the book.
yea burning the burrow was a great scene in the book. Oh wait.
Now I’m curious – why do you think the first two films were garbage?
NONE of the HP movies have been anywhere near “garbage” although the first two are the weakest of the bunch, but that says more about the brilliance of the ones that came after it than it does about the few shortcomings of 1 & 2.
I agree, GRT. Given the technological advancement the last ten years (NOTE: TEN YEARS), the first two films were extraordinary even then.
First ones aren’t garbage, they are just the weakest from the 7 of them. They still hold something special in the fans hearts. They have the nostalgic feeling.
Awesome! If anyone’s unfamiliar with this prize, it’s extremely prestigious and recognizes a body of work as a whole. It’s gone to people like Kenneth Branagh and Mike Leigh. An extremely high honor for the series.
What a way to wrap it all up, with a ‘contribution honor’. What, no gold plated watch and a pat on the back?
YAY! I wish they’d get something similar in America, but I’m sure the Academy will never do it. Maybe HFPA at the Globes.
And in unrelated news, Twilight: Eclipse looks to sweep the Razzies.
Like. Like. Like. Like. Like.
Nailed it!
An award for what? Parodying a great set of books?! With the right producer and screenwriter these could have been a fabulous line of movies. Instead, that Hollywood hack Kloves has produced the height of mediocrity….diminishing certain characters at the expense of others, lame attempts at humour (something Rowling captured perfectly) and wooden acting. I hope I live long enough to see this story done PROPER JUSTICE to on screen. Doubt it though.
I *completely* agree with you! While I have seen each and every HP movie, most of the times more than twice, I can’t help but be disappointed with Kloves and the butchery he performed on many of the movies. In the movies Ron barely has anything to do, and the Burrow burning in the 6th film was a disaster. The movies could have been so much better, but Kloves made a mockery of loyal fans to the books. Although this still won’t keep me from watching them all continuously, I just keep thinking about what *could* have been
They are great book adaption. Considering each book got longer and longer until the 5th and they all stayed with more than 700 pages, they did a brilliant job with the time they had.
You people are shameful, do yourself a favor and don’t watch the 8th movie.
Yes to your every word. Even though I understand what they honour with that award, it’s always “what could have been”.
They could have been much worse. I agree they were watered down somewhat from what they could have been, but JKR could have allowed something much worse to take place.
The award is for what all the films did for the British film industry as a whole – which is pretty astronomical!
I want you to write a screenplay based on one of the books let’s say book 5. Keep it around 3 hours and include as much plot as you can while keeping a film audience’s attention. I will bet you do a lot worse. I won’t even ask you to keep a reasonable budget in mind while writing it.
I don’t see how any Harry Potter fan could ever say a word about the films’ production quality. David Heyman and his co-producers have done an amazing job getting the appropriate look for the series by hiring the highest quality art directors, visual effects artists, cinematographers, and musicians, as well as managing to hire and organize work schedules for some of the most talented and in-demand British actors around, and keeping them all on for 8 (!!!) HUGE blockbuster films. I have many, many, many problems with the work of Steve Kloves, Michael Goldenberg and all four of the directors, as they were the ones largely responsible for translating the actual STORY to film, but I can’t say enough about Mr. Heyman and what he’s done. If anyone deserves that award, it’s him, because the world of Hogwarts could not have possibly looked better onscreen. That alone makes the Harry Potter series completely pointless to ever try re-adapting.
yeah i agree whenever i imagine my own version of how the movies couldve been better i still picture the actors and sets and stuff from the movies =P
Correction: According to boxofficemojo.com, the franchise has now grossed roughly 6.3 billion dollars worldwide. Just sayin’…
That’s amazing. With Part 2, no doubt it would be like 7.3 billion.
I love the movies, but do admit they are not the same as the books. But movies never are. So why not enjoy both. In the case of the Harry Potter stories, I love both.
That sounds amazing! It’s great for everyone involved in the franchise. If only the Oscars could do something similar.
hi to potter fans who bash twilight continually here, i just finished reading all of harry potter books for first time ever, really enjoyed them, heck even cried a bit reading last chapters of deathly hallows, it was a beautifully written series, having now read both series, i’m at an even greater loss trying to understand why u hate twilight, compare it to potter, feel the need to assert ur superiority over twilight! i seriously don’t get it!
the two series are nothing alike not even in the slightest form, topic or scope!i had two very different reading experiences, both thrilling in such a different way u cannot compare them! i think it would be more appropriate to compare potter to LOTR! not because of genre but the scope, middle earth/ wizarding world, the share amount of characters involved, harry has the weight of the world’s fate and his own on his shoulders very much like frodo, twilight characters not so much its so intimate,its about them and a girl,there’s no great impact on the vampire world because of bella and edward! i’m now even more baffled by this fabricated rivalry that has no true basis! in my opinion, of course, i have no problems loving both series and being able to make the correct distinctions that enable me not to have to bash one in order for the other to survive!
if i had to be super picky about the two, twilight gets all the romance, potter not so much, ginny helllooo? and potter gets the great superbly described battle scene with characters we’ve come to love dying left and right, twilight not so much, can u imagine voldermort and harry talking things over and calling it a day lol,each battle played out the way it did for a reason!
we twilight fans got a fade to black grrr after 3 books of bottle-up sexual frustration, u guys got a glossed over paragraph after harry and ginny kiss,but romance was never the point of potter books! to each their own qualities! i like them both all the same!
Well said!
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