Steven Spielberg Wanted To Direct A CGI Harry Potter Movie!

Steven Spielberg Wanted To Direct A CGI Harry Potter Movie!

The LA Times have revealed that Stephen Spielberg came very close to helming the Harry Potter movies but lost out because he wanted to combine the books and use CGI...

By JoshWilding - Nov 07, 2010 10:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Fantasy
Source: Hero Complex

The LA Times report that back when Warner Bros purchased the right to J.K. Rowling’s novels (for only $2 million!) they contacted DreamWorks in the hopes of securing a financial partner. Although they were hesitant to begin with, they soon signed up when the books became a hit and were keen on getting Spielberg to direct the first film. However, his ideas did not please Warner Bros.



"I did think it would be worthwhile for Steven Spielberg to direct. We offered it to him. But one of the notions of Dreamworks’ and Steven’s was, ‘Let’s combine a couple of the books, let’s make it animated,’ and that was because of the [visual effects and] Pixar had demonstrated that animated movies could be extremely successful. Because of the wizardry involved, they were very effects-laden. So I don’t blame them. But I did not want to combine the movies, and I wanted it to be live action."


What do you think? Would you have liked to of seen the directors take on the Harry Potter franchise? Are you looking forward to the final movie to be released so Warner Bros start getting on with making more superhero movies? Be sure to share your thoughts in the usual place!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is set to be released on November 19, later this month. A trailer for Green Lantern is expected to accompany it.




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Ironbat95
Ironbat95 - 11/7/2010, 10:38 AM
Spielberg + Harry Potter=Perfect

Spielberg + Harry Potter-Live Action=Cringe Worthy
Ibz
Ibz - 11/7/2010, 10:40 AM
cgi would have worked but combining the books not a great idea but kinda glad its in live action
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 11/7/2010, 11:08 AM
Priceless, tea. Priceless.
LOL
LOL - 11/7/2010, 11:08 AM
0.0

.....aaaannnddd Teabag for the win!
marvel72
marvel72 - 11/7/2010, 11:15 AM
@ teabag

lmao,potter fans are gonna be fuming.
JoshWilding
JoshWilding - 11/7/2010, 11:23 AM
LMAO, awesome as always tea! :D

As I've said before, I love the novels but have never been too keen on the movies, especially the last two which removed some of the best bits of the books in order to make way for sickly romantic subplots and unfunny funny moments! I've never really like Radcliffe, Grint or Watson either...the adults in the cast have kept me coming back for more and I'll definitely goo and see this one in a few weeks time.

As for Steven Spielberg, his take on a live action Harry Potter movie would have been amazing. CGI and more than one book a movie though? That would have been crap IMO.
SHAZAM171
SHAZAM171 - 11/7/2010, 11:26 AM
Who cares, I HATE HARRY POTTER MOVIES. UGH...
yankeemanf
yankeemanf - 11/7/2010, 12:48 PM
im not the biggest fan of harry potter but i enjoy em and i kno combinin the books wouldva been a horrid idea but cgi couldve worked but not as well as live action
Whiteharted
Whiteharted - 11/7/2010, 12:48 PM
This is old news, know for years.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 11/7/2010, 1:18 PM
SHAZAM171 @ You mean HARRY CRAPPER lol! ; P

Damn shame WARNER BROS couldn't make a franchise out of 'BOOK OF MAGIC!'



DC UNIVERSE STYLE!

Damn Potter lol.
DukeAcureds
DukeAcureds - 11/7/2010, 1:35 PM
Books of Magic all the way. Screw Potter. Looking forward to the last two, though. And I have no idea why.
TheNameIsBetty
TheNameIsBetty - 11/7/2010, 2:38 PM
Epic Fail
justsomerandomfanboy
justsomerandomfanboy - 11/7/2010, 3:30 PM
I'm sorry, I dont mean to be rude, but I have a couple complaints with this article. (a) WTF DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH COMICS? Harry Potter has not, and will not be made into a comic book, so this article has no business on this site. (2) this is not new information and is not front page worthy. it's been public knowledge for years that Speilberg was first approached to do Potter, and that he wanted to make it animated. What this article doesn't mention, which is also been known for years, is that he wanted Haley Joel Osment to voice Harry. The biggest WTF of the whole story, and it wasn't mentioned in the article. Now either the person who wrote this article sucks as a reporter, or they didn't do their homework, which means they still suck as a reporter. There. I said what had to be said. SOryy if i offended anyone. I'm kind of new to commenting on this site. Been reading it for years, but just recently made a username.
marvelguy
marvelguy - 11/7/2010, 3:31 PM
Is this news? And what was the last good movie he made in the sci-fi or fantasy realm?
bleedthefreak
bleedthefreak - 11/7/2010, 3:43 PM
justsomerandomfanboy: this site caters to more than just comic book movies, sure it is our main priority but there is a lot of things we cover that were never comics like certain sci-fi and action movies. Superherohype doesn't just focus on superhero movies, but again it is still its first priority. Is this news main worthy? Yes because it was the first time we heard what Spielberg would have done with the movie even if it was old news that he was approached to direct.
justsomerandomfanboy
justsomerandomfanboy - 11/7/2010, 4:00 PM
well i heard about it years ago. all of it is old news
rushx5
rushx5 - 11/7/2010, 5:12 PM
What's with all the complaints. It's nice to know a tidbit of information about the upcoming sci-fi films since most comicbook movies are in the sci-fi genre anyway.

Back on topic. Harry Potter films suffered due to the excessive concentration on Romance. It's acceptable to have a lot of it IF it drives the main plot but most of the time they don't. Harry Potter films are becoming like Twilight films where for the majority of the film nothing happens and only at the very end some sort of event or action is shown.

I'm not sure about Spielberg's take on Harry Potter. It could be good or just as bad. He definitely has his hit and misses.
CaptainAmerica
CaptainAmerica - 11/7/2010, 6:56 PM
Its not old news you douche's, this info just came out. It was known that Spielberg wanted to direct and that he wanted the creepy kid from the 6th Sense, but no one knew about the CGI part and the mixing of the books. Good find Josh.
Luigi
Luigi - 11/7/2010, 8:15 PM
@CaptainAmerica: The CG part isn't new either. I don't know about the mixing of book parts, that's new to me.
CaptainAmerica
CaptainAmerica - 11/7/2010, 9:11 PM
i swear ive never heard that before. but nevertheless its a new report that Josh is reporting :)
ChromaCut
ChromaCut - 11/7/2010, 9:29 PM
Would be cool, maybe after this franchsie is finished, Speilberg can do his take on it, that'd be intresting.
erth2drew
erth2drew - 11/7/2010, 11:31 PM
REBOOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!! or do cgi series of those old books vampiresarent or franksteins dont plant petunias, probably a tv series tho
yeoldeemoney
yeoldeemoney - 11/8/2010, 1:22 AM
@tea seen it b4 but still lulz

As for the article, this just sounded like an all around fail. Spielberg has def. lost his touch. I mean come on. Condensing books together. Naw dawg nah.
SpaceAceThor
SpaceAceThor - 11/8/2010, 6:59 AM
I think a Spielberg+CGI version would've been interesting, but his screenwritten version would have been even more condensed and "creatively edited" than the live action movies because he intended to combine the books. Live action is better. Think: Polar Express. Ewww.
Nemeres
Nemeres - 11/8/2010, 7:14 AM
Aside from the terrible idea of combining the films, this would have been great. It would have given us less overacting, anyway (except for Rupert Grint, who is the only good one).
SolidSnake007
SolidSnake007 - 11/8/2010, 1:20 PM
Spielberg used to be good but not anymore. His take would have been awful. I'm going on the record to say that now. He's the most over rated director in Hollywood today. He needs to give it up and retire already and leave filmaking to the talented directors.
cainas80
cainas80 - 11/8/2010, 4:33 PM
Why not a cgi T.V series of the potter books it could work?! plus they wouldn't have to cut so much of the story out.
nuck82
nuck82 - 11/8/2010, 5:24 PM
witty i loves u : * u asshole u
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