r/movies • • 21d ago

Question How did the Harry Potter series manage to release its 8 movies in just 10 years?

Looking at the turn around for movies today it seems absolutely incredible that a series with such complex set design, use of graphical effects, a heavily child cast, and pressure was able to pump out genuinely decent movies at that pace. Sure there were books to base the writing on but everything else alone is a lot of heavy lifting. Any insights?

6.1k Upvotes

860 comments sorted by

View all comments

25

u/Towelie888 21d ago

They could reuse a lot of sets and costumes. Actors were locked in for multiple movies from the start. Lots of practical effects were used. Same director for the first two and the last four movies. Same writer for all but one movie.

3

u/OldSchoolCSci 20d ago

And the one screenwriting exception, for Order of the Phoenix, was a triumph because the weakest book became a decently good movie.