Harry Potter "Ultimate Editions"

[Seretur]

Well, they can only insert what they shot, and that was already severely truncated from the books. Lame or not, this will be basically it for the films.

I guess.

I mean, I did notice that there are still "deleted scenes" listed under the extras for both movies. Although this could be just a carbon copy of the extras list from the first release... or something else.

[Jumpman]

Well, for films three through six, don't get your hopes up. After Columbus left the franchise, with Rowling's blessing, they started to really adapt the books because it was only going to get harder and harder as the films got progressively bigger in size and detail.

So, a lot of the deleted material probably won't add that much. They'll just fill out the world more. These won't be like Jackson's extended cuts of Lord of the Rings (Thank God! Fellowship extended is brilliant. The other two? Frustrating viewing experiences.)

On average, I'd bet that films three through six might get about an extra five to seven minutes added to them. That's really about all anyone should expect.

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

Well, for films three through six, don't get your hopes up. After Columbus left the franchise, with Rowling's blessing, they started to really adapt the books because it was only going to get harder and harder as the films got progressively bigger in size and detail.

So, a lot of the deleted material probably won't add that much. They'll just fill out the world more. These won't be like Jackson's extended cuts of Lord of the Rings (Thank God! Fellowship extended is brilliant. The other two? Frustrating viewing experiences.)

On average, I'd bet that films three through six might get about an extra five to seven minutes added to them. That's really about all anyone should expect.

Why do you find the other 2 frustrating? I felt that the Two Towers benefited the most from the EEs in regards to making more sense.

[Jumpman]

Volume,

Essentially, it comes down to great scenes that add more of Tolkien's world to pointless scene that were Jackson creations that distract from the overall viewing experience.

With Fellowship, whether theatrical or extended, it felt Tolkien, even with Jackson and company adapting it.

With the last two, you can feel the fatigue of the story setting in and more often not, it has to do with scenes that Jackson and company created out of Tolkien's text that don't feel like the rest of the film.

Honestly, my problem with the last two films has to do with the scripting, especially Two Towers. By filling that film out more than it needed to be, it hurt Return of the King a lot. The Extended Cuts of those two film just prove my point.

In its extended form, Two Towers should've only been 3 hours and 15 minutes max. As it stands now, its 3 hours and 45 minutes. Just too much stupid stuff. And having the running time be that long killed the opening of Return of the King. I mean, Saurman's demise should've ended Two Towers with the cliffhanger of the Plantair that Pippin picks up along with the cliffhanger with Gollum.

Having it tacted on to the beginning of King killed the opening of that film.

Sorry for the long rant but I just have major issues with the last two films that could've been easily solved if Jackson stated closer to the text. Not a Tolkien purist(Fellowship is changed alot but it feels way more Tolkien than the other two films) but when he stayed close to Tolkien's the films work beautifully. When he strays, that's where things get really off.

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by Jumpman

Volume,

Essentially, it comes down to great scenes that add more of Tolkien's world to pointless scene that were Jackson creations that distract from the overall viewing experience.

With Fellowship, whether theatrical or extended, it felt Tolkien, even with Jackson and company adapting it.

With the last two, you can feel the fatigue of the story setting in and more often not, it has to do with scenes that Jackson and company created out of Tolkien's text that don't feel like the rest of the film.

Honestly, my problem with the last two films has to do with the scripting, especially Two Towers. By filling that film out more than it needed to be, it hurt Return of the King a lot. The Extended Cuts of those two film just prove my point.

In its extended form, Two Towers should've only been 3 hours and 15 minutes max. As it stands now, its 3 hours and 45 minutes. Just too much stupid stuff. And having the running time be that long killed the opening of Return of the King. I mean, Saurman's demise should've ended Two Towers with the cliffhanger of the Plantair that Pippin picks up along with the cliffhanger with Gollum.

Having it tacted on to the beginning of King killed the opening of that film.

Sorry for the long rant but I just have major issues with the last two films that could've been easily solved if Jackson stated closer to the text. Not a Tolkien purist(Fellowship is changed alot but it feels way more Tolkien than the other two films) but when he stayed close to Tolkien's the films work beautifully. When he strays, that's where things get really off.

Fair enough.

[Seretur]

Jumpman,

I would have bought you ten rounds of beer for that post, except that you spelled the word palantír wrong.

Now I'll just buy you five rounds of beer.

[wallendo]

I will not be building a "parallel collection" of special editions. To me these are "extended editions" not "Director's Cuts". As far as I can tell,, these movies were re-edited by nameless studio people, not the creative artists involved in the original production. Of additional concern, unless seamless branching is used, WB may try to cram 2 versions of the film on a single BD a la "Dark City" Hopefully seamless branching, or the movies on different disks, will be used. I will probably just rent the bonus discs from Netflix.

On the other hand, if these sets get rave reviews, I may move my original BD's to the beach and buy the new sets for my home.

[DRS]

These are the Special Features for the DVD versions

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

DISC 1: Theatrical Version (152mins)

* Anamorphic Widescreen
* English and Spanish DD5.1 EX Surround
* English and Spanish subtitles


DISC 2: Extended Version (159mins) with 7 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres.

* Anamorphic Widescreen
* English and Spanish DD5.1 Surround
* English and Spanish subtitles


DISC 3:

* Diagon Alley
* Tour the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry’s Room and the Great Hall - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hogwarts, home of witches and wizards in training, and take in the sights.
* Classrooms: Defense Against the Dark Arts; Spells and Charms; Potions; Transfiguration
* Third Floor Corridor; Deleted Scenes.
* Sorting Hat
* Library: Gallery of Art & Architecture; Hogwarts Yearbook; Guide to Ghosts - Discover the many marvelous and mysterious ghosts of Hogwarts.
* Hogwarts Grounds: Quaffle and Bludger - Get a lesson from Oliver Wood on how to play Quidditch; Tour Hagrid's Hut - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Hagrid’s Hut, home of Rubeus Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts, and his faithful companion, Fang.
* Extra Credit
* Interview - Capturing the Stone: A Conversation with the Filmmakers - Director Chris Columbus, Producer David Heyman, Screenwriter Steve Kloves and Production Designer Stuart Craig talk about casting and bringing the novel to life.


DISC 4:

* Introduction by Daniel Radcliffe - An introduction to the many special features for the Harry Potter films [NEW]
* Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 1: The Magic Begins - Discover the story of how one vision for the Harry Potter films came together out of limitless possibilities to create the visual world we have come to know and love. [NEW]
* A Glimpse Into the World of Harry Potter 2001 International TV Special
* Deleted Scenes
* Trailers and TV Spots


COLLECTIBLES:

* 48-Page Photo Book with rare images from Years 1-7
* Two in a series of Character Cards


Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets: Ultimate Edition

DISC 1: Theatrical Version (161mins)

* Anamorphic Widescreen
* English, French and Spanish DD5.1 EX Surround
* English, French and Spanish subtitles


DISC 2: Extended Version (174mins) with 13 Minutes of Footage Not Shown in Theatres.

* Anamorphic Widescreen
* English, French and Spanish DD5.1 Surround
* English, French and Spanish subtitles


DISC 3:

* Deleted Scenes
* Lockhart’s Classroom
* Photo Gallery:
o Certificates - Have a look at Gilderoy Lockhart’s many achievements
o Required Reading - Find out what text books you’ll need for Lockhart’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
* Extra Credit
* Behind Hogwarts
* A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves - The author and screenwriter detail how the books are brought to life, and the changes that happen in the process.
* Dumbledore’s Office
* Build a Scene - Building a scene as magnificent as Professor Dumbledore’s office takes more than wood, plaster, nails and paint. It takes imagination.
* Tour Dumbledore's Office - Welcome to the self-guided tour of Professor Dumbledore’s office, one of the most fascinating rooms at Hogwarts.
* Interviews with Students, Professors and More
* Gallery of Production Sketches
* Activities
* Spellcaster Knowledge Challenge [Game]
* EA Game Preview


DISC 4:

* Creating the World of Harry Potter, Part 2: Characters - Explore how the cast and creative team of directors and designers take the character’s descriptions on the page to the actor’s performances on film.
* Screen Tests of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson
* Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Revealed - 2002 HBO First Look special
* Trailers and TV Spots


COLLECTIBLES:

* 48-Page Photo Book with rare images from Years 1-7
* Two in a series of Character Cards

Keep in mind this is for the DVD version. The Blu-Ray versions will be 3 discs (Either Theatrical and Extended versions on one disc, or all special features on one disc), and will probably have more special features and appropriate sound mix for Blu-Ray

Here are the additional Bly-Ray Features on both movies

Blu-ray Ultimate Edition

Includes everything listed above as well as the following Blu-ray exclusives:

· In-Movie Experience with Director Chris Columbus: An interactive viewer experience where the entire film is examined; includes PiP, Storyboard Comparisons, Still Galleries

· WB Maximum Movie Mode picture-in-picture programming, cast walk-ons, focus points, graphics and more.

· BD Live with access to worldwide events, special guest participants, community features and more.

[DRS]

And I guess you better make room on your sheleves

[Volume11]

Originally Posted by DRS

And I guess you better make room on your sheleves

That packaging looks like a stack of cheap Potter folders that sell for .99 at Walmart.

Im so utterly sick of douple dipping.

[DRS]

[Volume11]

I just puked in my mouth. Why wouldn;t they use the classy inner sleeve that looks similar to the EE LOTR DVDs?

[RYJAPE21]

Here's a trailer for the Ultimate Editions from Yahoo.com:

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1802813191/video/15629849

Wow that's a lot of features! The specific BD features look neat (the director's PiP commentary.)

[sfmarine]

I'm guessing that these boxes will be as large and annoying as The Notebook & Casablanca?

[Jumpman]

Seretur,

Thanks for the compliment.

[SethRex]

The interesting thing to note, is that unless they are changed, Deathly Hallows will be released in an orangy yellow, and maybe a darkish green for both part 1 and part 2 respectively.

[Beast]

Originally Posted by DRS

Interesting. The sets in the trailer shows 3 Blu-Rays and the Digital Copy.

[BlueMilkAndCheese]

anything on a price yet?

[al cos.]

So, is there any hope at all that a simple "slim set" of the theatrical movie 6,7,8 will come out to go along with the existing one of 1-5?

[mredman]

Originally Posted by Seretur

Well, they can only insert what they shot, and that was already severely truncated from the books. Lame or not, this will be basically it for the films.

I guess.

I mean, I did notice that there are still "deleted scenes" listed under the extras for both movies. Although this could be just a carbon copy of the extras list from the first release... or something else.

Well i know for a fact that there is a lot of deleted scenes on movie 4+5 that was never on the DVD or the blu ray. So they have to put them into these ultimate editions especially the juicy scenes. or they will be lost forever

Also weird that the "characters featurette" is on the 2nd movie box set. How can they put that on when Deathly hollows has not even been released yet in cinemas it will contain massive spoilers for movie 3-8.