Yeah when ever it comes our here in Aus I'll be going. Not a fan yet though. Let's put it to the test. I'll start reading the books if it's good. Watching all the movies this weekend.

Don't judge too harshly based on the movies. You'll hear it a thousand times: the books are infinitely better than the movies. All those loop-holes I thought I was clever and found were solved in the books. ;D JKR is amazing.

The different directors in the movies made a big difference. To me, the 3rd and 5th movies (Azkaban and Order of the Phoenix) are miles better than the 1st, 2nd, or 4th, because of the direction. Also, they leave lots of details out of all the movies that don't make as much sense unless you have read the book.
Anyway, you should try the first book, because it's short compared the rest of the series. You'll know right away if you are hooked or not. :-P

I am going to a midnight showing too! We got our tickets today and will probably go about 5 to get places in line because we are dorky like that. We have a lot of fun though, we bring board games and cards. Last midnight showing (for 5) we had to call the cops because some people were driving around saying really derogatory stuff and then speeding about 40 mph around parking lot repeatedly!

I'm going to be at the midnight showing (or, 12:01am here ;D) with a few friends. I love the HP series, but I'm not a huge enough fan to dress up. I am going to go early and talk to those who did, though. There is a party at our local theater starting at 10pm for THOSE megafans. ;D

Stand in line? I bought my ticket three days ago and they're nearly sold out. Is your theater definitely going to have tickets left? I hope so!

We tried to get tickets last thursday but they weren't selling them yet. We did get some yesterday but we go stand in line and hang out with everyone else who comes either with or without tickets and just make a night out of it. We are supposed to have severe storms tonight though so it could be interesting!

i'm going to the midnight showing with my boyfriend ! i'm sure it won't be hard for us to get tickets and seats, we live in a small town and my friend said that when they went to the midnight showing of transformers they found seats even after coming in twenty minutes late

Post-show (no spoilers): It was on three screens here. Didn't know that. xD

Also, there were some "WTF?" changes. To mention one would be a spoiler, but WOW. I liked it, in general. The mood was fitting. The part with the Inferi (though the viewer doesn't know that's what they're called unless they read the books) made me jump. ;D They left out one part that I thought was pretty damn important, but I guess the director figured that after nearly three hours in a seat, the viewer doesn't care about funerals. D:

bullshit! i would have waited another hour in my seat if i got to see the effing funeral. the whole theatre was like "...wait, what?" when the movie ended and some people didn't know whether to clap or stay in their seats to see if there was anything after it ended. i guess it was a pretty good movie, loads funnier, but they left out some pretty crucial parts and could have done without some. (burrow? wtf is up with that?!)

Yeah, the Burrow thing was probably my biggest "WTF?" complaint with the funeral next. The wand thing was neat, I guess. Doesn't replace it, though. I did like the funny stuff, though. I wonder what drug Daniel Radcliffe took to do the Felix Felicis part. ;D

LOL i know! i loved him on felix felicis. the humor did make up for some stuff they left out, because it was actually one of the more funny movies :D

I read about the Burrow scene online last week, so I was prepared for that (apparently JK approved the addition of the Burrow attack scene), and the removal of the whole Lupin-Tonks thing. When I read that I'd been really disappointed (as I loved Lupin and Tonks), but now I've seen the movie I understand why it had to be removed. There was just too much other stuff they needed to show. And I didn't mind the attack on the Burrow, and it served the purpose of (a) showing nowhere is safe and (b) keeping Lupin and Tonks in the story, for the people who've only seen the movies (which I really hope means their deaths will be shown in the final movie).

was there an article about the burrow scene? your explanation makes sense, but just out of curiosity/interest, was there more to the reasoning? what did Rowling think?

From The Leaky Couldron (Sept 08):

"It’s something like that from what we’ve learnt. In the teaser trailer, you’d see Harry running in cornfields, Ginny with her bathrobe being disarmed and Greyback looking at the fields. These action scenes are from this new battle sequence. It’s set in the middle of the film just to show that the Death Eaters don’t only destroy bridges and kill people but they actually attack the people whom Harry loves. This scene was originally written by Jo Rowling for the BOOK but she decided to cut it out."


From gryffindorgazette.com (Feb 08):

"We don’t often have things that aren’t in the book.

But this was brought in because Jo (Rowling) was able throughout the quite lengthy book to keep dropping little snippets of what was happening in the outside world-there’d be people reading newspapers and talking about how somebody’s parents had been killed or somebody had been withdrawn from school because their parents didn’t think it was safe. And we’re made aware that the Muggle world is also experiencing these disasters, but thinks they are disasters rather than the work of Voldemort.

The book is peppered with those moments, but we couldn’t do that quite so easily in the film. So (the extra scene) comes in the middle of the film and it just reminds us the world is no longer a safe place. Even in what would normally be considered the safe haven of the Burrow, nobody’s safe."

I think spoilers should be expected in this thread.

I think I'm OK about the funeral not being there. I cried when the kids all raised their wands at the end. I think it was enough to make the point of their sense of loss.

I read somewhere that they might put the funeral in the opening credits to the next movie.

that would be nice. it makes sense too, given that this one opened with a shot from the last movie in order to move it forward. maybe the movie will begin a few days before the events in the seventh book began.

AHH it was so good! they didn't mess this one up as bad as they did the 5th one. i think they did a good job of making it as close to the book as possible

I've never really wanted to see it - but now I do!

All in all, I was at the movie theater for about thirty hours. That movie was intense, I'll definitely be seeing it again, numerous times.

yes same here! i am more happy with this movie than some of the others.. although a bit dissapointed with the ending but overall thrilled with it!

I loved it! I'll write a proper comment later. :)

I thought it was brilliant. Probably the best so far (although I did really like Order of the Phoenix).

I really have very few complaints. It was actually pretty close to the book and i think all of the things they changed (cutting the funeral, cutting Lupin & Tonks developing relationship, putting in the attack on The Burrow) were pretty acceptable really and all served a purpose (as I mentioned above).

I'm slightly concerned that there was no Dobby or Kreacher, as it worries me that they won't be in Deathly Hallows either now... and it just won't be the same without Dobby. But I was glad that they otherwise included pretty much all the essential characters from the book.

I think the kids are constantly becoming better actors too. Ginny concerned me slightly at the start, but I guess she's newest to it. Ron was brilliant as usual, as were Luna and Lavender. And even Harry and Hermione aren't bad these days.

The adult actors gave the best performances though (Dumbledore, Snape, Slughorn). Alan Rickman in particular was fantastic.

So yeah, I thought it was pretty close to perfect. I need to finish re-reading the book and then go see it again!

I loved it too. And I was happy with how they restructured the story. Yates does such a nice job of making everything work even when it is changed-it didn't feel to me like I was missing out on anything. I am so glad he is doing the last two as well!

I will say, who knows if it means something, but the Deathly Hallows movies already have IMDB pages, and under the cast, Dobby is listed. I think they would leave that in, given that it'll be two movies. Also it would be a shame not to show the reformed Kreacher, he was such a funny part in that section of the book. Anyway, I really trust Yates with it. He seriously knows how to pack a lot in. I was very pleased with how many scenes were direct quotes from the book, not just similar, but exact.