Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy film directed by David Yates from a screenplay by Michael Goldenberg, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series. The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, alongside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Its story follows Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as the Ministry of Magic is in denial of Lord Voldemort's return.
Filming took place in England and Scotland for exterior locations and Leavesden Film Studios in Watford for interior locations from February to November 2006, with a one-month break in June. Post-production on the film continued for several months afterwards to add in visual effects. The film's budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million ($150–200 million).[4][5]
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released in 2D cinemas and IMAX formats in the United States on 11 July 2007 and in the United Kingdom on 12 July, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was nominated for many awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design and Special Visual Effects. With a worldwide five-day opening of $333 million and a total gross of $942 million, making it the second-highest-grossing film of 2007,[7][8] the film was noted as a case of Hollywood accounting, as Warner Bros. claimed that it lost $167 million despite the total gross.
A sequel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, was released in 2009.
Plot
While staying at the Dursleys', Harry Potter and Dudley are attacked by Dementors. Harry repels them using a Patronus spell. The Ministry of Magic detects the underaged Harry using magic and expels him from Hogwarts, though he is later exonerated.
The Order of the Phoenix, a secret organisation founded by Albus Dumbledore, informs Harry that the Ministry of Magic is attempting to stonewall rumors about Lord Voldemort's return. At the Order's headquarters, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, mentions that Voldemort seeks an object he previously lacked; Harry believes it to be a weapon.
Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge has appointed Dolores Umbridge as Hogwarts new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. Umbridge's refusal to teach defensive spells causes her and Harry to clash. Harry is forced to write lines for "lying" about Voldemort. A magic quill etches the words into his hand as he writes. Ron and Hermione are outraged, but Harry refuses to tell Dumbledore, who has distanced himself from Harry. As Umbridge gains more control over the school, Ron and Hermione help Harry form "Dumbledore's Army", a secret group to teach students defensive spells. Umbridge recruits Slytherins for an Inquisitorial Squad to spy on the other students. Meanwhile, Harry and Cho Chang develop romantic feelings for each other.
One night, Harry envisions Arthur Weasley being attacked at the Ministry, seeing it from the attacker's perspective. Concerned that Voldemort will exploit this connection to Harry, Dumbledore has Severus Snape teach Harry Occlumency to defend his mind from Voldemort's influence. During a lesson, Harry sees Snape's memories of how his father, James, bullied and tormented Snape in school. The connection between Harry and Voldemort further isolates Harry from his friends. Meanwhile, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius's deranged Death Eater cousin, escapes Azkaban prison along with nine other Death Eaters. At Hogwarts, Umbridge and her Inquisitorial Squad expose Dumbledore's Army. Dumbledore, falsely accused of forming it, escapes as Fudge orders his arrest. Harry believes Cho betrayed Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge, ending their budding relationship. Umbridge becomes the new Headmistress.
Harry experiences a vision that Voldemort is torturing Sirius. Harry, Ron, and Hermione rush to Umbridge's office to alert the Order via the Floo Network. Umbridge catches them and, as she is about to severely punish Harry, Hermione claims Dumbledore has hidden a "secret weapon" in the Forbidden Forest. She and Harry lead Umbridge to where Hagrid's giant half-brother, Grawp is kept. The centaurs confront them and kidnap Umbridge after she insults and attacks them. Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville and Ginny fly to the Ministry of Magic on Thestrals to save Sirius.
The six enter the Department of Mysteries and recover the object that Voldemort is after, a bottled prophecy labelled with Harry's name. Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, ambush them. Lucius reveals that Harry's vision of Sirius being tortured was a ruse to lure him there. Harry refuses to give Lucius the prophecy, and a fight between Dumbledore's Army and the Death Eaters ensues. The Death Eaters overpower the students and force Harry to surrender the prophecy. When Harry hands it to Lucius, Sirius and Remus Lupin arrive with Order members Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody. As they attack the Death Eaters, Lucius accidentally drops the prophecy, destroying it. Just as Sirius overpowers Lucius, Bellatrix kills Sirius.
Voldemort appears, but moments before he can kill Harry, Dumbledore arrives. A violent duel erupts, destroying much of the Atrium, while Bellatrix escapes. The two wizards are evenly matched, so Voldemort possesses Harry's body, wanting Dumbledore to sacrifice him. The love Harry feels for his friends and family quickly drives out Voldemort. Ministry officials arrive before Voldemort disapparates; Fudge admits that Voldemort has returned and resigns in disgrace. Umbridge is dismissed and Dumbledore returns as Hogwarts headmaster. Dumbledore explains he had distanced himself from Harry to prevent Voldemort exploiting their connection. He also reveals the prophecy. As he grieves Sirius's death, Harry tries coming to terms with the prophecy: "Neither can live while the other survives."
Production
Development
British television director David Yates was chosen to direct the film after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell, as well as Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Vaughn and Mira Nair, turned down offers.[10][11] Yates believed he was approached because the studio saw him fit to handle an "edgy and emotional" film with a "political backstory", which some of his previous television projects including State of Play, Sex Traffic and The Girl in the Café demonstrated.[11] Producer David Heyman supported Yates's comments about the film's political theme, stating that "[Order of the Phoenix] is a political film, not with a capital P, but it's about teen rebellion and the abuse of power. David has made films in the UK about politics without being heavy handed."[12] On the film's political and social aspects, Emma Watson stated that "somehow it talks about life after 7 July, the way people behave when they're scared, the way truth is often denied and all the things our society has to face. Facing the fact that the authority is corrupted means having a non-conformist approach to reality and power."[13]
Steve Kloves, the screenwriter of the first four Potter films, had other commitments. Michael Goldenberg, who was considered to pen the first film in the series, filled in and wrote the script.[14] Kloves subsequently returned to write all remaining instalments of the series.
Mark Day was the film editor, Sławomir Idziak was the cinematographer, and Jany Temime was the costume designer.[15] Choreographer Paul Harris, who had previously worked with David Yates several times, created a physical language for wand combat to choreograph the wand fighting scenes.[16]
Casting
Casting began as early as May 2005, when Radcliffe announced he would reprise his role as Harry.[17] Across the media frenzy that took place during the release of Goblet of Fire, most of the main returning actors announced their return to the series, including Grint, Watson, Lewis, Wright, Leung, and Fiennes.[18][19][20][21][22][23]
The announcements of the casting of the rest of the new characters to the series was spanned across 2006. Evanna Lynch won the role of Luna Lovegood over 15,000 other girls who attended the open casting call,[24] waiting in a line of hopefuls that stretched a mile long.[25] Saoirse Ronan auditioned for the role but was considered too young.[26]
Persistent rumours linked Elizabeth Hurley to the role of Bellatrix Lestrange, although Warner Bros. asserted there was "no truth whatsoever" to reports that she had been cast.[27] As early as August 2005, rumours began linking Helen McCrory to the role.[28] On 2 February 2006, it was announced that McCrory had indeed been cast as Bellatrix.[29] However, in April 2006 she revealed that she was three months pregnant and withdrew from the film because she would not have been able to perform the intense battle sequences in the Ministry of Magic in September and October 2006. The announcement that Bonham Carter had been recast in the role was made on 25 May 2006.[30] McCrory was subsequently cast as Narcissa Malfoy from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince onwards.
The inclusion or cutting of some characters sparked speculation from fans as to the importance of the characters in the final book of the series, which was released just ten days after the film. In April 2006, representatives of Jim McManus said he would be playing Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus's brother and the barman of the Hog's Head, in which Harry and his friends found Dumbledore's Army. A week later WB announced that the role was "very minor", allaying some of the speculation to the significance of the role, which, before the final book, was not even a speaking part.[31] MTV reported in October 2006 that Dobby the house elf, who appeared in the second film, Chamber of Secrets, and in the fifth book, would be cut, opening up "plot questions" as to how the role of the elf would be filled.[32] MTV also reported about a month before the release of the final book that Kreacher, the Black family's house-elf, was cut from the film in one draft of the script. Rowling prodded the filmmakers to include him, saying, "You know, I wouldn't [cut him] if I were you. Or you can, but if you get to make a seventh film, you'll be tied in knots", he was added back into the script.[33]
Other minor roles were cut with subsequent drafts of the script. At the US premiere of Goblet of Fire, series producer David Heyman said that former Hogwarts professor Gilderoy Lockhart, played by Kenneth Branagh in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was in the first draft of the script for Phoenix.[34] Neither Branagh nor the character of Lockhart appears in the final version. Tiana Benjamin was scheduled to return for the film in the role of Angelina Johnson, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but she had to withdraw due to a commitment to playing Chelsea Fox in EastEnders. The character, as well as the entire Quidditch subplot, was ultimately cut from the film. Benjamin did record sound clips for the Order of the Phoenix video game.[35]
The family of footballer Theo Walcott made a cameo appearance in the film. They were signed on by director David Yates, who is the partner of Yvonne Walcott, Theo's aunt.[36] Theo himself was due to appear alongside his family, though his commitments to Arsenal Football Club forced him to pull out.[37]
Set design
Stuart Craig returned as set designer, having designed the first four films' sets.[38] There were a number of notable new sets in this film. The atrium in the Ministry of Magic is over 200 feet in length, making it the largest and most expensive set built for the Potter film series to date.[38] Craig's design was inspired by early London Underground stations, where, he said, architects "tried to imitate classical architecture but they used ceramic tile", as well as a Burger King on Tottenham Court Road in London, where "there's a fantastic Victorian façade which just embodies the age".[39][40] The set of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place contains the Black family tapestry spread across three walls; when the producers told Rowling they wanted to visualise the details of each name and birth year, she faxed them a complete copy of the entire tree.[41] The set of the Hall of Prophecies was entirely digitally built. During a fight scene which occurs there, prophecies crash to the ground and break; had it been an actual physical set, the reset time would have been weeks.[42]
The set used for Igor Karkaroff's trial scene in Goblet of Fire was doubled in size for Harry's trial in this film, while still protecting its symmetry.[40] New professor Dolores Umbridge, though she teaches in a classroom that has appeared in films two through four, inhabits an office vastly different from those of her predecessors. The set was redressed with "fluffy, pink filigree" and a number of plates upon which moving kittens were animated in post-production.[43] A 24-hour photo shoot was held to photograph and film the kittens for use on these plates.[44] The quill which Umbridge gives Harry to write lines is designed by the set designers.[43]
Differences from the book
At 766 pages in the British edition and 870 in the American edition, Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the Harry Potter series, however the film is the second shortest.[73] Screenwriter Michael Goldenberg described his task to cut down the novel as searching for "the best equivalent way to tell the story. My job was to stay true to the spirit of the book, rather than to the letter".[74] Goldenberg said that Rowling told him, the producers, and Yates that "she just wanted to see a great movie, and gave [them] permission to take whatever liberties [they] felt [they] needed to take to translate the book into a movie she would love".[74] Cutting down the book to meet the time frame of the film, Goldenberg explained, became "clearer when [he] figured out that the organising principle of the screenplay was to narrate Harry's emotional journey".[74] He and Yates "looked for every opportunity to get everything [they] could in there. And where [they] couldn't, to sort of pay homage to it, to have it somewhere in the background or to feel like it could be taking place off-screen".[75]
One cut Goldenberg had to make, which he "hated" to do, was the absence of Quidditch, the Wizarding sport.[75] "The truth is that any movie made of this book, whoever made it, that had included the Quidditch subplot would have been a lesser film", he said.[74] In the book, Ron grows as a character by trying out for the Quidditch team. "Ron facing challenges and coming into his own in the same way that Harry is, we tried to get that into the film in other ways, as much as possible. So, you feel like, if not the details of that story, at least the spirit of it is present in the film".[75] The change disappointed actor Rupert Grint who had been "quite looking forward to the Quidditch stuff".[76]
In a significant scene in the book, Harry sees a memory of his own father humiliating Snape in their school days, and Snape insulting his mother after she stood up for him. In the film, it is abbreviated to an "idea", in Goldenberg's words. "It's an iconic moment when you realise your parents are normal, flawed human beings. ... Things get trimmed out, but I kept the meat of that in there – and that was what really gave me the coming-of-age story."[74] Young Lily Potter did not appear at all, but promotional screenshots showed unknown teenager Susie Shinner in the role.[77]
The scene at St Mungo's, the hospital where Harry and friends run into classmate Neville Longbottom and learn that his parents were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange, was cut because it required the construction of a new set.[74] The main purpose of the action of the scene was relocated to the Room of Requirement after one of Dumbledore's Army's lessons. Also, to speed up the film's climax, several events in the Ministry leading up to Harry's battle with Voldemort were removed, including the brain room.[73] Mrs. Weasley's encounter with a boggart at Grimmauld Place, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy becoming prefects, the appearance of Mundungus Fletcher, and Firenze teaching Divination followed suit.[76]
The character of Kreacher the house-elf, who was included in the script only at Rowling's request, has a larger part in the book than the film. In the novel, he is seen saving some of the Black family's artefacts which the Order of the Phoenix throw away, including a locket that ends up being extremely important in the seventh book.[78] "It was kind of tricky to raise that in our story, because it's for so much later", Yates said. "We figured we can probably introduce it later, and that's the approach we took".[33] Whilst Kreacher remained, all parts involving Dobby were cut, and his important actions were given to other characters.[73]
Rita Skeeter, the journalist played by Miranda Richardson in Goblet of Fire, was also removed. In the book, Hermione blackmails her into writing an article that supports Harry as the rest of the wizarding world denies his claims.[73] Richardson noted that "it's never gonna be the book on film, exactly. ... They'll take certain aspects from the book and make it something that they hope is going to be commercial and that people want to see".[79]
Reception
Box office
The film opened to a worldwide 5-day opening of $333 million, the fourteenth-biggest opening of all time. In the United States, tickets for hundreds of midnight showings of the film, bought from online ticket-seller Fandango, were sold out, making up approximately 90% of the site's weekly ticket sales.[110] In the US and Canada, midnight screenings (very early morning on 11 July) brought in $12 million[111] from 2,311 midnight exhibitions making the showings "the most successful batch of midnight exhibitions ever".[112] In one-night earnings, Phoenix is behind only At World's End, which had debuted four hours earlier on its date.[113] In studio documents leaked in July 2010, it was revealed the film "lost" Warner Bros. about $167 million.[114][115]
In North America, Phoenix earned an additional $32.2 million on Wednesday, post-midnight showings, making it the biggest single-day Wednesday gross in box office history, with a total of $44.2 million from 4,285 theatres.[116][117] That amount topped Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 2, which held the record since 2004 with its $40.4 million take on a Wednesday, until this record was broken in 2009 by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $62 million.[118] It was also the fifth-biggest opening day for a movie in history, at the time, surpassing At World's End's $42.9 million. It earned $1.9 million from a record-breaking 91 IMAX screens, the highest opening day ever for any IMAX day of the week, beating Spider-Man 3's $1.8 million. In the UK the result was similar. The film made £16.5 million during its opening 4-day run, breaking the UK box office record for the biggest 4-day opening weekend ever.[119]
Phoenix's gross was at $292.4 million in the US and Canada, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2007 in these regions,[120] and at £49.2 million,[121] or $101.4 million in the UK.[122] Internationally, it has grossed $648 million, the seventh-highest grosser ever overseas,[123] for a worldwide total of $942 million[6] making it the second-highest-grossing film of the year closely behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End's $960 million gross.[124] It became the sixth-highest-grossing film in history at the time, the second-highest-grossing Potter film worldwide,[125] and the second Potter film to break the $900 million mark,[126] as well as the fourth-highest-grossing Potter film in the franchise behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2's $1.341 billion,[127] Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone's $974 million,[128] Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1's $960 million[129] and the highest-grossing 2007 film in Australia and the UK.[130][131] IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that the film has made over $35 million on IMAX screens, worldwide, with an impressive per-screen average of $243,000 making it the highest-grossing live-action IMAX release in history.[132] In South Africa the film opened at number 1 with a total of $944,082.00, being screened at 87 theatres.[133]