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After listening to Radio 4’s tribute to 50 years of From Our Own Correspondent on Saturday night, I switched on the TV to catch up on the news and caught the start of a countdown of the UK’s most popular films by ticket sales (up to mid-2004). It was 15 minutes in when I realised it lasted 3 hours, and it was only after 2 ½ hours that I realised that this was only half of it… And a very enjoyable six hours it was.
Of course, I was curious about where the Harry Potter films would come in, and hoping against hope that they might show one of Lucius’ scenes (Yes, I know I can just pop the DVD in and watch the whole film, but there’s something about the public acknowledgement that gives it an extra thrill – kind of like hearing a much-loved song on the radio.)
CoS came in at number 24 (between Mary Poppins at 25 and The Full Monty at 23). They started with Tony Blair revealing his ignorance of the term ‘Muggle’, then after the announcer’s mocking remarks of ‘Get with it Granddad’ she proceeded to put her own foot in it by asking ‘Where have you been’ if ‘you don’t know your Muggles from your Truebloods’ and going on to mispronounce ‘Rowling’.
And then… well, the actor they’d brought in to comment was none other than Jason Isaacs, which meant that they treated us not only to Lucius’ drool-inducing Your scar is legend entrance, but also ended on Let us hope that Mr Potter will always be around to save the day
*Chthonic happiness*
And becauseI’m a sad geek I know some flisters will be interested, here are Jason’s two comments:
Somehow the leylines met in this story and it just tapped into a global imagination. But what’s weird is that in Beijing and in Azerbaijan and in everywhere else around the world they think Harry Potter is a story about them, so there’s something completely universal that you can’t put your finger on.
Then, after some comments from the producer and Rowling assuring us that the Great Hall was definitely her Great Hall:
There’s some nasty stories. There’s… Harry’s parents have been murdered and there are forces of evil around and I play a genocidal maniac and these are not things that shirk from the darker side of life. And then there are these naive, but fast-growing-up kids at the centre of it.
Genocidal maniac? That’s not very nice, now, Jason. Genocidal he may be, but a maniac? ;)
PS came in at number 11; PoA was released after the cut-off date for the chart and wasn’t included. There was some speculation though about whether all seven films would dominate the top 20 if a similar chart was compiled in ten years time.
The Lord of the Rings films placed very close together:
22 The Two Towers
19 Return of the King
16 Fellowship of the Ring
I guess that shows that the audience was ready-made to begin with; those who were fans of the books or of fantasy in general went to all three films, maybe a few others tried the first film and didn’t go to the second two, maybe a few more went to the third after it won all its Oscars.
I’m really curious about where PoA would have come in, now. Did so many fewer folk see CoS than PS because their initial curiosity about HP had been satisfied, or because it wasn’t such a good film, or because it didn’t induce so much repeat viewing? Certainly PS was much more heavily advertised at Christmas than CoS was, and sadly Lucius fans are too few to make up the numbers.
Finally, for those that are curious (and didn’t see the programme yourselves), here are the fifteen films at the top of the list. It’s somewhat skewed by the popularity of cinema pre-TV, and the slump during the video-owning 80’s – but that meant the list was pretty varied and (thankfully) unpredictable. (E.g. No Tom Cruise… well, perhaps that wasn’t so predictable. ;)
15 Jurassic Park
14 Jaws
13 South Pacific
12 Grease
11 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
10 The Seventh Veil
9 The Wicked Lady (original B&W version)
8 Titanic
7 Jungle Book
6 The Best Years of Our Lives
5 Spring in Park Lane
4 Star Wars
3 Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
2 The Sound of Music
1 Gone With the Wind
Of course, I was curious about where the Harry Potter films would come in, and hoping against hope that they might show one of Lucius’ scenes (Yes, I know I can just pop the DVD in and watch the whole film, but there’s something about the public acknowledgement that gives it an extra thrill – kind of like hearing a much-loved song on the radio.)
CoS came in at number 24 (between Mary Poppins at 25 and The Full Monty at 23). They started with Tony Blair revealing his ignorance of the term ‘Muggle’, then after the announcer’s mocking remarks of ‘Get with it Granddad’ she proceeded to put her own foot in it by asking ‘Where have you been’ if ‘you don’t know your Muggles from your Truebloods’ and going on to mispronounce ‘Rowling’.
And then… well, the actor they’d brought in to comment was none other than Jason Isaacs, which meant that they treated us not only to Lucius’ drool-inducing Your scar is legend entrance, but also ended on Let us hope that Mr Potter will always be around to save the day
*Chthonic happiness*
And because
Somehow the leylines met in this story and it just tapped into a global imagination. But what’s weird is that in Beijing and in Azerbaijan and in everywhere else around the world they think Harry Potter is a story about them, so there’s something completely universal that you can’t put your finger on.
Then, after some comments from the producer and Rowling assuring us that the Great Hall was definitely her Great Hall:
There’s some nasty stories. There’s… Harry’s parents have been murdered and there are forces of evil around and I play a genocidal maniac and these are not things that shirk from the darker side of life. And then there are these naive, but fast-growing-up kids at the centre of it.
Genocidal maniac? That’s not very nice, now, Jason. Genocidal he may be, but a maniac? ;)
PS came in at number 11; PoA was released after the cut-off date for the chart and wasn’t included. There was some speculation though about whether all seven films would dominate the top 20 if a similar chart was compiled in ten years time.
The Lord of the Rings films placed very close together:
22 The Two Towers
19 Return of the King
16 Fellowship of the Ring
I guess that shows that the audience was ready-made to begin with; those who were fans of the books or of fantasy in general went to all three films, maybe a few others tried the first film and didn’t go to the second two, maybe a few more went to the third after it won all its Oscars.
I’m really curious about where PoA would have come in, now. Did so many fewer folk see CoS than PS because their initial curiosity about HP had been satisfied, or because it wasn’t such a good film, or because it didn’t induce so much repeat viewing? Certainly PS was much more heavily advertised at Christmas than CoS was, and sadly Lucius fans are too few to make up the numbers.
Finally, for those that are curious (and didn’t see the programme yourselves), here are the fifteen films at the top of the list. It’s somewhat skewed by the popularity of cinema pre-TV, and the slump during the video-owning 80’s – but that meant the list was pretty varied and (thankfully) unpredictable. (E.g. No Tom Cruise… well, perhaps that wasn’t so predictable. ;)
15 Jurassic Park
14 Jaws
13 South Pacific
12 Grease
11 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
10 The Seventh Veil
9 The Wicked Lady (original B&W version)
8 Titanic
7 Jungle Book
6 The Best Years of Our Lives
5 Spring in Park Lane
4 Star Wars
3 Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
2 The Sound of Music
1 Gone With the Wind
