SciFi.com is reporting that the fourth Harry Potter film will be released November 18th, 2005. The fourth Potter installment is being helmed by Mike Newell, who seems a bit of an odd choice. In the industry pretty much forever Newell’s filmography ranges from the largely ignored Mona Lisa Smile to Donnie Brasco and Four Weddings & A Funeral. Though there are some solid titles on his resume the only thing that would indicate an inclination towards more youth-fantasy oriented fare are a couple episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. Of course I also thought Alfonso Cuaron was a surprising choice to do number three, and based on what little footage I’ve seen so far I’m more than ready to say that three will easily be the best of the Potter films thus far.
Now for the uninitiated book four is where the Potter books suddenly explode in length meaning there is going to have to be a good bit of trimming to make it into a single manageable film and word is the trimming has already begun … Apparently Richard Griffiths (aka Vernon Dursley) has already been told that his services will not be required for the fourth film as the Dursley family will not be appearing at all – a major break from the format of the books which all begin and end with Harry at his aunt and uncle’s house. Unhappy about the move Griffiths apparently went to Potter author JK Rowling and asked her to persuade Newell to put him back in and Rowling declined.
