Eric Reviews HBP

Micah: Well, the big surprise would be that Eric actually attended a screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last week in Chicago. And it was also attended by David Heyman and David...

Andrew: Alan Horn!

Micah: Horn, yeah.

[Everyone laughs]

Micah: You know, it would be interesting to know kind of the interaction that took place between Eric and somebody like Alan Horn. But I don't really know if he spoke that much with him. We can ask him, I'm sure. But I'm kind of wondering what went on between him and David Heyman, because he said he did have a conversation with him after the film was over.

Andrew: Well, how about this? Let's find out. Let's give him a call.

Micah: All right.

Andrew: All right, here we go.

Micah: I care more about that than what he thought about the movie.

[Andrew laughs]

Matt: Yeah, honestly.

Andrew: Yeah.

[Phone rings]

Eric: Hello?

Andrew: Hello, Eric.

Eric: Hey!

Andrew: Hey, we're recording MuggleCast.

Eric: Hey.

Matt: Hey.

Eric: Oh wow!

Andrew: Yes.

Eric: Oh my God, oh my God, I'm going to be on MuggleCast?

Andrew: Yeah...

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: ...I know, it's a first for you. So, we just started talking about the screening. And I guess we'll ask you a couple questions about it and then, you know, you can get into you're whole big thing. But first of all...

Eric: Sure.

Andrew: ...I think, what every one has been asking, is, Eric, how the hell did you, you out of all the people in the world, out of all the people in the wonderful city of Chicago, end up seeing this movie?

Eric: [laughs] Well, if that's what everyone wants to know, I mean, I must assure everyone that it was random. I know I got a lot of e-mails myself too, saying "Oh, sure it was random, that you just happen to see that," but no, really. The story is, I got an e-mail from MovieTickets.com, which is where I buy my tickets. You know, I buy my tickets online...

Andrew: Mhm.

Eric: ...before going to the movies, at the movie theater, which is where they had - which is where they ended up having the screening. So, through whatever demographic diagnostics they ran, I was one of the guys they sent the e-mail to, saying "There is a screening of a movie. It's expected to be PG-13." They didn't say what it was. We got the call and RSVPed. You can bring yourself and a guest. And I was like, "Okay, well, okay, that sounds interesting." I didn't know what it would be. No clue at all. So I called up Kristen. I said, "hey do you want to go see a movie this Saturday?" And she was like sure. So I called them, gave them our name and our age, and then we basically got - they said fine, just show up. Print this thing out and show up at the theater. So...

Andrew: Because, I think...

Eric: Yeah. It was completely random.

Andrew: I think in the past what they've done is, they've actually just, like, if people are walking in the movie theater, or like walking in the street, they just pull them aside and are like, "Hey, we need help screening a movie, can you help us out?" So this is a....

Eric: Yeah.

Andrew: ...new, high-tech way.

Eric: Yeah. Well, there's that too. Someone next to us in line had seen Tropic Thunder the previous weekend and they got pulled aside. So, it was kind of a variety of different ways they got sort of people to show up.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: But they certainly didn't have a shortage of people. There were a couple hundred there. I don't know if they had to turn anyone away, but...

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: I [unintelligible] did if you RSVP online you get turned away, so I didn't get turned away though. Yeah, there were - there were tons of people in the theater too. And we didn't know what it was going to be, and that was actually the shock of it all.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah.

Eric: Because we heard them saying that the demographic was fourteen to seventeen year old girls.

Andrew: [laughs] Twilight.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: That's exactly what I thought! I thought it was going to be Twilight.

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: We were sitting in line, and the girl in front of us had this Twilight button on and, I don't know, maybe you guys will get a kick out of this. It said - what was it - "'Breaking Dawn...'" "I was bitten by 'Breaking Dawn.'"

Andrew: "Took my breath away," or something?

Matt: No, "I was bitten by 'Breaking Dawn.'"

Andrew: Oh, okay, yeah.

Eric: "I was bitten by 'Breaking Dawn.'" So we we're like, okay, this is probably going to be Twilight. You know, that'd be cool, 'cause it was still a month away from that. We went into the whole thing thinking it was Twilight, and then, you know, turned out to be David Heyman was walking up the side, and I had seen him on the - was it the Goblet of Fire red carpet premiere that you did, Andrew, where you were on the red carpet and you ran it on an iPod video and put on the feed?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eric: Yeah, that's how I recognized David Heyman. I was like, "Andrew met him." It was like, "Oh my God, David Heyman." So...

Andrew: So that's when it hit you. That's when you realized, this must be Harry Potter.

Eric: Yeah, I vapor locked, 'cause we were in the theater.

Andrew: You what?

Eric: By that time we were in the theater.

Andrew: You what? What?

Eric: Vapor locked. Vapor locked.

Andrew: Oh, okay. [laughs]

Eric: I was just - I was so shocked because we weren't expecting it, you know. Some one else said they heard that it was next summer's blockbuster, which was exciting. But they also said, oh - [talking to someone else] what was the other information?

[Female talks in background]

Eric: Oh, that it was filmed in Chicago. So there was all this stray...

Andrew: Batman II.

Matt: [laughs] Yeah.

Eric: ...guess work going on. We were like, this is next summer's Johnny Depp movie? You know, what are we thinking?

Andrew: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Eric: It kind of made sense after we got to the line, and I saw David Heyman, and I was like, "Wow, that's David freaking Heyman."

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: And he actually ended up sitting, like, three feet from me.

Andrew: Nice.

Micah: So if you had to decided to go to dinner, you would've been really pissed off.

[Andrew laughs]

Micah: Instead of going to the movie.

Eric: [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, pretty much. That - if I would've found out - 'cause, I mean, you know, all of - different websites have gotten reports that night even. But if I had not gone to that screening, if I had chosen, well, it'll probably be just a crap movie, or maybe if, I don't have any novel interest in seeing this. If I had chosen that, and then found out that there was this screening in Chicago - I did not know that they screened it in Chicago first. Or, because of the delay, would be screening it, you know, any time soon.

Andrew: Right, that's the really surprising thing. A lot of people were surprised at how early that they screened it. Do you have any idea why? I mean, because a lot of people are hoping now, they're going to take all this extra time to really enhance the movie and make it fantastic. So do you think that's why they still kept it, you know, screening in September?

Eric: Yeah. I think it's - I think it's a variety of different reasons. Number one, they wanted people to know that the movie - or I guess they wanted people to know - probably one of the added benefits that - to let people know that the movie was in a somewhat completed form, that it wasn't as delayed as some people were maybe speculating.

Matt: That the movie existed?

Eric: That the movie was delayed because it wasn't completed or, you know, something like that. It still wasn't completed. The CGI was, you know, not at all complete and stuff, but I think they wanted - I mean, people will know at least that the movie's not in any bad shape, so they wanted to sort of maybe [unintelligible] some of the people who are still angry and still very confused and worried out there. One of the other things, I think the reason is, is that they - lost my train of thought, but I think that's definitely one of the bigger reasons.

Andrew: So you get in there. They announce that it's going to be Harry Potter. What was the reaction of the audience? Like was everybody like, "Oh My God!"

Eric: Yeah. It was that huge.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: David Heyman didn't make the announcement. It was one of the associates. You know, they have these guys who don't work for the theater. They're independent. I think it's Movie View, they said. It was like a website I had to go to.

Andrew: Uh-huh.

Eric: But it's these other guys that come and sort of organize everything and, you know, they pass out cards and surveys at the end of the film and all - but the lights dimmed, and we were expecting Twilight. Somebody else said, "Wait a minute. What if it's High School Musical 3?"

Andrew: Ooooh.

Matt: Ooooooh.

Eric: And everybody, "Ooooh."

Andrew: That's a good idea too. I would've been excited.

Eric: Wow, that would suck. And Kristen and I were like...

Matt: PG-13? Really?

Eric: Yeah, well, we were like, we'd walk out. You know, like...

Andrew: Why!?

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: [singing] "What time is it!?

Eric: No, no, no, no. It was crazy though. I mean, when the lights dimmed, no one had any clue, and I really mean that. Some people - that Leaky reader said they were sworn to secrecy but they knew. I don't believe that for a second. I mean, I think that, really genuinely, no one knew. There was just - ever since the time we got in line for an hour and by the time we got in the theater and the movie started, no one knew. But the lights dimmed and the guy said, "You guys are going to be the first audience ever to see the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Andrew: God, that's so cool.

Eric: And everyone was in an uproar. Everyone.

Andrew: That is so cool.

Eric: Just absolutely, and there were plenty of adults there. There were plenty of guys that could tell, you know, hadn't seen maybe even any Harry Potter movie before. I mean, seriously, there was that - they very well managed the diverse people thing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: The demographics and everything?

Eric: Yeah, the demographics. They totally - and I guess that probably went into the MovieTickets.com thing and, you know, they sort of browsed that database, because they got enough different people there that it wasn't - or maybe it was just good picking the previous weekend, but they got enough different people there, and I think everyone in the audience really liked it. But we were all just so excited. And I didn't even believe it, but there weren't any previews, you know, there weren't any sort of thing going before the movie, so as soon as he said that and everyone was in an uproar, we had to immediately stifle ourselves because the Warner Bros. logo was flying by...

Andrew: Right, right. [laughs]

Eric: ...on the screen, you know, and so it was like completely going into it, so it was just amazing.

Andrew: So were all the special effects finished for the most part?

Eric: No. No, it's interesting. They - I don't know what kind of ratio I would say, but there were scenes that were still in front of blue screens.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Eric: Like some of them, which were hilarious.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: And so fascinating. I would not actually change the version of the film we saw because...

Andrew: [laughs] It's so funny.

Eric: ...it's just - because they have a scene where Dan's on the Quidditch pitch, because they have Quidditch back in this movie, right?

Andrew: Right.

Eric: And ten or fifteen feet behind him is a blue screen. It's this blue curtain, you know, and it's just so amazing because the previous scene, they have the CGI finished. Or the previous shot, or frame, or angle. They have the CGI finished, so you're on the Quidditch pitch, and he's talking to the team - or tryouts, I think it was - and he's talking to them and talking to them, and all of a sudden there's this shot where he is still, you know, mid-sentence, but there's a blue screen behind him, and so it's not off-putting or distracting. It's the fact that the actors can do that without seeing what we're seeing.

Andrew: Yeah.

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: You know, it's the film process like that, and certain other scenes were finished. I won't, you know, give any spoilers away, but...

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: And then other scenes were not. It's just different pieces. It was really interesting.

Andrew: It's a real - I would've said it, it's a real shame if all the special effects were finished, because then like, you know, then like the movie's ready to go and you could totally put it out, but it's actually kind of good to hear that they're not finished. [laughs]

Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So it's not like a waste.

Eric: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it isn't, and that's the - that's probably what I was trying to talk about that I forgot about, but having the movie - I mean, if you think about it, they would've had to have rushed to completed this deadline had they not known that it was going to be pushed back.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: That it would've been - seeing the state the movie is in now, they would've needed to have completed a significant amount of things, I would say, to get it out in time. I'm not saying that they couldn't do it, but the movie was still a bit in pieces, and I think the extra time does give them, as you said, Andrew, that people are hoping they are taking advantage of and people think.

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: Now, Eric...

Eric: Yes, Micah? Who else is on this show, by the way?

Andrew: It's just Micah, Matt and I for right now.

Eric: Oh cool.

Andrew: Laura will be joining us later I think.

Micah: Yeah, a lot of the reviews that were out there were very negative. Yours was a little bit different. It was - it was positive in nature, and it also kept away from, I thought, spoiling too much of the movies for the fans.

Andrew: Exactly.

Micah: I thought it kind of balanced that really well. But I'm wondering, from you, was there anything that stood out to you more than anything else that you were really happy about for this film?

Eric: That I was really happy about?

Micah: Yeah, because from other reviews that I've seen, they haven't necessarily been the most positive about the sixth film.

Eric: And - and that's very true. Truer words could not be spoken at this present time, I'll tell you that much. And all of these - it just upsets me, because when I saw the movie, and I wanted to talk about it, and I wrote up that review that's on MuggleNet, and I didn't want to spoil anybody. I - I wanted to give just my absolute, true, happy impression of the movie, and then all of the other reviews were not only spoiling but completely negative. That were ruining complete scenes and nitpicking and just doing all of these horrible things that -that I could not, in a way, respond to without losing a - a good deal...

Andrew: Mhm.

Eric: ...of the quality that I was trying to do. And it just upsets me that so many people are - are - are angry about all of these changes and sort of how that whole thing ...

Matt: Yeah.

Eric: ...transpired is very upsetting to me. But overall, I was happy with some of the changes they made. Mainly - well, first of all, I was most happy with the characters. They spent a lot of time, I think - or they showcased a lot. I - I mentioned in my review that Hermione - that Emma Watson, for the first time, jumped out as being my book Hermione in - in a way, which has never happened to me before. You know, usually the sidekicks lines are... [laughs] ...or Ron - Ron and Hermione's lines are changed if different. But seriously, in this - in this - hang on a sec. Yes. In this - in this scene - I mean in this movie, you just get a lot of good characterization among the trio, and you can kind of tell - I mean I thought they were building up sort of toward a Movie 7 sort of thing, because they'll be focusing on the trio for obviously a great deal...

Matt: Uh-huh.

Eric: ...and it just shows how well these actors have grown up and can still work together and still kind of get into their characters. I was happy with that. One of the changes I think, since many people have been spoiled I won't spoil it, except to say the Sectumsempra scene is in the movie, and...

Andrew: Woo-hoo!

Eric: ...not only that, but it's a battle scene.

Matt: Oh cool.

Andrew: A battle scene?

Matt: It's a duel.

Andrew: Woo-hoo!

Eric: It's a battle scene. I will say that, because a lot of people, I mean, are making other spoilers that they're angry about, and the Sectumsempra...

Andrew: Jerks.

Eric: Yeah, I know, those jerks.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: No, it's a battle scene. And what it means is - what I mean by that is Harry and Draco - you know, Draco isn't just crying and then all the sudden gets angry that Harry's in there and throws a spell at him. It actually is a little bit more elaborate than that. And Tom Felton, my God! They - they give good time for him and he does a good job.

Micah: Uh-huh.

Eric: And this is his last chance to, obviously, but ...

Matt: Well, Eric - oh, sorry.

Eric: Yeah.

Matt: I have a question about the reviews that I've been reading, and I just - I mean, it may be a spoiler so we may have to cut it out later, but do they - do they cut the entire battle scene at Hogwarts? Because I've read two reviews that say they cut it completely.

Eric: The battle at Hogwarts is not in the film.

Andrew: Oh! What? Okay, well, maybe we shouldn't go into it.

Matt: Okay, I just wanted to know, because...

Eric: Well, yeah, but...

Matt: ...I didn't know if they were going to do it or not.

Eric: Yeah, but I'll say that to ease your conscious, too, that it's interesting, too, because you're probably thinking, well, without a battle scene at the end of the movie, how is the movie anything worth while? How could they stay true to the books the way I claim they have in my review? You know, how does that sort of happen? But I really think they did something really good with it and it's so interesting that I'm so positive about it when they missed that scene. Something else I'll say, if we're being spoiled or cut out or whatever, is Dumbledore's funeral. A lot of reviews are saying that's not in it. They didn't have the Dumbledore funeral scene specifically, but my thoughts on that, while we're at it, is that they didn't introduce enough of the characters in the world in the movies, that it would be completely pointless to have all of the characters of the world at the funeral. You know, I just don't think that that would be anything feasible, anything worthwhile, considering how closed the movies have been.

Matt: Mhm.

Andrew: But, Eric, despite all this, you believe that this is worth the wait?

Matt: Yes.

Eric: Yeah, I strongly do, despite all of the little nit-picky discrepancies. What they've done is they've really created this movie that flows that – oh, and Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn is a surprised joy.

Andrew: Okay.

Eric: Is a surprised joy. I was hooked from the first [unintelligible] minutes, and he's a surprised joy in - throughout the whole movie. It works well with him in some Slug Club scenes. It worked, and I was surprised with how many things from the book are in the movie.

Matt: Uh-huh.

Eric: Surprisingly enough.

Matt: Well, Eric...

Eric: The Aragog scene is in the movie.

Matt: Oh, awesome. Awesome. Eric, since this is David Yates' second film for Harry Potter, what would you say is probably his – what do you think he improved?

Andrew: Do you think he's improved?

Matt: Yeah. What did he probably improve on most since the last movie?

Eric: I think he improved, and I do think he improved quite well. It's interesting because he wanted – in the last movie I remember reading an article or hearing an interview with him where he wanted to focus more on the characters. And I just think that he's done better now. And as for camera techniques too, a lot of people didn't like the montages in Movie 5, you know, like during the DA...

Andrew: Yeah.

Eric: ...scene they would sort of go through the montage of it having been a few months later. They don't use that technique at all to pass time in this movie. This movie is, overall, not done like that. I'm not going to say not fast paced, because it's not slow paced either, but you get to know – you feel that a year is progressing. And that may be done the best out of all the films now, is that the movie progresses in a really gradual, not to say speedy, way. That all of the scenes that happen are just very true to the characters.

Andrew: Cool.

Eric: They're enjoyable to watch on screen. Maybe that's what I'm trying to say through my whole analysis of the movie, is that it was enjoyable to watch, and I did enjoy the story as if I had never read the book. And then from having read the book, I enjoyed what I saw that I remembered from being in the book.

Andrew: That's good.

Matt: I'm glad.

Andrew: That's good to hear.

Matt: I'm really glad, Eric, that people who have never really seen – or read any of the books will enjoy this movie. Is that what you're saying?

Eric: Interestingly enough - well, that's what I'm saying, but also the other thing is that this movie caters to the fans, which you're wondering, how can things be both? But I really think this movie, like - I say it's great for – I say it'll be enjoyable to watch for people who've never seen, but even more enjoyable for the people who have read the books, because a lot of those things, even the line about knitting patterns -Dumbledore liking the knitting patterns - that's in it, and it's oh-so-funny to watch Michael Gambon say that.

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: Michael Gambon does a great job in this movie. All of these inside things and all of these – they don't cut corners as they have in other movies, and they don't go out of their way to make sure that the outside world knows really what's going on. They've sort of gotten to the point where they can say in the story, and this might be what they have to say, but, look, this is what's happening in the story. They don't need any extra things about Horcruxes, this is just what's happening in the story.

Andrew: Cool.

Eric: This is a movie – this is a story we've got to tell and a lot of those scenes, I think, are tailor fit for the fan's enjoyment - for the book reader's enjoyment.

Micah: So, would you say that they've compensated with these smaller, more intricate little plot points - you know, they compensated with that after having cut out some of the scenes that you've mentioned. Do you think that they were trying to compensate in that way by saying, oh, we're going to have to really change, say, the Battle at Hogwarts, say, Dumbledore's funeral, so, we're going to do is give the fans something that – who reads the books, so they're going to know, okay, well, this line was used, or this particular scene was used, or this particular item was included. You know what I'm saying?

Eric: Yeah, I think it's a great question and I'm going to say that, no, they didn't say that, because what they found through making the movie is almost - I mean, the movie doesn't lack Dumbledore's funeral or the Battle of Hogwarts, it's just kind of a different - like, I wasn't looking for it, in a way. I wasn't looking for the Battle at Hogwarts to happen or Dumbledore's funeral as much. I think what they've done is, they have these scenes, which are so wonderful for the fandom. I don't think it's made to compensate as much as it is in line with the story that they're telling. And the movie that they're making.

Micah: Yeah, but...

Eric: It's true that some of these scenes don't get - sorry, what's your question?

Micah: No, no, I - what I was going to say is, oftentimes how they tell the story is what the problem is, and it has been in the past with a number of criticisms that the other films have received. So, I guess what I'm getting at is, seeing some of these negative reviews, and I'd hate to dwell on that, but, is a die-hard Harry Potter fan going to go in - can you see some of these fans going in and being disappointed in the film based on what you've seen left out?

Eric: It will be very interesting. If the fans can get over themselves enough to go see the movie, I will be more than interested in what they have to say about it. And I mean, I know in a way there will be people who do not like this movie, just as there are people who do not like Movie 5, which I liked. And there are people who love Movie 3, which is more than I can sometimes say. And, you know, I know that there will be people who see and dislike the movie for the scenes that are missing but, having said that, I think that anyone who got into the series through the movies will have automatically more respect, and I think that anyone who has ever seen these movies as a separate item will, in fact, be impressed with how much of the book was brought to the movie, just by these big scenes being cut.

Micah: And what about - just to follow up, as far as plot points are concerned, you know, Horcruxes is one thing that comes up a lot in the reviews. Again, did they do that justice?

Eric: I think that they did. I think that they did. What they will - they'll probably will have to deal with it, obviously, more in Movie 7, when they have to find the rest. And it will be interesting to see the transgres - how that happens in the movie, as opposed to the book. Because the book that at the point - I think Book 7 towards the end is very, you know, linear, but rushed almost, as they find out things in the order they need to, because they don't have any more time to really do anything. But in this movie there are scenes, and one of the scenes I would have liked to seen in the movie, I think, is the Gaunt house scene, which was not in the film. There are only a few pensive scenes, and that is not one of them, but I - with the movie being what is it, there is a terrific balance. And the movie is dark enough. And that is one point I tried to make in my review. But the movie is very intense, as far as impending doom, and it's really interesting with how they balance that with all the hormones and all of the snogging going on in the book, which, you know, many people who talk about Book 6 will say there's either too much snogging or too much Voldemort stuff. So this movie has totally, I think, found a balance. And David Yates as the director has really connected with that adolescent sort of vibe. And Dan still looks like he could pull off a 16/17 year old, I think. I mean, it's still good in that aspect. Tom Felton looks a bit older, but you're just happy to see him in the movie, so thats good. [laughs] You know, he gets good screen time. So, overall, yeah, it's really interesting. I mean, I could talk about this movie, but I just basically enjoyed it, and that is something that I'm having to come to terms with in spite of all these negative reviews.

Andrew: Well, Eric, this has been very informational. And we thank you, the fans thank you. You've done the fandom justice, and we all appreciate that. We're glad to see you like the movie, and we're glad to hear that you believe it will be well worth the wait. The extended wait.

Eric: Yes [unintelligible]. [laughs]

Andrew: And here's hoping you get to see Deathly Hallows too. [laughs]

Eric: Yeah, yeah. Well - and actually, I did want to talk about - if I could bring up a thing before I leave.

Andrew: Sure.

Eric: I got to meet David Heyman, David Yates, Alan Horn, one of the representatives from WB, Mark Day, the film editor [laughs] and...

Andrew: Wow.

Eric: ...David Baron, the other co-producer with David Heyman, on...

Andrew: Was...

Eric: ...the movie, after the movie.

Micah: So when are they coming on the show?

Andrew and Eric: What?

Micah: I said, so when are they coming on the show?

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: Was Alan Horn afraid of anyone giving him a good punch? Giving him a good old one-two, you know what I'm saying?

Eric: You know, Andrew, I've got to say that's not funny, because...

Andrew: Oh.

Eric: ...to be perfectly honest with you - no, no, no no, okay...

[Andrew laughs]

Eric: And don't feel bad. Don't feel bad. Don't feel bad.

Andrew: Oh, I don't.

Eric: But - [laughs] - but, to be perfectly honest, we spoke with the Warner Bros. people and they were - to be honest, it's a bit sad, I think, for our fandom, knowing that so many people at WB have received actual death threats. I mean, think about...

Andrew: That is sad, yes.

Eric: Think about the fandom actually saying, "Oh we're actually going to send so many death threats, we're going to storm the gates of WB," and then think of actually receiving a death threat in your e-mail inbox from someone you've never met, from someone who is old enough to have the means to make that sort of thing happen.

Andrew: Yeah, that's very scary, for sure.

Eric: And they received those worldwide, and that's not cool. For that I shame the fandom. I mean, not for being angry...

Matt: But that's definitely something that they should expect.

Andrew: No. No, not death threats. [laughs]

Matt: No, seriously, they should. For something this big, they should expect something to be extreme even though it may not happen.

Andrew: I'm sure they expected a big outlash, but I don't know about death threats.

Matt: I know - I know - well, this isn't the first time that something like this has happened.

Andrew: Can you see them sitting down at a meeting and being like "Look, guys, if we do this, we're going to get death threats." [laughs]

Matt: No, no, "If we do this, we're going to get a huge flack." And they are. I mean, it may get a little more than they anticipated...

Andrew: Yes.

Matt: ...but they should've expected...

Eric: But seriously, it's a bit more. I mean, in all the history of Warner Bros., to think that this - I mean, you guys, let's speak candidly here. You know how crazy some of the fans out there are. But to actually - I mean, that's all I'll say.

Andrew: Yeah. Oh yeah.

Eric: It's got to be scary. But still - no, Alan Horn was there, and they had all seen the screening and they were all, I think, very pleased with all the feedback they got; they got a lot of - they sat for a session afterwards, plus all the surveys we were filling out afterwards. There's one thing I wanted to talk about; the surveys were very detailed. They mentioned - first of all, in every question they urge you to be as specific as possible, which may just be standard, but they were asking things like, "what scenes do you think moved too slow?", "what scenes do you think moved too fast?", "what were your favorite actors?", "what were your favorite scenes and the least favorite scenes?" All these questions that...

Andrew: Were they general questions? Or were they tailored - were they like, "What did you think of Slughorn?" Or were they like general questions that you hand out at every movie screening?

Eric: No, no, no, it wasn't as - that's right, yeah, they were tailor fit.

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Eric: They were absolutely tailor fit. I can't think of many more specific questions except that they really did - there was a lot of room for total explanation and also a lot of guiding where they could get your feedback even if you didn't be specific. So it was a bit, overall, quite interesting. My favorite scene was the Felix Felicis scene in the movie, which is great.

Andrew: Cool.

Eric: Next to the cave scene, which I quite enjoyed. And yeah, so that - meeting David and - David Heyman afterwards, and David Yates, was a really good experience, and I shook their hands. I even hugged them.

Andrew: Awww.

Eric: And I just - I just assured them. You know, I said I like the movie, and, you know - hopefully - and they said, you know, great, because we really did try to make this a great film, especially for fans, and they said that Jo Rowling had seen about twenty minutes of the movie and she said what she always says, which is - but she said this might be her favorite film so far.

[Andrew and Eric laugh]

Andrew: Oh, that Jo.

Eric: Which is important to mention, but - yeah, it is. It is important to mention. So Jo thinks this might be her favorite film ever, and the film editor and everyone were there, and so - or everyone was there, so everyone did want to see what people thought and were very interested to the core of their soul on what people thought, so I thought that was really fitting. I thought that was very great. They were all very nice people, all very grateful to hear all that. But so - I mean, I sat with - I stood with them and spoke about some of the things that I was concerned about, but basically I think, overall, the final product is going to be great, and it was just such a pleasure because I hadn't made it to the red carpet premieres. [laughs] I believe I was getting a Mickey Mouse from somebody? Last - Goblet of Fire?

Andrew: Yeah. Well, this obviously is pretty big.

Micah: The gods made it up for you, Eric.

Andrew: The gods, yeah. You were destined.

[Eric laughs]

Andrew: It was karma. You do, you know - pay it forward. Pay it forward.

Eric: Honestly, so...

Andrew: Eric, we got to go, but thank you so much. This was very informational.

Eric: Yeah, yeah.

Andrew: I hope to see you back on the show soon.

Eric: Absolutely. Just let me know when the next one is and hopefully my computer will be working.

Andrew: Of course, of course. All right. And, Eric, again, we thank you, the fans thank you. I'm sure you'll get some more feedback from the fans with some more questions. Just one more thing, actually, real quick: are you sad that you can't wait until July now to see it? Or like - what's the feeling there? Because a lot of people say, like, "Oh, I wouldn't want to see it this early because then what do I have to look forward to?" Do you feel bummed?

Eric: Oh, yeah. That's a good question too. I'll answer that for sure. I strongly think that the movie that I see in July is going to be different...

Andrew: Yeah, definitely.

Eric: ...than what I saw at this past screening. I really believe that. Maybe I'm out of my mind, but I really do think that definitely the finalized version with the finalized - even the look and feel, even the touch, is going to be changed, and different. That'll come with a completed score, which we haven't - which we didn't have. They had kind of in and out of different pieces, so it hasn't been fit. You know, the scenes that were cut might not remain cut, and there might be more scenes that did get cut and some added in.

Andrew: Right.

Eric: So, we just don't know from this standpoint. So once the effects are complete - a lot of that does change how you view the movie, how the movie feels, and, you know, I don't know how those those scenes are going to end up looking, in a way. The way the movie was presented to us, it didn't even - it didn't feel like it was completely presentable, like it was completely...

Andrew: Of course.

Eric: I mean it was presentable but not completely fit.

Andrew: Sure.

Eric: It wasn't like, here's a completely fit possible version of the movie. That wasn't it at all. This was still a bit far away from the complete final stages, and so I think, yeah, when I see the movie in July, which I will, it will be different enough that I will be surprised. Plus I'll have forgotten a little bit by then, and so in a way it's not really a negative thing that I have to wait even longer for new material. Say Movie 7, I have to wait even longer for it than I did before, but I think the movie will be different.

Andrew: And you know what? They'll be making changes down to the last few weeks. I remember Matthew Vines from Veritaserum.com, I was in touch with him a lot around Goblet of Fire, and he went to literally, you know, the U.S. premiere, the U.K. premiere, the U.S. screenings, the U.K. screenings, and he said every time he saw it, he saw little changes. They're changing these films down to the last possible minute. You know, because there's a lot of pressure. So yeah, I think you will be seeing a - it could be a whole new film depending on that feedback they got. So there you go. All right, Eric.

Eric: And now with the extended time, they'll have plenty of time to do more screenings, you know.

Andrew: Yeah, of course.

Eric: Chicago - and to answer the first question I was asked completely, Chicago was where they always did their first screenings.

Andrew: Yes.

Eric: That goes back to the days of the first two movies, because Chris Columbus is from Chicago, or one of the suburbs, and they developed good relations with movie theaters...

Andrew: Oh, okay.

Eric: ...and basically that was - that's where they hold their first test screenings. Again, just one of those random benefits of living in Chicago and subscribing to MovieTickets.com, I guess.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, apparently. I guess we all will now. All right, Eric. Thank you very much. We'll talk to you again soon.

Eric: Thanks, guys. This has been fun.

Andrew: No problem. Yes it has. All right, dude, talk to you later.

Eric: All right. Is the recording going to work?

Andrew: Oh, yeah. We got it all. We're good.

Eric: Sweet. Thanks so much.

Andrew: All right. No problem. See you, dude.

Matt: Bye, Eric.

Eric: All right. Bye, everybody. Bye, Matt. Bye, Micah. Bye, Andrew.

Everyone: Bye.

Andrew: That was Eric Scull who just recently caught a screening of Half-Blood Prince in Chicago.

Micah: Yeah.

Andrew: That lucky little boy.

Micah: Plenty more questions, I'm sure, that...

Andrew: We'll be asking him.

Micah: ...we could ask him, too, I mean...

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: ...there are so many that came to mind, but maybe people can send in their questions. Obviously...

Andrew: Mhm.

Micah: We'll have plenty for him next show as well.

Andrew and Matt: Yeah.

Andrew: So, Micah, what else has been going on in the news?

Micah: We're still on the news?

Andrew: We're still not through it. [laughs] Yes, we are.

Micah: We're like 45 minutes into the show and we're still not done with the news.

Andrew: That was a whole segment. That was a whole big main discussion, I guess you could say. [laughs]

Micah: That's true.

Andrew: So anyway, what else is going on in the wonderful world of Harry Potter?

News: HBP Video Game Delayed

Micah: Well, let's wrap up Half-Blood Prince news first. The only other remaining piece of news from the movie actually affects the video game. The Half-Blood Prince video game is in fact going to be delayed, and one thing that Electronic Arts reported was that it is going to be a 120 million dollar loss for them this year. Andrew, you noted that they're going to make somewhere around 5 billion. In the grand scheme of things, is that a huge hit to take? I would argue it may be when you look at their overall budget for 2008. If they were anticipating that revenue to meet their budget, that certainly could have an effect on it. I mean, in the scheme of 5 billion dollars, 120 million seems very small, but at the same time, you know, to us, that's a lot of money.

Andrew: Yeah, and I think that, you know, they want to get this game out of the way and get going on the next one, because they're real passionate about these Harry Potter games. I mean it is a studio in London that works on these, so it's different from EA's other big franchises like EA Sports.

Micah: Right. Did they mention anything about how it would affect maybe Deathly Hallows, similar to how everybody had questions, well, now with Half-Blood Prince being delayed, is that going to affect Deathly Hallows at all? You know.

Andrew: It may, but there's still a two year wait.

Micah: That's true.

Andrew: So...

Micah: And there's probably only going to be one game though. The video game is not going to be split into two parts.

Andrew: Oh yeah. But I wonder what - they'll have to wait to release it, though, because, you know, you can't release it, a full game, with only half the movie, because then half of it's spoiled. Warner Bros. has very tight restrictions for them, you know, saying, "You can't spoil anything in the movie before the movie comes out." You know, that's involved in the video game, so...

Micah: And the thing to remember is that it's not just going to affect, you know, EA. It's going to really affect anybody else who's in the merchandising industry that was anticipating this release in November, and was going to use that money towards their budget for 2008. You know...

Andrew: Yeah. It's important. It sucks for them, you know?

Matt: Yeah.

Micah: I'm sure Warner Bros. probably had to take that into consideration.

Andrew: Warner Brothers should send them a big fat loan of 120 million. [Andrew laughs]

Micah: Absolutely. [laughs]

Andrew: They really should. I mean, you know. And, honestly, I think if EA wanted to they could have released it in November because it's part of their contract, unless there's a little clause in there, you know, that says Warner Bros. has the right, but - because they didn't change it immediately, so they had to be thinking about it.

Matt: And the movies are never really exactly like what the game is anyway.

Micah: Right. Well, I mean I - the reason they waited is they want to release it with the film; however, this is what I wonder about more than anything else: is something like the video game, is the other merchandise because that's where the franchise as a whole can be hard hit for the movie being delayed, because people can decide, okay, well, you know what? I'm going to go spend my ten dollars to go see the film, but I'm not going to buy any of the merchandise.

Andrew: Oh yeah.

Matt: But also, this is during the Christmas season too, is when, you know...

Micah: Exactly.

Andrew: People buy video games.

Matt: Yeah, so they buy - they would buy the video game for Christmas for their kid or something, but now that that it's going to be in summer, I mean, it's just for whenever you want to buy it.

Micah: Right.

Andrew: Yeah.

Micah: Absolutely.

Andrew: So...

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