dannystewart99

A Harry Potter and the Cursed Child film adaptation would be a mistake

If Warner Bros. decides to go through with a film version of the Cursed Child, it will be a lot harder to pretend that it doesn’t exist.

I’ve been away for a while with a reasonable excuse to not have written anything on this blog for a month, and it pertains to the subject of the blog anyway.

Hogwarts Legacy has completely taken over my life and during my first playthrough of the game, it reminded me why I fell in love with the Wizarding World in the first place.

It’s so incredibly immersive with details on literally everything. I completed my playthrough with a 100% completion and I’m diving back in for my second playthrough soon as I aim for that PlayStation Platinum Trophy.

Check out the two below videos from my first time through the game before I discuss Cursed Child:

So, it’s been heavily rumored online that Warner Bros. Studios is trying to recruit the Golden Trio: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, to reprise their roles as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger in a film adaptation of the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

This would be a GIGANTIC mistake.

Most of my reasons are for the sake of the story that we already know. But other reasons are for the success of the other stories that have emerged from the Wizarding World as of late.

Back when the “book” version of Cursed Child released in 2016, I made a YouTube video about all of my issues with the story. Feel free to watch below, but I’ll still write some of them out.

To sort of summarize this video, there are major flaws with the story and the way the characters behave within it. There are also lore breaking elements within the story that muddy the plot of the seven masterpieces that came before it that I simply can’t accept.

Since 2016, I’ve done perfectly fine with eliminating Cursed Child from my head canon. Since it’s just a stage play for Broadway goers, I can happily stay away from it and not have to remind myself that it happened.

If Warner Bros. decides to go through with a film version of the Cursed Child, it will be a lot harder to pretend that it doesn’t exist. Especially if Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson reprise their roles.

I said all I could about the narrative reasons why Cursed Child in that video from above, but there are other real-world issues that would make it a mistake as well.

With major motion picture franchises and adaptations completely dominating Hollywood over the last quarter century, it comes at no surprise that this idea and rumor is out there. The Star Wars saga and super hero genre is suffering from oversaturation at the moment and audiences are letting it be known online, but not necessarily with their wallets. Regardless of how these projects are recently received by audiences, I find it hard to believe that Cursed Child won’t happen.

The quality of Star Wars and Marvel movies has worsened over the last couple of years. While there have been diamonds in the rough for each: The Mandalorian and Andor for Star Wars and Spider-Man: No Way Home and Shang-Chi for Marvel, the overall quality of each franchise has suffered. People are becoming exhausted by these franchises and it seems there’s no end in sight for the content of each.

I don’t want this to happen for Harry Potter.

Some people would say that the Fantastic Beasts films were one, two, and three trips too many back into the Wizarding World. But I actually enjoyed those films. I like the ideas of prequels more than sequels if they need to be made at all.

It’s something I wish Star Wars did instead of returning to the time of the Original Trilogy and muddying up the plot of films that released 40+ years ago. There are SO MANY planets, stories, and eras to discuss when it comes to Star Wars but now, content keeps coming out that makes me rethink what we’ve already known about Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and more for half a century.

How about an Old Republic storyline? How about a story about an ancient Sith Lord? A story about the Whills and how the Force and Jedi came to be? What about the droid attack on the wookiees?

I’m kidding with the last one obviously since we see the droid attack on the wookies in Revenge of the Sith, but the first three would be very awesome stories to tell.

Don’t get me wrong, everything Dave Filoni has done for the Star Wars saga is brilliant. All the TV shows from The Mandalorian, to Andor, to Tales of the Jedi, all great. But for the most part, Star Wars has soured many fans on the film level.

Cursed Child is what went wrong for the sequel trilogy for Star Wars but for the Potter story. It’s like a fan-fiction gone wrong and I don’t want it glorified for the sake of money for massive audiences. But that’s the issue: it’s going to haul in thousands of Gringotts vaults full of Muggle money and there’s no denying that.

But WHY? Just like Star Wars, there are so many different things that you can write stories about and make movies or shows for!

Consider Hogwarts Legacy: a story that takes place in the 1880s-1890s. It’s 100 years before Harry Potter is born in-universe. While characters like Phineas Nigellus Black make appearances, this game is everything a Potter fan could want out of an extension of the saga: a world full of Easter eggs and callbacks while also being a brand new story that doesn’t diminish the original stories or characters that came before it in real life and what comes after it in the life of the Wizarding World.

The Fantastic Beasts films have still given so much more context to Albus Dumbledore as a character and I hope we get to see those films conclude on the big screen. Dumbledore’s duel with Grindelwald and his family issues were absent from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but it’s something book fans are so excited for.

But the Fantastic Beasts films have done more than just tell a story about a younger Dumbledore. It introduced us to Newt Scamander, who is an absolutely lovely character that I’ve grown to care for. We also saw American and French wizards in action in their own native countries. They’ve done so much lore and world building for the franchise that have positively affected it, in my opinion.

There were rumors about two series being developed by HBO Max about the Four Hogwarts Founders as well as a series about the Marauders and Snape during their time at Hogwarts.

I would be fine with either of those! You might nudge into some strange territory with a series about Harry’s parents because that could muddy some stuff up potentially, but you still need to get to the point where they’re murdered by Voldemort somehow. While there’s potential to do a lot with a Point A in that story, Point B is set in stone and that protects it.

However, rumors for those shows have died down and rumors to reboot Harry Potter over again with a series have caught fire on top of the Cursed Child rumors.

That would be even worse than Cursed Child.

I know this blog is about how I don’t think Cursed Child should be made into a movie, but the rumors of this reboot show happening too is just as bad. This is actually a blog about how the idea room at Warner Bros. seems to be the worst idea room in the world.

I feel like the possible reason for this reboot series is because Disney+ is moving forward with a Percy Jackson and the Olympians series that will follow the course of the books and will be written by the series’ author: Rick Riordan.

I’m very excited for that show and that Riordan is writing it. You may ask: “But Danny: why is this a good reboot and the Potter one isn’t when there were Percy Jackson films that came out within the last decade or so?”

Here’s Why: because the Percy Jackson films weren’t faithful adaptations nor were they the worldwide phenomenon that the Potter films were.

*A line outside a theater for the midnight release of “Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows: Part 2*“

I went to every film midnight release of the Potter films and the midnight releases for the books. Always crowded, always exciting, always memorable. While I read the Percy Jackson books and loved them too, the movies just didn’t have what Potter had.

This Disney+ series is an opportunity for Percy Jackson to get his due with a faithful adaptation that he deserves. The first two books were the only ones that were adapted into films and they were received poorly by critics, audiences, and fans of the book series.

The Potter films, just like the books, were acclaimed by literally everyone. It doesn’t need a reboot series a decade after the film adaptations concluded. As a book fan, yes, there are some things cut from the film adaptations that I wish were there, but if I really wanted them that badly, I’ll just reread the books.

Since Riordan is the one writing the show, you know great care will be taken of the characters in the Percy Jackson lore. You know damn well why JK Rowling isn’t going to be invited back to write about her characters, so any reboot would be starting off on the wrong foot (strictly for a narrative reason before you come after me about her world views).

I hope the Percy Jackson series does well and I hope the Potter reboot is killed and thrown in the garbage before ever being spoken about again.

I promise I’m wrapping this up now.

I really hope Cursed Child and the reboot series don’t happen.

Cursed Child will ruin a story that was perfect as is and the reboot series will unnecessarily capitalize on something that doesn’t need to be addressed for a long time.

Harry Potter changed the world. The way adaptations are made. The way children’s stories are written. The way movies are viewed. Potter had a hand in all of this.

Hell, you could argue that the reason the modern movie landscape looks the way it does now is because of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies in 2001.

Would it be the success of the Harry Potter franchise that will ultimately kill it if Cursed Child or a reboot release? It’s an interesting question to ask.

But since neither a Cursed Child film nor a reboot has been officially announced, all I’ll say is please don’t fucking make these. If they do, I guarantee I will not be a member of the audience.

Alright, I’m going to dive back into Hogwarts Legacy, reread the Potter books again, and watch the eleven movies that I hold as canon.

~DS

The perfect way to begin a video game

There are many ways to begin something, but these games are iconic for a reason

There are many ways to begin something.

Whether you open your story with a large monologue with story exposition, a slow reveal of your protagonist or antagonist, or dropping into level one immediately, there are many things a story can do from there to make it great or not so great.

For some of the greatest games ever though, the perfect way to begin the game starts at the main menu.

Now I know most games begin at the main menu, but the added element of the game’s main theme and the air of mystery provided by the menu art and score combines to create the perfect gaming experience from jump street.

I’m going to wind the clocks back to 2002 to begin this one:

To nobody’s surprise, this blog will mention Kingdom Hearts. It’s been 21 years since the original game came out and believe me, I wouldn’t still be obsessing over this series if it weren’t for the main menu, theme song, and the game’s opening.

Following a few white screens displaying the Disney and Square Enix (originally SquareSoft) logos and some branding disclaimers, we hear the soft crashing of waves paired with an image of Sora, our main protagonist, looking out into the horizon, with our game title and our starting options menu below.

The fact that I can still boot this game up 21 years later and still have the same emotional connection to it is what makes it amazing. The title screens for the rest of the series continued this trend, but the original one perfectly captures what the series is about.

Sora dreams of worlds outside the Destiny Islands. He wields a stick, not knowing he’d soon be wielding the legendary Keyblade and defending all the worlds from darkness. All while the calming waves crash and put your mind to an ease knowing you’re about to begin a journey of some kind.

Backgrounding the beautiful title screen is the series’ main theme: Dearly Beloved written by the legendary Yoko Shimomura. The original iteration of this song perfectly captures the comfort of home with an air of mystery that begs the question: “If I leave home, will I ever be able to return?”

Then, as we hit “New Game” and choose our settings, we’re brought to our CG opening movie, soundtracked with Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru, not before Sora reads the classic line “I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately…Like, is any of this for real…or not?”

The game then begins at the Station of Awakening, a stained-glass pillar with an image of Snow White from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The strange and mysterious opening to a strange and mysterious concept combining Disney and elements of Final Fantasy couldn’t have started any better.

The vibe of the entire first Kingdom Hearts game is basically a comforting mystery with the thought that you may not get to return home once it’s all said and done. You can’t go back to a world before Kingdom Hearts either.

Sora and his friends want to leave their home, but once his world falls to darkness and he learns he must protect the rest of the worlds, there’s sort of a somber realization that he may never return to the Destiny Islands again. Of course, since it’s a series, there are answers to the previous sentence’s concerns. But the opening for the original game perfectly captures the journey we’re about to go on and how it’ll make us feel.

Enjoy the rest of the iterations of Dearly Beloved below before I continue with the next game:

The next game that has a perfect title screen, with a perfect soundtrack backing, and the perfect encapsulation of the game you’re about to play is the other game that I’ve talked about most on the blog for the last couple of months.

The Last of Us is clearly at the forefront of everyone’s minds considering the first two episodes of the HBO show have been spectacular in capturing the original game’s essence to a T, while also adding in fantastic world-building elements in the background.

But we’re winding the clocks back to 2013 here. Forget what you know about Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s Joel and Ellie. Forget that you know all about cordyceps and clickers. Go back to a time you’re booting up this new Naughty Dog game on your PS3 for the first time.

The game boots up with the Sony and Naughty Dog logos on black screens while crickets and outdoorsy ambient sounds play in the background. Then the title card flashes The Last of Us before cutting to black again.

Then as an image slowly fades in on screen, a soft and somber melody by Gustavo Santaolalla rises into the acoustic guitar riff that has become synonymous with arguably the greatest story ever told in gaming.

The image we see is a window with nice-looking white curtains waving from a breeze blowing through an open window. However, the window isn’t naturally ajar. The glass has broken and plant overgrowth is starting to pour in from the outside.

While a calming sunlight is peeking through the window, we notice the dingy walls and the knife stuck in the wooden window frame. This is our key that this game is going to tell us a story about the deviation of normal life, and boy, does it do that and then some.

Santaolalla’s score is the perfect blend of sounds to make you feel both comforted and painfully alone all at the same time. In the world of The Last of Us, that is how every survivor of the cordyceps epidemic feels. But at the heart of it, we have Joel and Ellie. A former father not wanting to open himself back up to the pain of being human and a young girl that can provide the spark of life not only in Joel, but to the whole world.

The title screen perfectly captures the game we’re about to experience. It’s the deviation of comfort. The deviation of normalcy. The solitude. The sadness. But also, the spark of hope. The sunlight. The knife that shows we’re going to fight our way through this horrible world. It’s all just perfect.

When you hit “New Game,” the game introduces us to Joel and his daughter Sarah on Joel’s birthday. What follows is a classic opening that introduces you to the chaos of a global pandemic spreading too quickly and then it rips your heart out.

The second game and the TV series follow suit. I’m extremely glad they brought back Santaolalla to score the HBO series as well because nobody could do it better. This game will live on forever for its storytelling, its score, its emotions, and its opening.

To close out this section, enjoy some of Santaolalla’s best:

We’re winding the clocks back to 1998 with this next one!

It’s crazy to believe how far we’ve come from the era of the Nintendo 64. You can look back at gameplay or even blow the dust out of those game cartridges yourself today, but you can never seem to recapture the experience of playing it for the first time again.

But this one game transcends time with its opening title sequence. Time being the key word since the next perfect opening to a game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

I’ve mentioned Breath of the Wild, on this blog before. While I (and many others) think Breath of the Wild is the greatest game in the Zelda series, the title sequence for BOTW simply doesn’t have what OOT has.

Following the classic boot-up logo for the Nintendo 64, we hear the galloping of horse hooves as the black screen fades into a mountain ridge side with the moon descending from the sky.

Then, we hear the soft melodic title theme composed by the legendary Koji Kondo and we see our hero, Link, gallop across the screen on Epona as the sun rises. Then, our game’s title appears as Link and Epona stop for a pose and then continue on.

As this was the first 3D title in the Zelda series, this title screen meant a lot of things to a lot of different people. After a 5-year gap in storytelling, the Zelda series was introduced to a much larger audience with its technical marvels and beautiful music.

Since the game was in 3D, on the console of the era, and had wide open environments to interact with, this opening was absolutely perfect. It emerges from the darkness and announces itself in a quietly beautiful way. Then, with the music playing, we get a hint that the Ocarina of Time and music itself will play a major factor in this story.

With the Kingdom of Hyrule ready for us to explore it, this title sequence makes its way into the opening of the game. After you press start, the camera makes its way into Kokiri Forest where we find Link, the Great Deku Tree, and Navi the fairy. From there, an epic journey through a vast kingdom, time, and an unforgettable soundtrack begins.

So listen to Navi and “LISTEN” to Kondo’s best as we look forward to the next entry in the Zelda series this year:

The final game I’ll discuss is from 1997 with a remake from 2020 to bring a new audience to world of fantasy.

Without the success of SquareSoft/Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII, it’s hard to imagine Kingdom Hearts, The Last of Us, or even Ocarina of Time even happening. Certainly not Kingdom Hearts since the director of that series, Tetsuya Nomura, was the character designer and story director for Final Fantasy VII.

However, the story of Final Fantasy VII changed the landscape for how video games are presented to gamers. They’re not just mindless polygons fulfilling the needs of short attention spans. Video games are an incomparable medium to experience stories on.

Final Fantasy VII is a flag carrier for video games in general and who knows if it would’ve worked if the title screen wasn’t as iconic as it was?

The opening song to the game is titled Prelude and gaming’s most legendary composer–Nobuo Uematsu– transports us to the world of Gaia.

Following the typical PlayStation 1 boot-up screen and the SquareSoft logo, Prelude begins as we see an Opening Credits screen for the game’s creators.

Before the game begins, we have a title sequence opening like a movie would. We see all these names behind what we’re about to play…but why? If you don’t want to read all the credits of the people, you press X and are then taken to a nearly all-black screen with the iconic Buster Sword in the middle, wedged into stone as if it has been used for the final time.

What’s so great about this opening is that it tells us all about the cinematic gaming experience we’re about to have. Nothing like Final Fantasy VII had happened to that point, so to see a game begin with a long line of credits showing the amount of people behind this masterpiece was just different, but in a great way.

Uematsu’s score provides us a magical comfort but with a mystery to what we’re going to experience. Then, before we play the game, we see the Buster Sword as if it’s our last bastion of calm before we delve into the world of the evil Shinra Corporation, SOLDIERs, the mysterious Mako substance, and gaming’s greatest villain: Sephiroth.

After you hit “New Game,” the iconic opening continues with the Bombing Mission score beginning softly as we’re introduced to Aerith, the vast city of Midgar, and our hero–Cloud–as he leaps off a train and poses on the Sector 8 train platform. The rest was history.

This game itself was legendary enough to get the modern touch to it. 2020’s Final Fantasy VII: Remake was an amazing retelling of the classic story with modern updates and graphics. But, how can you remake an opening that had so much meaning behind it?

Well, you can’t.

Final Fantasy VII: Remake‘s title screen is identical. Remastered Prelude, remastered Buster Sword, but the emotion and imagery are the same.

Once you hit “New Game” on Remake, the iconic opening is redone beautifully, with some added scenes to show that this updated Midgar, and outer world of Gaia, is sprawling with life.

Enjoy some of Uematsu’s best before I wrap this thing up:

There are many more games that have similar openings or ones that also convey the perfect audio visual embodiment of what you’re about to play. But these four are some of my favorite games of all-time because their title screens and opening scenes still send chills down my spine.

Every playthrough of each game, I pause at the title screen for a second to take in the beauty of each. The journeys taken in each of these games all began with beautiful title screens, beautiful music, and iconic openings.

As I said above, there are many ways to begin things. But in my eyes, there’s only one perfect way to begin a video game and these four games did that.

Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know why!

~DS