ARTICLE
Harry Potter Retrospective Marathon @ GV Vivocity – A Recap
By InCinemas / 15 Jul 2011 (Friday)
From its tentative start in 2001, the Harry Potter movie franchise has grown and grown into an unstoppable juggernaut, and even without taking into account the last film that has just been released in cinemas, this is already the most successful movie franchise of all time. Since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 will be the series’ curtain closer, it only seems fitting to celebrate it in a big way. And what bigger way than to experience all eight movies back to back, on the big screen?
Lasting for an endurance-testing 25 hours, the Harry Potter Retrospective Marathon was held in Golden Village Vivocity from 13 – 14 July, and word of the event had spread so far that there were people that had purchased tickets and flown in from all over the world, including Istanbul, Brazil, USA, Indonesia and more. The following is a recap of the Marathon from start to finish:
9.30am: A long queue has already formed outside GV Vivocity, despite the marathon being a seated, ticketed event. A fair number of people have come dressed in costume, and many people in the queue are passing time gawking and taking pictures
10.30am: The cinema is open for seating and people are flocking in – the energy level is very high and there’s lots of whooping and cheering going on. Potter fans are getting excited!
10.45am: Some preamble from the emcee including house rules – litter management is important if you are going to be in the same cinema for 25 hours! The crowd becomes even more energized when the emcee conducts a quick Q&A with some movie premiums as prizes.
10.50am: Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (2001, 152 min) And it has officially begun! It can get a bit disconcerting if you have not watched this first film for some time – the child actors are very young and look very different from what they have looked like in the last few movies. The movie is showing its age – visual effects are not as polished, but Harry, Ron and Hermione are cute as a button. Too literal and runs a little too long for its own good, but as a first glimpse into the Potter-verse it’s a serviceable film.
The screening was disrupted near the end with some film issues (10 year old film stock must be quite difficult to handle), but the film was resumed quite quickly and most audience members didn’t seem too unhappy about it. There’s also a great little mechanic where the audience gets a Passport and can collect stickers at the end of each film, but I wish more was done with this concept.
1.20pm: Lunch! Pretty decent fare, and there was also a chance to have an instant photograph taken with costumed crew.
This father and daughter team flew halfway round the world from Brazil to attend the screening – and was the centre of media attention during the lunch break
This family flew in from Istanbul!
2.15pm: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002, 161 mins) The fun thing about watching movies with ardent fans is that the crowd response is always better than usual. The same goes for the marathon. Each film’s title screen is met with loud applause and cheering, even for what to me is the weakest film in the franchise – The Chamber of Secrets. Overly literal and overly long, this movie really showed up Chris Columbus weaknesses in helming the Potter franchise, and probably part of the reason why the third film went to Alfonso Cuaron instead. It doesn’t help that the central villain in this installment is just a giant CGI snake (ok, basilisk).
4.50pm: The Chamber of Secrets has ended and it’s time for a quick toilet break and stretching for many audience members. A mere 2 movies in, so everyone is looking bright-eyed and awake still. Some head for the candy bar and snack bar to redeem their snack packs, included in the cost of the ticket. Cinema operators should really try to incorporate more healthy snack options though – there’s only that much popcorn and sugared water one can take, especially during such a long marathon. This is a shorter break so the next movie will be starting in about 30 minutes.
5.20pm: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004, 141 min) This third film in the franchise marks a stark departure from the previous two, portraying things in a far darker light than before. Alfonso Cuaron’s assured direction and the ability for the film to exist without being a slavish adaptation means this is literally a breath of fresh air. After all this years it still remains as my favourite movie in the Harry Potter franchise.
7.30pm: Credits for the third film are rolling (best credits of the franchise, modeled after the Mauraders Map instead of the usual end title scroll), and the participants are streaming out of the cinema to collect their dinner packs. We are also informed that the Best Dressed contest winners will be announced before the next film. A group shot of the 11 finalists:
8.50pm: More Q&As with the emcee and also the Best Dressed contest. Finalists have to pretend to be the character they are dressing up as and act out a small scene. Inexplicably, despite this judging criteria, the eventual winner – the young Death Eater – was far less exuberant than some of the other contestants, and also didn’t seem to do that great a job with his impersonation. The full judging criteria was probably not revealed to the audience, and seemed as arcane as Defence Against the Dark Arts.
The emcee also took this opportunity to get the finalists to pose with the whole cinema for the press
| See More Pictures of the Event Below! |
9.10pm: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005, 157 min) One thing you really start to feel when sitting through the Harry Potter films back to back is how very long each movie seems to be. The Goblet of Fire is perhaps more well-known as the film that Edward Cullen (real name Robert Pattinson) starred in before becoming a full-fledged heartthrob in the Twilight movie franchise, and as expected more than a few girls screamed whenever he appeared onscreen. The film runs pretty long but still feels quite rushed, and its omissions would not please fans of the novels. Also, one can fully appreciate the development of thespian skills in the three young leads, especially when watching the films at one go. Still, the numerous “British film royalty” in the adult roles are the ones with the serious chops, and it just gets more apparent with each installment.
11.35pm: The Goblet of Fire has ended and it’s obvious the energy level has dipped significantly in the audience since the marathon started. Plenty of bleary eyes in the crowd, and a handful of participants took this break period to just catch forty winks. Many are queuing up at the candy and snack bars to stock up for the long night ahead – especially because the next proper meal break is at 8am. Some participants seem to have changed into more comfortable clothes, including pajamas, to weather out the most brutal part of the marathon.
12.05am: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007, 138 min) One of the most reviled Harry Potter villains is Dolores Umbridge, and Order of the Phoenix is where she makes her first appearance. Imelda Staunton nails it on the head with her affected, sweet-but-sinister portrayal, and is easily one of the most memorable characters in the film franchise. The book was an overlong, overwrought tome in my opinion, so this leaner, meaner film translation was an improvement from the source (and it remains the only film in the series to do so). David Yates takes over the helm for this movie, and continues this role all the way till the end, so he must have done something right to hold on to the gig another 3 times.
2.20am: The Order of the Phoenix has come to an end and it’s very clear that some marathoners are feeling quite out of it. Many seem to have fallen asleep during the movie and are sleeping through the break, and those that are moving around are doing so at a very slow pace. Everyone is feeling the exhaustion, and more than once I hear people discussing whether they will be sleeping through the entire Half Blood Prince to conserve energy for the Deathly Hallows episodes. The Z monster has also gotten to me and I found myself nodding off at moments in the film. This does not bode well for the next movie, especially since it’s showing through the wee hours.
2.40am: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009, 153 min) Since many viewers had grown up with the movies and books, it seems somewhat fitting that the later films have lost much of the childish wonder and has taken on far darker themes like death and betrayal. Again, the purists of the novels will rail at the many omissions in the movie, but Rowling’s novels could not have made it to the big screen without major nips and tucks. The climactic showdown at the end of the Half-Blood Prince novel was also completely nixed to ensure that the last film and that showdown doesn’t feel like a retread. There’s a palpable urgency in this film, presumably because it was thought at that time the next film would be the franchise’s last, and there was still a lot of narrative ground to cover. Yet the film feels just pedestrian, and watching it again on the big screen simply reinforces this feeling.
5.10am: The movie has ended but quite a lot of audience members didn’t realize it, because they were fast asleep throughout most of the film. Snores were heard sporadically punctuating the film’s soundtrack, but most “offenders” were quickly awoken by their (probably slightly embarrassed) friends. There was also very little applause and cheering through most of the show, except for the truly key moments. People are tired and are too tired to care that it’s showing. Quite a few audience members are using this break to do a morning wash-up, and since the goodie bag included mouthwash, toothpaste and a toothbrush, many deemed fit to break them out at this juncture too. Back in the cinema, the energy level has gone up because the end is in sight, and many people are using Deathly Hallows Part 1 as a “warm up” to the final film.
5.35am: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010, 146 min) Ostensibly, the decision to split Deathly Hallows into two films is so that less stuff will be cut from the novel, but apart from this intention the other obvious one was to milk more money out from the franchise. This means that Deathly Hallows Part 1 is crippled from the get-go – it doesn’t have a satisfactory conclusion, and the plot meanders for way too long before things start picking up, and just when it does, the movie comes to a close. The sense of frustration is obviously not so strong this time round because the audience only needs to wait half an hour, not half a year, to see the payoff.
8.00am: The final meal break of the marathon – breakfast seems a bit delayed so GV is offering everyone free coffee and tea while we wait. Everyone is awake now, either because they had rested through the last couple of films, or because they are feeling keyed up for the finale to show. Some marathoners are looking visibly distraught, and some are already on the verge of tears, telling their friends that they can’t believe it’s ending. In a way this shows how much of a cultural phenomenon Harry Potter has been on multiple fronts, and only goes to show there’s still plenty of money to be made from the Potter-verse if the companies play their cards right. Back in the cinema, the cheering becomes ecstatic once the lights dim. Finally, we come to…
9.15am: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (2011, 130 mins) It all ends here – and now seen as the finale film, Deathly Hallows Part 2 showcases the best things about the Harry Potter film franchise. The story’s pacing is excellent, with a good mix of emotional scenes and action-packed moments, and effectively giving closure to almost all the characters left in the film. There’s no meandering like what was found in Deathly Hallows Part 1, and this is perhaps the most visually stunning Harry Potter film of all, even though the tone and look are quite dark. Both fans of the novels and the movies should be quite pleased with this last installment, which is a rare confluence in the world of page-to-screen adaptations.
11.20am: And it’s officially over – 600 people have sat together in one cinema watching almost 1,200 minutes of film, and over a span of two days have experienced an epic series from start to end, witnessing its main actors blossom into bona fide stars and seeing how the films became an important part of our generation’s cinematic culture. It is a very tiring yet rather satisfying experience, but not one that can be endured on a regular basis!