Movies
Why Steven Spielberg rejected ‘Harry Potter’ offer
Although the Harry Potter film series went on to become one of the biggest of all-time, Steven Spielberg has no regrets about turning down the first movie.
Steven Spielberg is one of the biggest names in Hollywood, having directed hit films like ‘Jaws’, ‘E.T the Extra-Terrestrial’ and the original Indiana Jones trilogy, just to name a few.
The 76-year-old says he even had the chance to direct another smash hit, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, which grossed $974 million at the box office during its initial run, and over $1 billion with re-releases.
Spielberg turned down the offer
However, Spielberg told Variety that he has no regrets about turning down the project even though it was the first film in what proved to be a massively popular franchise.
He explained that he didn’t want to spend months in London, and be away from his kids, who were young at the time.
“The personal meaning about [how the conflict between] art and family will tear you in half happened to me later, after I had already established myself as a filmmaker, as a working director,” Spielberg said.
“Kate [Capshaw] and I started raising a family and we started having children. The choice I had to make was taking a job that would move me to another country for four or five months where I wouldn’t see my family every day…That was a ripping kind of experience.
“There were several films I chose not to make. I chose to turn down the first ‘Harry Potter’ to basically spend that next year and a half with my family, my young kids growing up.
“So I’d sacrificed a great franchise, which today looking back I’m very happy to have done, to be with my family.”
Rather than join the Harry Potter project, Spielberg ended up directing ‘A.I Artificial Intelligence’, which was largely filmed in and around Los Angeles.
Harry Potter franchise became a huge hit
As for ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, the film was directed by Chris Columbus and was the first in Warner Bros.’ franchise of eight movies, which ended with ‘Deathly Hallows: Part II’ in 2011.
Both ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ and ‘Deathly Hallows: Part II’ are among the 50th highest-grossing films of all time, at 49th and 16th respectively, while the Harry Potter series is the fourth-highest-grossing series of all-time having earned $7.7 billion worldwide.