Saturday, December 1, 2007

All Time Greatest films in the World(6): Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)







(Courtesy:empireonline and harrypotter.yahoo)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2007 fantasy adventure film, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling. Directed by David Yates, it is the fifth film in the popular Harry Potter film series. The story follows Harry Potter entering his fifth year at the magic school Hogwarts. The Ministry of Magic is denying the return of Lord Voldemort and also appoints a new teacher, Dolores Umbridge, a bureaucrat who slowly becomes an authoritarian figure in the school. The screenplay was written by Michael Goldenberg, who replaced Steve Kloves, writer of the first four films. Live action filming started in February 2006 and finished in the end of November, and post-production on the film continued for several months afterwards. Warner Bros., the distributor of the film, scheduled a UK release date of 12 July 2007, and a U.S. release date of 11 July 2007, both in conventional and IMAX theatres.The sixth-highest grossing film of all time, it was a critical and commercial success, and was acclaimed by the author, Rowling, who has consistently offered her praise for the film adaptations of her works, and evaluated Order of the Phoenix as "the best one yet."
Story and Plot Point
Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger enter their fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Much of the wizarding community has shunned Harry and Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster, who claim that Lord Voldemort has, after 14 years, regained a body and been restored to full power, and are instead influenced by the propaganda of The Daily Prophet and the ignorance of the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge appoints a new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, who begins to take over Hogwarts through the support of the Ministry.Following the Ministry line, Umbridge refuses to acknowledge that Voldemort has returned, and when Harry insists that he has, she gives him detention during which he is required to write lines with a quill that causes the words to cut into the skin of his hand. Umbridge's teaching is inadequate, consisting of memorisation of the textbook instead of any practical instruction in defensive spells. Twenty-seven students form "Dumbledore's Army" (the D.A.), an underground organisation in which Harry teaches them to use defensive magic.Meanwhile, Harry has been seeing into Voldemort's mind through his dreams. In one, he sees Ron's father Arthur attacked in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry. Harry immediately tells Dumbledore, who believes that Voldemort may have a connection to Harry's mind. Harry begins lessons with Professor Snape to close his mind in the event that Lord Voldemort should become aware of the connection between Harry's mind and his own. During the course of these grueling sessions Harry accidentally enters Snape's mind and has an uncomfortable vision of his own father bullying the loner Snape when they were students at Hogwarts. Enraged, Snape puts an end to the sessions.Harry begins a relationship with fellow D.A. member Cho Chang, but it comes to an abrupt end when she informs Umbridge of the D.A (under the influence of a truth potion). Umbridge apprehends Harry and goes to Dumbledore, who tells her and Fudge that the D.A. was formed on his instructions. Upon hearing this, Fudge orders Dumbledore's arrest, but Dumbledore summons his phoenix Fawkes and both vanish in a blaze of light from his office.When Harry, who is unable to close his mind, has a vision of his godfather Sirius Black being tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries, he launches a rescue attempt, but is waylaid by Umbridge and taken to her office. Umbridge asks Snape for Veritaserum (truth serum) but Snape tells her that she used up all of his stock interrogating students, including Cho. Hermione tricks Umbridge into accompanying her and Harry to the Forbidden Forest, where Umbridge is abducted by a centaur herd after insulting them and injuring one of them. Hagrid's half-brother, the giant Grawp, assists Harry and Hermione to escape. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with D.A. members Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, fly to the Ministry of Magic. In the Hall of Prophecy, Harry and his friends discover a small glowing orb with Harry's name on it. When Harry retrieves it, he finds that it contains a prophecy about himself and Voldemort. Suddenly, Lucius Malfoy appears with the Death Eaters, Voldemort's followers, and explains that Sirius is not there — the vision was a trick to make Harry retrieve the prophecy, which could only be taken from its resting place by one of the people about whom it was made.A battle erupts throughout the Ministry. As the shelves holding the prophecies collapse, Harry and his friends flee to another room with a veiled archway in the center. The Death Eaters follow them and manage to capture Harry's friends, whom Malfoy threatens to kill if Harry does not hand over the prophecy. After a moment of hesitation he gives it to Malfoy. Before Lucius can escape with it, he is confronted by Sirius, who has arrived with members of the Order of the Phoenix, a society dedicated to battling Voldemort and his followers. Lucius drops the prophecy, causing it to smash on the floor. Harry's friends are freed, and the battle continues. Sirius pulls Harry aside and tells him to take his friends and leave, but he refuses and continues to fight. Immediately after, Sirius is hit by a killing curse cast by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater. He smiles at Harry before falling through the archway and disappearing.Harry pursues Bellatrix to the Atrium of the Ministry and subdues her by the use of the torture curse. A voice appears in Harry's head, taunting him to kill Lestrange. Moments later, the voice is revealed to be that of Lord Voldemort, who Apparates behind Harry. Harry attempts to attack him, but Voldemort disarms him. Before Voldemort can kill Harry, Dumbledore appears. As Bellatrix escapes, they engage in a furious duel. Fearing that Dumbledore is too powerful to defeat in open combat, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry, as Dumbledore looks on. After an agonizing internal battle, Harry says that it is Voldemort, not he, who is weak and that he will never know love or friendship, and for that Harry feels sorry for him. Voldemort is ultimately forced from Harry's body and mind, prompting him to state that Harry "will lose everything" due to the profound amount of love that resides within him.Fudge arrives in the Atrium with a squad of Aurors just seconds before Voldemort The Ministry is forced to acknowledge its error and vindicate Dumbledore and Harry. Dumbledore later discusses with Harry the contents of the prophecy Voldemort wanted so badly, which states that "neither can live while the other survives"; therefore, Harry must either kill Voldemort or be killed by Voldemort. The film ends as Harry tells Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, that they can love, something that Voldemort cannot and that they have "something worth fighting for".
Box office Records
The film opened to a worldwide 5-day opening of $333 million, the third-biggest opening of all time, behind only Spider-Man 3 (2007) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). Both of those films opened in many more markets — Spider-Man 3 in 108 and At World's End in 103, respectively, compared to Potter's 45. In the United States, tickets for hundreds of midnight showings of the film, bought from online ticket-seller Fandango, were sold out, making up approximately 90% of the site's weekly ticket sales. In the U.S. and Canada, midnight screenings (very early morning on 11 July) brought in $12 million from 2,311 midnight exhibitions making the showings "the most successful batch of midnight exhibitions ever." In one-night earnings, Phoenix is behind only At World's End, which had debuted four hours earlier on its date. In the U.S. and Canada, Phoenix earned an additional $32.2 million on Wednesday, post-midnight showings, making it the biggest Wednesday single-day gross in box office history, with a total of $44.2 million. That amount tops Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 2, which had held the record since 2004 with its $40.4 million take on a Wednesday. It is also the fifth-biggest opening day for a movie in history, surpassing At World's End's $42.9 million. It earned $1.9 million from a record-breaking 91 IMAX screens, the highest opening day ever for any IMAX day of the week, beating Spider-Man 3's $1.8 million. In the U.K. the result was similar. The film made £16.5 million during its opening 4-day run, breaking the U.K. box office record for the biggest 4-day opening weekend ever.Phoenix's domestic gross is at $291.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, and at £49.2 million, or $101.4 million in the U.K. Overseas, it has grossed $646.4 million, the fifth highest-grosser ever overseas, for a worldwide total of $938.3 million. It became the second-highest grossing Potter film worldwide, and the second Potter film to break the $900 million mark. It is the sixth-highest grossing film of all time and currently, the highest grossing 2007 film of Australia and the UK. IMAX Corporation and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that the film has made over $35 million on IMAX screens, worldwide, with an impressive per-screen average of $243,000 making it the highest grossing live-action IMAX release in history.
Awards
Before it was released, Order of the Phoenix was nominated in a new category at the 2007 MTV Movie Awards, "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet". However, that award was won by Transformers. On 26 August 2007, the film won the award for "Choice Summer Movie – Drama/Action Adventure" at the Teen Choice Awards.The film was also nominated for several awards at the 2007 Scream Awards presented by Spike TV, in the categories of "The Ultimate Scream", "Best Fantasy Movie", and "Best Sequel". Daniel Radcliffe was nominated in the "Fantasy Hero" categories, respectively. The film won for Best Sequel and Ralph Fiennes won for "Most Vile Villain". The film picked up three awards at the inaugural ITV National Movie Awards, taking "Best Family Film", "Best Actor" for Radcliffe and "Best Actress" for Emma Watson. The film was one of ten nominees for a 2007 Hollywood Movie of the Year. Nicholas Hooper received a nomination for a World Soundtrack Discovery Award for his score to the film.
Srivenkat

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