Major movie franchises all have a common goal: dominate the box office and sell merchandise. Few actually become mega hits, but when they do, there's no stopping them. Years before Marvel took over, the Harry Potter franchise was a colossal success in Hollywood. The franchise had hit movies, breakout stars, and has earned celebrity fans.
Now, these movies are perfect in their own way, but they aren't free from error. Fans don't always spot errors in movies, and they're usually in disbelief once they're pointed out. In fact, one error from a Harry Potter movie left people stunned.
Let's take a look at the franchise and the error in question.
The 'Harry Potter' Movies Are Timeless
Developing a successful adaptation from a beloved book series doesn't always work out, but when it does, it can turn into a gold mine for a movie studio. This is precisely what happened when the Harry Potter books were adapted into major films, and since then, the franchise has continued to expand, encompassing everything that can generate a dollar.
Including the Fantastic Beasts movies, the overall franchise has grossed over $9 billion globally, a number that makes it one of the biggest movie franchises of all time. Of course, this all started back when The Boy Who Lived made his theatrical debut in The Sorcerer's Stone. Chris Columbus was a brilliant pick to direct that film, and he set the tone for what was to come down the line.
Through the years, the films shifted greatly in tone, but one thing remained in place: major hauls at the box office.It was incredible to see for fans, who devoured the books when they were first hitting the shelves all those years ago.
As is the case with any film franchise, things are far from perfect in the Wizarding World. With each re-watch, people are noticing the glaring errors that have been there all along.
Harry Potter Made A Few Mistakes
Getting things just right while making a film is incredibly difficult. Because of this, there are always minor mistakes and errors that make their way into any film project. Thanks to there being so many Harry Potter films, there are plenty of mistakes, and fans have been spotting them for years.
Looper pointed out a small production error while Harry is hanging onto his broom for dear life, essentially ruining the magical illusion of Quidditch.
"The wire rods helping to hold up actor Daniel Radcliffe are quite visible, running out of his red sweater sleeves and up to the broom," the site wrote
Another example is Hermione's hair changing in the same scene.
The site noted that "during the sequence in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in which Hermione and Harry learn how to fly a broomstick for the first time, the former's hair changes wildly between cuts. Sometimes it's crimped, and sometimes it's straight and wavy."
There are a number of mistakes to choose from, but fans were shocked to see one particular mistake make its way into the final cut of the movie.
The Mistake In Question
In Chamber of Secrets, there is a moment in the film when a cameraman can be spotted among the children. Naturally, fans who never spotted this before were stunned at what they were seeing for the first time.
"Some of them are explainable, but oh man, I can't believe so many of those were actually in the movie! The camerman!!??!," one Reddit user wrote.
Another made light of the error.
"He was a student. Magical Media Studies," they wrote.
Of course, there was another user who offered up a potential explanation as to why something like this would happen in a major movie.
"I wonder if this was filmed wider resolution than screens could show at the time, and now broader resolutions are showing something that would have naturally been cropped out?," they asked,
This type of mistake doesn't always happen, but it's not as rare as some would think.
There is a similar situation in The Matrix, where the camera is visible in a shot featuring Neo and Morpheus' reflection in a door knob. In Doctor Strange, there is a crewman present in the Sanctum Sanctorum, making him one of the most secret and powerful artifacts in the MCU.
The next time you're watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, keep an eye out for this cameraman just hanging out in the crowd of young wizards. Who knows, you might even spot something new that you can share with the world.
