'Goblet of Fire' to be most expensive film ever made
January 17, 2004 at 8:24 PM ET
Geri
Wizard News (via Sunday Mail)
According to the next director in the Harry Potter franchise, Mike Newell
, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be the most expensive movie ever made.
The film, which starts production in April, will cost an estimated £170 million ($308 million), reports the Sunday Mail. That's £5 million ($10 million) more than the entire Lord of the Rings series.
Newell commented that directing a Potter picture carried huge responsibilities:
"I think of myself as being really lucky. I'm going to make the most expensive film there has ever been. These things are not like ordinary films they are world events. I have millions of 10-year-olds who must not be disappointed. Making Harry Potter is like being President of Brazil. It is a colossal undertaking."
Newell also commented that finding an eight-foot-tall French woman to play Hagrid's love interest, Madame Maxime, has caused him a giant-sized headache.
"We are casting right now. I've been in Paris, looking for giant women and French schoolgirls."
Top five most expensive movies to date:
- Lord of the Rings trilogy (estimated to be $298 million)
- Dinosaur and Titanic at $200 million each
- Waterworld and The Wild, Wild West at $175 million each