There's A World Where Steven Spielberg Directed The Harry Potter Movies, But It Sounds Like They Would Have Been Really Different

I love Hollywood history stories where very popular movies or franchises stand at a crossroads. If one decision gets made, it sends a wildly popular series down a different direction, changing the course of the industry, possibly for decades. As Hollywood prepares to once again attempt to being JK Rowling’s wizarding world to life, this time in a limited series form , we are reminded of how close Steven Spielberg came to helming one of the early Harry Potter movies… and how different they would have looked had the E.T. director kicked off the series.

When Warner Bros. was trying to get the Harry Potter series off the ground , all sorts of iterations were discussed. We have heard over the years that Spielberg was circling the opportunity, and he has talked about why he passed on it . But now we are hearing from Haley Joel Osment what he knows regarding the situation. And it matter because Osment was part of the movie that Spielberg left Harry Potter to do.

In 2001, Steven Spielberg released the sci-fi masterpiece A.I.: Artificial Intelligence , which was his attempt to complete a movie inspired by an idea pitched by Stanley Kubrick. While appearing as a guest on the new Spielberg podcast The Spiel, Osment opened up about his memories regarding Spielberg, Harry Potter, and his casting for A.I. Osment told the hosts:

An animated take on the Harry Potter franchise would have been fascinating. In theory, it eliminates the concern that producers and directors no doubt had at the time regarding actors aging faster than the films could be made. The cast was hired at a very young age , and it’s a cinematic miracle that they all stayed in character range for the duration of the shoot. Animating the classic characters from the get go would have meant that the issue might have been avoided. Just ask the Stranger Things producers how they feel about this as their adult cast heads into Stranger Things Season 5 .

But, Spielberg helming an animated Harry Potter wasn’t meant to be, and instead, the first two movies fell to a Spielbegr protege in Chris Columbus. He set the tone for the film series, with Alfonso Cuaron then elevated in the best Harry Potter movie , Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . Are you glad that Spielbegr made A.I. instead of an animated Harry Potter? Which would you have preferred to see?