A new Harry Potter movie is on YouTube for free
Welcome to Plain English, the podcast that goes at the right speed for English language learners. I’m Jeff and on today’s episode we’ll talk about a new fan-made Harry Potter movie that was released on YouTube last month; it’s gotten over 12 million views and it’s totally free. And I’m not talking about the pirated version either! The movie was released to YouTube for free; And I’ll tell you more about that later. In the second half of the program, we’ll talk about the phrasal verb “come out.”
Before we do, though, just a quick reminder to click “ subscribe ” on Apple Podcasts or “ follow ” on Spotify. If you like listening to Plain English, you can make sure that new episodes show up on your phone by clicking “subscribe” or “follow”, depending on the app you use to listen. The more people we have subscribing on Apple Podcasts, the more people will see Plain English when they search for something to listen to—so with that out of the way , let’s get going on the Harry Potter movie.
New Harry Potter movie
If you just can’t get enough of the Harry Potter series, you’re in luck: a new film about Tom Riddle and his progression into the Dark Lord Voldemort was released on YouTube for free.
Now, this one is a little different than what you might be imagining . First of all, it’s not written by JK Rowling and was not produced by a major Hollywood studio . Instead, it was written and produced by a group of fans— true fanatics —of Harry Potter. The movie is called Voldemort: Origins of the Heir and tells the story of how Tom Riddle rose to become the main antagonist of the Harry Potter series—He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
This isn’t the official story ; it’s only the backstory as imagined by a group of passionate fans . And as a fan-produced movie, it’s definitely not the same quality you’re used to seeing at the movies. Still , it might be good enough to satisfy your curiosity while you’re waiting for the next Fantastic Beasts movie to come out in November.
The total runtime is 52 minutes, more like the length of a TV show than a movie. But this is an impressive production , with special effects , well-constructed sets , and good costumes , so it’s better than most fan-produced movies. The plot is elaborate and well-researched , as well. The story is told as a series of flashbacks . One new character, Grisha McLaggen, is captured at the beginning of the movie. And viewers get bits and pieces of the Voldemort story through McLaggen’s flashbacks under questioning .
The movie is created in Italian and was dubbed into English. The director, Gianmaria Pezzato, said he wanted to write a film that explores the dark backstory to Voldemort. He said he wanted to know what made Tom Riddle become Voldemort. In the director’s opinion , there are a lot of clues in the official Harry Potter books that are not explored in the movies.
Over 30 million people watched the trailer when it was first released last June; the full movie came out on January 13th and so far has over twelve-and-a-half million views on YouTube.
According to Wikipedia, the reception by critics has been mixed . Some reviewers complimented the special effects and production; one reviewer said the visual effects were better than some multi-million dollar movie productions. But others criticized the acting, saying the actors were way too old for the characters they were portraying .
The project began on Kickstarter, a web site that raises money for new businesses and projects. But the Kickstarter campaign quickly drew the attention of Warner Brothers, and not in a good way . You see, Warner Brothers is the studio that owns the rights to the Harry Potter series. They were worried about copyright infringement . The director of the movie, said he had a confidential call with Warner Brothers, which eventually agreed to let the fan movie go forward—but on a non-profit basis only . That’s why the movie is free on YouTube instead of being offered for sale .
As you might know, JK Rowling is writing a series of films that also cover the time before the Harry Potter movies. The first was called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and was released in 2016. The second movie, Fantastic Beasts: the Crimes of Grindelwald will be released in late 2018. The first Fantastic Beasts movie won two Academy Awards—something none of the Harry Potter movies achieved . There are expected to be five Fantastic Beasts movies in total.
If you want to check out Voldemort: Origins of the Heir, I’ll put a link in the show notes, which you can see right from your podcast app, and on the web site, at PlainEnglish.com/22
Click to watch on YouTube
I want to say a big thank-you to Mayra for suggesting today’s topic . Mayra listens from Bogota, Colombia, and says she’s been working at English and is getting better with time . That’s how it works—it takes time and practice, right? Thanks again Mayra for listening and for suggesting today’s topic.
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