The Harry Potter movie franchise, while a big profit machine and generally adored by critics, received a less than stellar response from fans of the book. While the casting, performances, and production values were all top of the line magnificent, many book fans took umbrage with how much material was cut from the novels. This proved a big problem in the later movies, when entire chapters and subplots were cut from the story.
But not all the excised material was of worth. A good screenwriter and editor knows where to trim the fat.
10 Magical Education
Part of the magic of the Harry Potter franchise is the world building. Of great importance to this world building are the magical classes that Harry attends, as it teaches both him and the viewer/reader about the magical properties of this fictional world. The first two movies were quite good in portraying Harry's classes, but Prisoner of Azkaban generally ignored "the school stuff" in favor of Sirius Black. And yet no one missed it, as Prisoner of Azkaban is often considered the best movie in the franchise.
9 Trelawney's Prediction
Order of the Phoenix often gets a lot of flak for its bungling of the prophecy subplot, and for good reason. The movie cuts a lot of important information, including the fact that the prophecy may be referring to Neville Longbottom. The film also doesn't mention that it was Professor Trelawney who made the prediction. And that's generally OK. While it does somewhat diminish Trelawney's character and her importance to the story, the fact that it was her who made the prophecy isn't really relevant to the wider story.
8 S.P.E.W.
S.P.E.W. (or Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) is a rather divisive element of the Harry Potter series. Hermione desires to see the house elves receive better treatment and working conditions, and she creates SPEW to bring attention the elves' plight at Hogwarts (and in the wider wizarding world at large). It's a good little subplot for world building and some interesting character interactions, but it's certainly not required viewing. With Goblet of Fire already running 157 minutes, there was simply no time for S.P.E.W. Which is ironic, because that's how most the student body sees it as well...
7 The Troll & Potions Puzzle
The climax of The Philosopher's Stone cuts out a chunk of the dungeon tasks. And that's OK.
While the film contains Sprout's Devil's Snare, Flitwick's winged keys, and McGonagall's life-sized Wizard's Chess set, it eliminates Quirrell's mountain troll and Snape's potions riddle. It would have been interesting to see them, no doubt, but they're not necessary to the story and may have resulted in some awkward pacing issues.
6 Goblet Of Fire Dursleys
Goblet of Fire has a bit of an awkward start, especially for those who were wanting to see the Dursleys and the Quidditch World Cup. But as funny as the Dursley scenes are, they're not very necessary for the movie - and they may have resulted in some tonal issues. In the book, Petunia has put the Dursleys on a diet, and when the Weasleys come to take Harry away, they inadvertently crash into their electric fireplace and destroy the living room. It's a funny scene, but it clashes with the dark opening sequence and would have been expensive to shoot.
5 Quidditch World Cup
Speaking of the Quidditch World Cup, that is also not in the movie. And that is also OK. While exciting to read, it's not really necessary to the overall story (aside from establishing Ron's obsession with Quidditch and Viktor Krum). It would have also been incredibly expensive to film, and it would have resulted in some major pacing issues. As with S.P.E.W., Goblet of Fire is simply too long to include scenes like this. Fans get the gist of the game, and that's good enough.
4 Firenze
Despite having quite a prominent role in the novels, Firenze is relegated to a very quick scene in The Philosopher's Stone movie. In later entries, Firenze takes over Trelawney's role as Divination teacher after she is fired by Umbridge.
It's a decent little subplot for Firenze's character development, as he is banished from his centaur colony owing to his allegiance with humans. But it's certainly not necessary for the movies, and while Order and Half Blood Prince could have used some more scenes, Firenze's teachings aren't some of them.
3 Mrs. Weasley's Boggart
Order of the Phoenix is quite a dark story, and it contains one of the series' scariest and most disturbing moments in Mrs. Weasley's boggart. The boggart appears as the corpses of Molly's family, cycling between Ron, Bill, Arthur, Fred and George, Percy, and finally Harry. It would make for a pretty scary sequence, but it's not really necessary for the wider story or Molly's character development. It's firmly established that Molly Weasley loves her family more than anything, so even non-readers could probably assume that her boggart would be family-related.
2 The Brain Room
Continuing in Order of the Phoenix's dark tradition, the climax sees a particularly nasty room within the Ministry of Magic. Suitably called The Brain Room, this dark room contains a large glass tank containing floating brains that shoot out "tendrils of thought." Said tendrils attach themselves to Ron, who is physically scarred from the ordeal. Like the boggart, this would make for a terrifying sequence. And like the boggart, it was cut from the movie, which segues immediately into the Hall of Prophecy. But again, The Brain Room is not exactly necessary for the story, and seeing it would add little more than an exciting and freaky sequence.
1 The Time Room
Like The Brain Room, The Time Room is another segment that was cut from the Order of the Phoenix film. This room isn't quite as interesting as The Brain Room, containing a clutter of desks, bookshelves, and clocks. The room also contains a bunch of time turners and a beautiful bell jar that contained a hummingbird continuously hatching and re-entering its egg in a never ending time loop. While the scene contains a wonderfully creepy sequence in which Rabastan Lestrange's head is repeatedly changed into a baby's, it was nevertheless an understandable excision.
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