It isn't about the better ride, it is about the better franchise. And while I love the Harry Potter novels (the movies are a choke) as much as the next adult who reads kid's books, the Star Wars franchise is simply unmatched in richness of story and longevity. Not to mention the fact that George Lucas and his gang completely rewrote the book on how movies are made and marketed, and changed the landscape of cinema forever.
And while money isn't everything, the original (and still best) Star Wars film (the only film in either franchise that can stand on its own), with its domestic take of $1.285 billion (adjusted for inflation), remains the highest grossing film in the modern era.
Harry Potter? I am a huge fan of that franchise as well and even though it opened LATE, I applaud Universal for it's innovation and it's creation. The only thing here that saddened me is that only ONE attraction at the PWP is actually new...the others are just uhm...revisited :)
Star Wars Land? Great IDEA! Just remove the huge wasted space at DHS - that tram ride - and build the "Empire Bites Back there!" You can use that Catastrophe Canyon as part of Stars Wars lava fight and change the water to look like lava...like in Las Vegas.
Now...when are they going to reopen (and UPdate) Disney's River Country...what a waste of real estate.
Keep your ideas coming...I love to read them.
WHY? Because I like you :)
I voted for Star Wars pretty much because it has been a proven franchise for all these years. Harry Potter, in my opinion, is good too, but in book form. Harry Potter could be as popular, but it is still early.
No; he took the technology from 2001: A Space Odyssey and made it unrealistic, stole the plot from WWII, then gave different names to planets representing countries of Earth. Star Wars is unoriginal and the whole of the series pales in comparison to Harry Potter. The first movie was decent, but the rest of the movies are truly awful.
As for the plot of Star Wars, it is a tried and true tale of good vs evil, and has been used in various forms since the dawn of time (incidentally, one could argue Harry Potter has the same basic story - an impudent youth must master magic/the Force to defeat an evil wizard/the emperor). However, if you want to get real picky, Lucas was most heavily influenced by The Hidden Fortress, a classic Akira Kurosawa film, as well as the action-oriented serials of his youth.
Now, I don't want to mud sling, but can you really pick at the plot of Star Wars when the world of Harry Potter is just as unoriginal and unrealistic?
Potterverse is riddled with stolen ideas (read LeGuin's Earthsea books if you want to see where Rowling got the idea for sending a young boy to a school of wizardry), heavy handed exposition (every book ends with a long chapter where one character - who invariably gets caught in a monologue - explains everything that was hidden from the reader during the rest of the novel), and plot holes so large Rowling was forced to write extra chapters just to try to explain the flaws (for example, read the second chapter of book six when Snape offers contrived explanations designed to stem the tide of protests for his inexplicable actions later on in that same book).
And don't get me started on the HP movies, which are such lackluster conversions of the books upon which they are based that one would have to believe the man who wrote the screenplays (Stephen Cloves) must have considered Rowling a hack instead of an artist.
But, I don't want to go there. I very much enjoyed the Harry Potter books, both times I read them. And while I find the movies to be subpar, there is no denying the franchise is a good one, and is wildly successful.
Trivia time: What company does the visual effects for all the Harry Potter movies?
Answer: Industrial Light & Magic.
Isn't that the same company George Lucas started in 1975 to accomplish the special effects for a little film called Star Wars? Well, I'll be...it certainly is!!!
I guess that means that without the magic of Star Wars, and the constant drive of George Lucas and his gang to improve visual effects in film, none of the Harry Potter movies would have even been possible. So the legacy of Star Wars lives on in the World of Harry Potter!
May The Force Be With You!
AHHH - I think Harry Potter JUST tips it....JUST! :P
But there's no doubting that Universal have used Potter better than Disney have Star Wars. A SW land in DHS, with the right marketing, would be a huge crowd draw for Disney.
I disagree, 2001 does not have a slow moving plot; it has a part full of flashing lights that doesn't really belong in the movie. Most of the effects in SW were taken directly out of 2001. The only truly new effects were the light-sabers and laser effects. The company, Industrial Light and Magic, was made because because Fox shut down its special effects team. Lucas gathered up a group of people, who were lead by the second in command to the effects artist of 2001, and told them to create effects. I don't doubt that movies would be as great as they are today without ILM, and that is the only aspect of George Lucas that I respect.
As for that "second in command" you referred to, he was John Dykstra. And although he fell out of favor with Lucas early on, the advancements he made to visual effects while working on the first Star Wars film cannot be discounted.
And as for 2001, we will have to agree to disagree, knowing that the contributions of the film to its genre outweigh our subjective feelings regarding its pacing.
One thing we completely agree upon is the value of ILM to the visual effects industry. Without the talents of that little group Lucas brought together to make Star Wars seem magical, successful films of today, like the Harry Potter franchise, would likely be a lot less appealing.
ILM was just too busy!! =)
A truly immersive "Star Wars" land would be great, I think. Build upon some of the actual things that were good about the movies. I think a Mos Eisley cantina would be great ("You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."), and the Florida summer is like being under the two suns of Tatooine. Elements that would work for rides would be pod racing, speeder bikes on Endor, traffic in Coruscant, running the Death Star tunnel, etc. There could be a jungle gym/climbing area (they have one right now that is based on "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids") based on Chewbacca's homeworld (Kashyyk) or Dagobah (or Endor, if it isn't used in another area). So many possibilities!
Yeah, it's yet another Christ fable. But I love how J.K. Rowling's imbued the series with a warmth that's too often missing from the Star Wars universe.
That said, while Potter is at this point a franchise, Star Wars is a *platform*. (Computer geeks will get where I'm going with this.) Lucas has opened up Star Wars to extensions by other writers and creators. While they work with the Star Wars creative team, all those extra voices extend Star Wars in ways that Lucas never could alone. (Geek analogy: Potter = program. Star Wars = licensed API.)
Rowling's not yet opened her Wizarding World as a platform in that same way, so I understand why so many others see Star Wars as a more engaging and rewarding franchise at this point.
^^ that comment was me btw :P forgot to log in xD :)
However, my vote still lies with Harry, as it is a singular vision that both starts and ends with Miss Rowling. Star Wars itself for me is better in idea than in execution. Look at Boba Fett for example. We all think Boba Fett is cool. But why? Look at him in the movies. There is no indication of why we should ever like him or even ever notice him. Lucas just kind of gave him over and the fans let their imaginations run wild with him. Whereas with Harry, the characters have a richness to them that is unmatched in Star Wars.
So in my mind, if we are going strickly by Rowling's Harry vs Lucas's Star Wars, Harry Potter wins hands down.
It seems like Lucas did a much better job with Star Wars. Its production values are much better than Harry Potter; however, the dialog and storylines are so ridiculous and juvenile that I despise the prequels. The downward spiral began with Episode 6 with the Ewoks and never recovered.
Harry Potter did not fulfill its promise with the movies. They were played so straightforward that there was little suspense. I felt it lacked magic. The old series "Bewitched" did a better job with magical themes.
James already pointed out all the reasons why Star Wars is so iconic and has a lot to do with paving the way for HP. But all that aside, the Star Wars universe is vast and always growing as the narrative continues along all kinds of prequel, post-Death Star, and parallel universes. The villains are diverse, interesting, and dark. The environments are just as diverse and provide many great themes from which to pick. Harry Potter is one island in one park. Star Wars could be three parks on it's own easily. It provides content easily integrated into about every ride system you can think of.
The ultimate dream would be Disney's fifth gate opening as an all Star Wars park. Yeah, I know. It won't happen. but imagine the possibilities!
Harry Potter x 1000000000