Potter Poster Peeve

So, I still have the latest Harry Potter movie rolling around in my head, and as I was working I noticed the differences in the Harry Potter Movie box-arts (for those who don’t know, I work in an Electronics Department), specifically between the first and the latest one. Here, take a look:

Now, is it just me, or is the first box art so much more… magical? In my opinion is captures the whole movie in one picture, showing the audience a glimpse of what they’re going to see. You have all the main characters highlighted, Hogwarts is towering in the background, and you see a Quidditch race in the sky – how awesome is that! And to top it off, it’s not just a picture, but an actual illustration (or at least it looks that way), which really makes it feel like the illustrations of the original novel – a perfect transition from book to movie if I ever saw one.

The other poster, however, is an entirely different story. Instead of a fantastical looking illustration, you have Harry and Gambon (I refuse to call that man Dumbledore) tilted along with the text at a “dramatic angle” with the ocean splashing at their feet, and what looks like Hogwarts in the faint and distant background. In all honesty, this is probably the lamest Potter Poster ever. Why? Because it’s not unique. It has no charm. What’s so special about two people standing in the ocean? At least the book got it right when it showed Harry and Dumbledore peering over the green potion in the cave – at least it conveyed some of what was going to happen in the novel. And even on the back, we Ron, Ginny, and Hermione staring up at the Dark Mark in the sky, signifying the critical death at Hogwarts. But I digress.

My point is this – why can’t there be continuity with movie posters/box arts? It always bugs the crap out of me when the first two movies in a trilogy have the same art style/direction, and then the last one has an entirely different one. What’s the point in the change?? And it’s not just Harry Potter, it’s several different movies. Like Disney’s Tinkerbell Trilogy. The first two DVD cases show Tink looking out of a leaf - one is green, the other is orange, but then the third movie case shows her flying up to a little girl. Why change the continuity? It flowed so well, and then they just stopped! It makes no sense…

*sigh* Oh wellz – not everything is going to be perfect I suppose.

At least the Lord of the Rings movie cases/posters followed the same theme…