Yes, they noticed! Over the years, tons of Harry Potter fans have taken to social media and pointed out some major mistakes in the eight films.
In fact, a few eagle-eyed viewers took to TikTok in January 2022 and also pointed out that, instead of Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), a baby photo of Emma Roberts was included in the HBO Max Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special.
The Little Women actress was reflecting on her childhood as a Harry Potter fan, when a photo of a young Roberts appeared on screen. Fans were quick to spot the mistake after seeing the throwback snap on the Unfabulous alum’s Instagram account. In the picture, Roberts was wearing Minnie Mouse ears while sitting at a table. “Minnie mouse ears!” she captioned the post, which was initially posted in February 2012. Of course, fans have since flooded the comments section with reference to the Harry Potter reunion.
“GUYS HELP ME THATS LITERALLY EMMA ROBERTS NOT EMMA WATSON,” one fan wrote on Twitter alongside a screenshot of the photo. But producers of the Return to Hogwarts special have since assured viewers that the mistake will be fixed.
“Well spotted Harry Potter fans!” they shared in a statement to Entertainment Weekly after the mistake went viral. “You brought an editing mistake of a mislabeled photograph to our attention. New version up shortly.”
Since brooms — and flying for that matter — don’t really exist outside of Hogwarts, it’s no surprise that one of the movie’s most-noticed mistakes occurred during Harry’s first Quidditch game in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. At one point during the match, Harry falls off his broom and a close-up shot allows fans to see the wires that were holding actor Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) up.
“It was basically coming up with a new sport,” director of the first movie, Chris Columbus, told Insider in November 2021 about filming the Quidditch scenes. “Obviously, the visual effects in that particular film are challenging in that sequence because none of it exists in reality.”
The director went on to say that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling sat down with the film’s production team to “go through the rules of Quidditch.”
“And she walked us through the exact rules,” Chris recalled, noting that the game scenes were the “most difficult” to make come to life.
Scroll through our gallery to uncover more mistakes from the Harry Potter films.
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