British helmer David Yates will take the director' s chair for the fifth installment of the Harry Potter franchise.

By Lisa Johnson, FilmStew.com

Not only will Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix have a new writer (Michael Goldenberg), but a new director is coming on as well. British helmer David Yates is in final negotiations with Warner Bros. to direct the fifth Harry Potter installment.

The news came as a bit of a surprise, as Yates has only directed one feature, 1998' s The Tichborne Claimant. But his television work on prize-winning dramas that include The Way We Live Now and the miniseries State of Play are what impressed Warner Bros. Yates is currently attached to helm Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany in Warner Independent' s Brideshead Revisited.

The Yates/WB directing deal is likely to be sealed by next week. Order of the Phoenix is scheduled to go into production late in 2005 for a summer 2007 release.

I' m not exactly estatic about this announcement. Previously the director that was announced had a movie or two that I had heard of. As long as he doesn' t go completely crazy with the movie it should be fine, but it was a really good book so naturally I' m expecting a really good movie.

My thoughts exactly

Not being a fan of the books I' ve somehow managed to still watch all the movies. Most recently the third on DVD. As a none-book fan I thought the movie was good but my sister who' d read all of them was shocked and appalled at some of the scenes the movie failed to show. We aren' t talking little things here either but plot revelations they skipped.

So I' m hoping the next movie and the one after do better not to disappoint my sister, including all the relevant plot points.

I thought the first was great compared with the books, the seond fell falt and teh third did a good job, but that is just me.

I fear that who ever directs the upcomming movies will have a challenge on thier hands, the stories only get more intricate with less surroudning fluff. There are fewer insignificant details that can easily be cut, so (as a fan of the books) I fear it will only get worse. still, I enjoy the movies.

Movies never really capture the essence that the books portray...

I read all the books and enjoyed them (Prisoner of Azkaban was the best one). Actually watched the PoA last night and enjoyed it as well, but they did leave a lot out of the story. The next book is the Goblet of Fire -- shouldn' t that be the next movie? Frankly I don' t care who directs it, as long as they stick to the same format.

I' ve read all the books, and if it wasn' t for the WOW factor of seeing the harry potter world for the first time in the first movie, the 3rd is the best in my opinion. The atmosphere was great, they captured the story great for the time they had. If people want to complain about things being left out, they should realize they are watching a movie, 2-3 hours WILL NOT tell a 300 page story. You need a mini-series for that. As for the 4th and 5th books, well, the 4th has a 110 page intro of the total 500 or so pages that can be cut to a 10 minute scene without much loss. Other than that though, it' s going to be hard to cut from it, I' ve already heard they are planning for it to be a 4 hour movie with intermission. The 5th book, I hope the screenplay writer and director slice and dice it to make it a well paced story. So much could go in my opinion. I liked it, but I definetly have the feeling Rowling is writing longer to prove she can. Remember the 3rd movie was an unknown director, and that was fantastic, I' m actually excited by the new director announcement.

when are we getting a new author?? ha! i kid...