While the theatrical cut of 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” currently runs 2 hours and 32 minutes, director Chris Columbus recently told TheWrap that he previewed a cut of the movie that was three hours long, including characters like Peeves, a mischievous poltergeist who haunts Hogwarts — and he’d love to see it released.

“We knew that the film worked because we did a couple of previews,” Columbus said. “Particularly a Chicago preview where our first cut was a three-hour cut. Parents afterwards said it was too long, the kids said it was too short. I thought, well, the kids presumably have a shorter attention span so this is a good thing.”

Nearly half an hour of footage was then removed before the theatrical release.

It’s a bit surprising that Warner Bros. hasn’t released this longer cut previously, despite a few different home video releases of “Philosopher's Stone” thus far. Perhaps Columbus’ comments here will be the push necessary to finally get this extended version out.

Source: https://www.thewrap.com/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone-3-hour-cut-release-chris-columbus-comments/

We ask Warner Bros to finally release this cut for Harry Potter fans all over the world

After 25 years? Always