LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Harry Potter was the center of seven novels, but he'll star in eight films.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be split into two movies with the first slated for November 2010.

The final book in the wildly successful series will be made into two films, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday.


Full article here.

Not a good idea, if you ask me (and I think you did). The last book felt heavily padded. I think they could easily truncate Harry, Ron, and Hermione lost in the woods into a quick montage. They can keep the themes of distrust of your elders without all the Dumbledore flashbacks.

I agree.

However, I would be fine if the first film was all the stuff leading up to the battle for Hogwarts, and the second film was all the battle for Hogwarts.

That would work for me.

2010?? Lame. Hope they film it all at once next year though...the actors aren't getting any younger. The more I think about it the worse this seems. Strongly do not support stretching this out to an extra film. Stinks of greed. The last few books are almost as long as DH and they've managed to fit them into single films. There are 200 or more pages of filler in DH, which I was fine with as a reader (don't let it end!), but could be snipped away for the film without hurting much.

There is no way that will be the case.

I'll tell Hollywood you said so.

And shouldn't there be an IFO at the end of that statement?

Seriously though, they're not going to do a 2 hour battle, much less with no payoff at the end of "part one" except Harry being...well, you know.
The only way I can support this is if both come out in 2010, one spring and one holiday.

No, there shouldn't. Really.
IFO.

I believe they are being filmed back to back

Actually they're being filmed simultaneously.

If they did that, Deadly Hallows pt 2 would be the sweetest movie ever made.

Like, just hardcore awesome.

I highly doubt it will happen though.

Chris this news is like a week old.

Oh yeah, like that would work for a fantasy movie!

And did you post it here for people to discuss then Todd?

No?

Then thanks for playing.

You must have deleted the thread, Mod-Boy.

Right.

Again, thanks for playing.

(and people thought I was the one who's personality would change when I became a mod)

I think there's enough material for two films, and movie # 6 will be released this Thanksgiving, so that's only two years between movies. That's not that bad.

What I'm afraid of with this - strictly from a movie perspective - is that the logical place to break the Deathly Hallows in two would be at the end of them wandering around in the woods. There's the near death experience, the big heroic payoff, our heroes reunited, a major step forward and the end of the first act from a plot perspective. The issue, though, is that would make for a deathly (heh,heh) dull movie.

I don't actually have an issue with them breaking this one in two; there are too many plot threads to wrap up, even if some of them, like SPEW, have never been referenced. There's probably 20-30 minutes of movie just between Harry talking to Neville about Nagini, and the end of the book. If the battle itself is another 1/2 hour (and smell those FX baby), and 45 minutes from them leaving the woods and starting to really chase the Horcruxes, that gives you 1:45. and one heck of a kick ass movie. But I don't think that to do the first half of the book in 1:15 would capture everything that needs to happen there, from an emotional standpoint. The biggest issue that movies have is that they can't convey time's daily passage well. If the time Ron is away from the group is only 15 minutes of screen time, it doesn't have the emotional punch at the end. Which is why I believe it will be the end of the first movie. They are going to spend 2/3 of the first movie in the wilderness, wandering around. What they're going for - remembering that most people don't read - is the same emotional reaction as "you're all clear now, kid. Now blow this place so we can go home"

I'll pay to see both of them, though.

Jason

I (mistakenly) thought that there had been a film released every year since the first one.

Not quite, but close. The first two films actually were released a year apart, then they came out about every 18 months after that. That's a pretty hectic schedule for everyone involved. I guess I can't begrudge them a desire to take a few more months with the final two movies.