The Harry Potter Film Franchise Wants Your Money, Is Gonna Get It Too

So only two books in the Harry Potter series (I dunno, maybe you've heard of it?) remain un-movie-fied: Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows.

But now Warner Bros. has announced plans to split Deathly Hallows into TWO movies. We will officially be released from Voldemort's clutches (OMG SPOILER!) sometime in 2011.

 

The two installments of Deathly Hallows will be shot concurrently and directed by David Yates (who directed Goblet of Fire and the still-in-production Order of the Phoenix). Part I will be released in November 2010, with Part II following in May of 2011. At least we can be grateful that George Lucas is not at the helm, since he would have called them Part 19 and Part 4, respectively.

Everyone involved in the production is enthusiastic about the split, because of literary integrity and the fact that every single word on every single page of Deathly Hallows is so unbelievably important and no sub-plot can be spared and this way they can truly "do justice" to the series as a whole.

"We want to celebrate it. We want to give a full meal." said Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Translation: WE'RE ALL GONNA BE RICH! RIIIICH! I'M A'GONNA BUY A SOLID GOLD HOUSE AN' A ROCKET CAR YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAW!

Source: LA Times

Comments

[Nic]

So if we have to wait until 2011, that means that movie prices will be approximately $35 a piece and popcorn will be $16, right?

[Ninebel]

I just watched the Order of the Phoenix dvd. It's Half Blood Prince that's in production and should be out for Thanksgiving. I am a latecomer to the HP books and films so now I get to feel all up-to-date. The Wikipedia pages for Harry Potter are, as expected, frighteningly comprehensive.

I read the last four books checked out from our public library. And in tribute to the hugity of the hardbacks for all of the HP books, here's my joke title: Harry Potter and the Brick of Doom.

[anna]

This probably the part of me that goes "Oh, oh, oh! I was the first person in my whole elementary school to read Harry Potter! Chamber of Secrets hadn't even been published in America when I started!" talking, but I don't see this so much as a scheme to make more money but as a way to actually tell all the story.

Deathly Hallows doesn't have that many subplots that could be axed, and the few things that could be cut wouldn't tighten the script up that well. You could definitely tighten up the camping sequences, but I can't think of anything lengthy that could be thrown out without annoying an even larger part of the fandom than normal

I haven't really liked that films so far- they're okay, but certainly not on par with Lord of the Rings for capturing the point and plot while condensing and sometimes omitting certain elements. (Prisoner of Azkaban was a great movie on its own, but it had so many little betrayals of the book- no Oliver Wood, not even for a cameo, spelling Moony as Mooney, glossing over the Marauders, and that freaking Mexican werewolf*- that it was ruined for me.) So as a book fan, I'm hoping this split could finally mean a really good HP movie.

They'll make more money, certainly, but they'll have to spend more as well- so there's sort of a bright side, right?

*Werewolves in the Potter-verse are nearly indistinguishable from real wolves, to the point that you need to look at the length of the snout to tell. The werewolf in PoA was a hombre lupo, and therefore completely wrong. I know it was a tribute to Cuaron's heritage, which is cool, but so was the eagle fountain! Isn't inventing new architecture for Hogwarts enough?

(I get irrational about Moony, since in middle school my friends branded me the Moony of the group.)

[brandi]

The blurb about this on the NYMagazine site said:

"Part one, which we imagine will be called Harry Potter and His Friends Shouting in Tents, will come out in November 2010; part two, Harry Potter and All the Exciting Parts, will come out in May 2011."

[Suzy Q]

*sputter* George Lucas...*sputter*..."parts 19 and 4, respectively"...BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Personally, I thought Deathly Hallows was deathly boring. And, certainly not TWO movies' worth.

[Amber]

The blurb about this on the NYMagazine site said:

"Part one, which we imagine will be called Harry Potter and His Friends Shouting in Tents, will come out in November 2010; part two, Harry Potter and All the Exciting Parts, will come out in May 2011."

Yeah, thanks WB, lest you spare us an extra hour and a half of OMG I HAVE TO SAVE THE WORLD teen angst. How is it Joss Whedon can convey the angst in being a hero so succinctly, yet writers like JK feel the need to emo off for four hundred pages about how hard it is to fight evil?

[JP]

I'm two books into HP, too! I'm a little late to the party, as always. What's this I hear about a show called Friends?

[sugck xuvoeq]

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