Saying goodbye to Harry Potter has been hard – for fans of the books, and even more so the publishers and booksellers for whom he’s been such a spectacular earner – but the Hollywood studio in charge of the film adaptations has found a way to postpone the last goodbye: by filming the final book in the series as two films.
It might seem an obvious ruse to add a little more value to the richest franchise in movie history – which has brought in £2.2bn around the world thus far – but those involved insist the decision has been made to serve a story that cannot be properly adapted any more briefly.
Daniel Radcliffe, the series’ star, is quoted as saying “it’s the only way you can do it, without cutting out a huge portion of the book”. He explained that subplots in earlier books could be excised for adaptations, but “the seventh book doesn’t really have any subplots. It’s one driving, pounding story from the word go.”
I guess I’ll have to wait to see both – to judge how well it works.
i’ve never read any of the harry potter books and only VERY SPARINGLY watched any of the movies. doesn’t this have to be just a marketing/capitalist move? was the last book that much more in depth?
dvorak, you a fan of the “ender’s game” series by orson scott card?
Ya’ there actually is a lot of material to cover in the final book. They’re doing two movies, for the same reason Peter Jackson’s productions of Lord of the Rings series were so long, just too many important details that can’t be left out.
The books are far more detailed than the movies. The movies are also slightly different than the books too. Bugs the hard core fans alot, not so much for me. I think the movies stand upon their own merits.
Ender’s game, now that would make a good set of movies…
I’ve not watched or read any of it.
Ender’s Game was GREAT!
Well whether it was marketing driven or not, it’s going to give fans another movie from the beloved series which is a good thing. (unless they suck 😉
Well, I would have expected a big finish to such a series, but we will have to suffer Potter-Interruptus while we wait for the second half !!!
HBO pulled this twice with the final seasons of Sex And The City and The Sopranos.
Final season split into 2 parts at full retail price. Lame.
@#1: All seven books are written with much more depth than shown in the movies. In my opinion one of the main reasons for the success of the series is JKR’s attention to details and in-depth description of the world and the protagonists. While earlier movies could cut-away the whole plot lines at the sacrifice of depth and detail, in the last one content and the depth are so intertwined that making the similar cuts would make the result a nonsense. Even if considered as a simple action movie: which major character death you just skip over?
As for the capitalist part, I am sure JKR enjoys the money making opportunity as well but it is definitely not the main reason…
I really have never watched any of the movies past the first one and never read past the first third of the first book… For my tastes, it’s all pretty damn boring. But that’s just me. Obviously kids eat this up and many, many teachers I know credit these books with helping to revitalize kid’s interest in reading.
I think its funny how many people like to point out that they haven’t watched the films or read the books, as a point of pride… As if somehow they are above such petty material.
Harry Potter appears to be pretty good stuff and has done nothing but good since it burst into existence.
Harry Who?
#8 The first book and movie were boring. However as the series progresses, the stories become much darker and more interesting. Its just not kids stuff.
The first book was boring, but as the series progressed, you see Rowling growing as a writer and the story maturing, quite possibly matching the maturing level of her initial readers.
I wondered how they were going to do the last movie. All the other books contain a lot of details that don’t necessarily drive the storyline which could be cut loose from the movies. Most of the last book contained details directly related to the storyline. I don’t mind 2 movies, I just hope we don’t have to wait 2 years between them.
#9 – I rest my case.
#10 and #11 – My girlfriend (yes, I have a girlfriend) tells me what you’ve said too, and I think I will soon be involved in a compulsory Harry Potter Marathon.
Between you guys and my nerdy lady friend, I think I probably will end up really liking the series as I get into it.
And I think you are right that the level of the writing grows with the generation who it was written for. At least, that’s what I’m told. 🙂
#9
Harry Who?
yep, you can buy it at Wal-Where?
I am sure it has both a marketing ploy and the need to have two movies to resolve the Harry Potter Realm on Film.
I have read all the books and seen all the movies as have my eldest Daughter (she’s 13). It really gave us a good opportunity for discussion. I welcome the thought of two movies (regardless of the motive) because overall both the Book series and the Movie series have been of very high quality and really are top notch entertainment for kids as well as adults.
There will always be detractors and critics of the series just because it is so popular and they don’t want to do the sheep thing because they see themselves as the non-conformist type and they rip on things like this just for the sake of ripping on it.
The seventh book really offered a lot of detail as to how the whole storyline began (including history Prior to Harry’s birth) and expands on the whole story of how the villain game to be. I think it would actually do fans of the series (Film or Books or both) a disservice if they tried to cram it all in or cut it down into a 2 or 3 hour film.
The movie that needed to be split into two was “Order of the Phoenix.”
Since it wasn’t, much of what would need to be tied up in a final double-movie has been cut out of the series already (What does Tonks’ fate matter, since we haven’t actually met her anyway? Et cetera).
What is left to wrap up? Sure, the second movie needs to be Harry Beats Voldemort, but all they’ve got left to fill the first one is two hours of Harry and Hermione bitching about Ron while hiding in a magic tent. Whee…
The books could make a great series of movies. Maybe some day, someone will actually make them.
#14 – There will always be detractors and critics of the series just because it is so popular and they don’t want to do the sheep thing because they see themselves as the non-conformist type and they rip on things like this just for the sake of ripping on it.
You know… It is possible that some people legitimately do not like the series and have objective reasons for it.
I don’t have any strong opinions about Harry Potter, but I do have strong negative opinions about many popular movies, books, and music. But I have strong positive opinions about a lot of mainstream media product too.
It really doesn’t matter if we liked or disliked the books. At least they got a generation of kids to actually read a book or five. You have to give the series some points for that alone.
I will watch the Harry Potter movies when the HD-DVD boxed set comes out. I can’t wait.
blah blah blah said
I don’t mind 2 movies, I just hope we don’t have to wait 2 years between them.
Actually, the first half is Holiday Season of 2010, with the second half Summer 2011, as reported on SciFi Wire:
http://tinyurl.com/2oapjv
J/P=?
For Christ sake anyone remember Titanic? I don’t need 2 movies just an intermission. I don’t want another Matrix moment. Just as you get into the damn movie it ends abruptly only to be finished in another 2 hr movie.
I’ve never read the series and don’t care to fill up my head with JK Rowling’s nonsensical jibberish place names and such. The english language is hard enough to master, without adding more crap to it.
The thing that really p*sses me off about the H.P. series is that I pretty much killed the market for anything else. Like the Lemony Snicket series. It got just one movie made of its first three books. And I still watch it on occasion, on Tv or DVD. I picked up on reading the novels after the film was first announced. And eventually read (or listened to audio books of) all thirteen books. That’s six more than the Harry Potter series was! I was really disappointed that no more movies were made of these, but the H.P. series kept right on. Even though L.S. is much more grounded in reality, than some story about a wizards’ school.
But let’s face it, Hollywood is run by a bunch of freaks who prefer this kind of occult crap. That all they pump out between January and April, of any year. The drek before the summer block busters. And they know it’s mainly garbage. Then in the fall, we get some more to coincide with Halloween. And maybe a few after Thankgiving, to slam the religion holidays. Because Hollywood is run by atheist freaks, who love to dump on Christmas.
21,
Glen,
Hollywood is run by a bunch of IDIOTS…
PERIOD…..
they have always killed off what has worked…woth NO CONCEPT of whats happening…ONLY what the HEAD wants to watch.
BRADY BUNCH…YUCK…
Sanford and sun…Fine..
But they have this FUN idea that a SERIES gets CHEAPER…
NOPE. GOOD video gets BETTER…
#15, “What is left to wrap up? Sure, the second movie needs to be Harry Beats Voldemort, but all they’ve got left to fill the first one is two hours of Harry and Hermione bitching about Ron while hiding in a magic tent. Whee…”
Right on the money! The last book is actually pretty good on an adult level, but I don’t see where the split for two movies would appear. Many readers hated the long “hiding in the forest” beginning of the book.
And absolutely, right about Tonks. I wondered why they bothered to put her in the “Phoenix” movie at all. If I hadn’t read the book, it would have been a (pardon my acronymn) ‘WTF’ moment – like most of Goblet of Fire.
I will say, Prisoner of Azkaban – the movie was better than the book. Like Kubrick’s The Shining was better than the book and much better than Stephen King’s own adaptation.
I’m not ashamed of being a potter-phile, like both the books and the movies. What’s a little harmless amusement?
21: “Because Hollywood is run by atheist freaks, who love to dump on Christmas.”
get over yourself. Hollywood is run by businessmen who love to make a profit. The ideal movie is controversial enough to generate some buzz but not enough to spark a boycott, and tame enough for a PG13 as an R rating loses way too much audience and profit. That is also why most of the good movies are independent and/or foreign; made for reasons other than purely profit motive.
I know what I’m talking about, here. I have the old “Kung Fu” Tv series on tape and DVDs. And as I was recently rewatching them, I noticed how the third season changed a lot!! It got a whole lot more occult and supernatural. I have little doubt that was a result of inference from the network. Instead of the stories being mainly parables of life, as the first two seasons were. They got more into mysticism and fantasy. Only about half of the third season’s stories weren’t ruined. It also got more into Caine’s search for his brother. And such story “arcs” are what network execs live and breathe.
Consequently, I may never invest in the DVDs of the third season. They also royally screwed up the last season of “Beauty and the Beast”. Remember? It just recently went on sale as DVD.
That last season completely killed my interest in the whole thing. I’m surprised that they think they can actually get decent sales of it.
“Quantum Leap” was another series they screwed over in it last season, with an “evil leaper” as a semi-regular character. Not bothering to explain how that was even possible. The same BS was done to “Tru Calling”. Not that I cared one witt for that show.