Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to Be Split Into 2 Films

Posted by Michelle Graham (michelle@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 14, 2008

After reading this story on AICN, I was squirming in my seat, searching for more info. It seems that the big bosses over at Warner Brothers have realised that, while a single film was fine for the likes of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the way the books doubled and tripled in size (Order of the Phoenix for example, that thing is the size of the Bible!) means that fitting the entire plot of a giant sized Potter book into a single film will incite fans to mayhem and riots. So, for the seventh and final film in the septology (7 books, that looks like it should mean seven parts, right?) the studios are debating the release of a parts 1 and 2 to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, a move that will at least double their box office takings for the final book’s adaptation.

While the final book is by no means the longest (that award goes to Order of the Phoenix) in the series, the events of book 7 are quite heavy going, with the war between Voldemort and the forces of good well underway, and with the good guys heavily outnumbered. Not only are there huge battle scenes to worry about (for example the ultimate battle; Harry vs Voldemort), there are also scenes with just Harry, Hermione and Ron which form a good deal of the story, which really show what each character is going through. If the book is filmed in a single issue, no director will give part of his/her less than 180 mins of screen time to showing this segment of the book in depth, but will skim through it in an effort to get to the far grander special effects shots, yet this is the heart of the book and deserves to be shown. After a good (but not great) effort on Order of the Phoenix, expectations are higher and with the final book being the only this Harry fans have now that the last word has been written by JK herself, all eyes will be firmly upon the movie screen to see what the directors make of books 6 and 7 (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows).

Speaking of book 6’s adaptation, the Mail on Sunday claims that the crew currently working on Half Blood Prince have been informed that number 7 will be a game of two halves, so while we have no official announcement, until the WB say otherwise, I choose to believe that there’ll be a whole lot more Harry to come.

Talking Points: What do you think? Should they split the final book into 2 films?


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  • I haven't read it so I may not be the best person to comment but they've managed to go this far leaving out loads of material so what's to stop them now? To me, this sounds like a lame ass excuse to make an extra movie and hence more money. Anyway they try to cover it, it still sounds to me like a blatant money grab.
  • Tyler
    Regardless of whether or not it makes them more money, it's a better choice if it results in a better story. I'm expecting the movie(s) to tell the story, and I'm willing to pay $20 for movie tickets instead of $10 if that happens. There's nothing wrong with movie studios making better money in exchange for making better movies.
  • Tina
    Are you kidding me? So much vital character development has been left out of Order of the Phoenix, and if the Half Blooded Prince is anywhere near as long, more plot will be lost.

    Deathly Hallows being split into two parts is probably the best news I've gotten since Harry was made Ron made the quiddich team... but yet again, people don't know that in the movies because they've left huge things out. I think that the next two movies are going to have a hard time explaining things because so much was left out of OP.

    Yay part one and two. Yay to Harry Potter's voice dropping and octave between leaving Privot Drive and fighting Voldemort.
  • Tina
    Are you kidding me? So much vital character development has been left out of Order of the Phoenix, and if the Half Blooded Prince is anywhere near as short, more plot will be lost.

    Deathly Hallows being split into two parts is probably the best news I've gotten since Ron made the quiddich team... but yet again, people don't know that in the movies because they've left huge things out. I think that the next two movies are going to have a hard time explaining things because so much was left out of OP.

    Yay part one and two. Yay to Harry Potter's voice dropping an octave between leaving Privot Drive and fighting Voldemort.
  • Tina
    yay to me correcting grammar
  • Naxen
    YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!! They better do this for #6 too. It would be so smart. I hated how short they made HP5. It felt like a preview. Well, no matter, maybe in 80 years they'll remake the series with all the newest cinema technology, and they'll be smart enough to break 4-5-6-7 into halves.
  • great article, hope it becomes two seperate sections, i posted this with insights to harry 6 on my blog, http://www.opentopix.com/topic/movies/harry-pot...
  • Abel
    Now, I have not read any of the books, but I have seen every single one of the films.

    There is too much character development that is being dropped on the cutting room floor in order to make it watchable for normal movie goers. This happens to be something that all book to film adaptations face. As for Order of the Phoenix, I felt that it ended too soon with huge gaps in the storytelling. Thanks to the aforementioned statement. I loved the film, but there needs to be either longer cuts, or as we may see for part 7, two parts of one long film. I believe the latter is more desirable for both Harry Potter fans and the powers that be.

    May we, the Potter fans, readers and movie goers alike be given the chance to witness an adaptation as it should be...Great!
  • I'd love for them to break the last book into two parts... I'll be so sad when the series finishes... more movies are better! ;-)
  • Michelle
    I agree with what the others who approve of this decision have stated. Splitting the last movie will definitely improve the plot and leave fans pleased. I was afraid they would devalue much of the seventh book. There is so much going on within the plot, character development, and overall conclusion of the last portion of Harry Potter's story. I'm so excited about the future Potter movies. They are going to be excellent!
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