What I hoped would come true has now come true: The seventh Harry Potter novel will be split into two movies. The Los Angeles Times reports:
After months of rumors, Warner Bros. and the producers of the massively successful movies will announce Thursday that they plan to split “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final “Potter” novel, into two blockbuster films — one to be released in November 2010 and the second in May 2011.
… Director David Yates, who returned for his second tour of Potter duty with “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and is quite popular with the cast, will direct both “Deathly Hallows” films, which will be filmed concurrently.
Yates also directed Order of the Phoenix.
The article adds, “Producer David Heyman said the decision was made with some anxiety and only after considerable deliberations. The producer… fretted that the cynical observers would see the decision as a purely mercenary move.” But anyone familiar with the seventh book understands that it simply contains too much material for a single movie. And why in the hell shouldn’t these great movies make loads of money?
“Heyman said… the next challenge is figuring out the division.” I have already indicated where I think the movie should be split:
I hope that the producers of the films consider splitting the seventh book — The Deathly Hallows — into two movies. There is simply too much material in the book to allow for a single movie of reasonable length. Besides, there’s a perfect place the split the movie: Chapter 24. Specifically, page 481. I think readers of the book will understand what I mean. Ending the movie there would be a fitting tribute to the character who fills that page. Then the eighth movie could be called, Harry Potter and the Battle of Hogwarts. Obviously, they should film both movies during the same period to save costs and maintain better continuity. Splitting the final book into two movies would make the studio a lot more money as well as please fans.
According to the article, the movies will simply be called “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I” and “Part II.” That’s fine by me.