The final Harry Potter book will be
split into two films, with the first to be released in 2010. So at least one of the books will receive enough time for a proper film treatment.
→ March 13, 2008
→ By
→ By
The collected thoughts of sportswriter, bookworm, & food critic Keith Law
I agree that it needs to be broken up, but Radcliffe will have gray hairs coming in by the time this is done.
Yes, definitely good news. Not so good news…I just checked imdb and it appears that, as mentioned by a commenter in another post, Phoenix director Yates is directing the 6th film in production and the last as well. How sad.
Keith,
I think that the decision to make two films has little, if anything, to do with giving it the proper treatment. It is probably 95% about $$$. Each one makes close to a billion internationally.
I’d love to see Tim Burton direct one, just to see how dark he could make it. Plus Sweeney Todd had all of the same actors.
I think this is a genius move. I’d love for them to get everything into the movie, but I’d rather not sit through a 6 hour movie. The way the last movie left so much stuff out was really a let down for me. And I’m sure the directors won’t mind the extra money and extra movie makes.
I completely agree with Brad. Burton would be an outstanding choice to direct the final few movies, dark as the material becomes. It’s a shame it won’t happen.
absolutely agree with jkgaucho. never is a work split into two for the sake of the paying audience’s benefit or to make the art actually better. its strictly for the publishers and producers to capitalize on their last money making machine, the last book/movie.
I’m not sure we will see much difference between the treatment of the two parts since they are shooting concurrently to save costs.
I agree with Jason and JKGaucho, but I don’t think Keith was implying that they made this decision for the sake of the book. Its clear they are looking for the second payday (like what New Line is doing with the two Hobbit movies).
However, this doesn’t mean that it won’t be good for the book (and its fans) anyway. I think Deathly Hallows will feel less rushed as two movies than one and might even feel less rushed than the book itself. Considering the major cuts they’ve had to make with previous books (Azkahban, Goblet, and Phoenix), I think this can only be seen as a positive development.
Now the only question is where will they make the split…
*spoiler*
My hope is that they’ll do it after Dobby’s funeral. It seems like a natural transition in the book.
I’m hoping that the guy who Prisoners of Alkaban (Cuaron?) comes back to do one of them – that was the best Potter movie, IMO.
Ace – both movies have to be directed by the same guy. They aren’t going to split up the shooting schedule, it’ll be shot as one long-ass movie and then made into two during editing.
Marcel, good point. Either way, a decent director would be nice.
I don’t think that Yates isn’t a good director, but I do agree that his style doesn’t quite fit right with the books though. Cuaron would definitely be my first choice, with Del Toro a close second