The UK’s Mail on Sunday is reporting that the big screen adaptation of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, may be split into two separate films. This decision is an artistic one, rather than financial.

Deathly Hallows is 784 pages in length, compared to the first few books in the series which were less than half the length. I, along with most fans of the book series were rather surprised that Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix had not been split into two films. Goblet was over 700 pages, while Order neared the 900 page mark. I think both of the films suffered from plot compression, over exhausting viewers who had not previously consumed the book versions. I applaud Warner Bros for finally taking this leap, if only it could have happened a bit sooner. It’s too bad that the studio didn’t at least allow production of extra scenes and sequences for a super extended versions on DVD (ala Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings Extended Editions).