Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows To Be Split Into Two Movies

Harry Potter fans rejoice! Warner Bros is expected to officially announce plans to release the adaptation of the last and final Harry Potter book, split into two separate films. This makes more than perfect sense considering the 36 chapter plus epilogue book is a whopping 759 pages long. Fans have complained that the last two movies which suffered from plot compression. That's probably because to hardcover releases of Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix ranged from 734 to 896 pages in length.

Warner Bros will release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I in November 2010, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II six months later in May 2011. Both of the movies will be filmed concurrently. Screenwriter Steve Kloves, who wrote five of the fix films, is hard at work on both screenplays. Director David Yates, who directed both Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince (which began production in September) has already signed on for both sequels. Producer David Heyman explained to the LA Times:

"I swear to you it was born out of purely creative reasons. Unlike every other book, you cannot remove elements of this book. You can remove scenes of Ron playing quidditch from the fifth book, and you can remove Hermione and S.P.E.W. [Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare] and those subplots . . . but with the seventh, that can't be done." "The question will be, where do you break it? And how do you make them one but two separate and distinct stories? Do you break it with a moment of suspense or one of resolution? These are the interesting challenges. But each book has presented its challenges."

The official book synopsis: "It all comes down to this – a final faceoff between good and evil. You plan to pull out all the stops, but every time you solve one mystery, three more evolve. Do you stay the course you started, despite your lack of progress? Do you detour and follow a new lead that may not help? Do you listen to your instincts, or your friends? Lord Voldemort is preparing for battle and so must Harry. With Ron and Hermione at his side, he's trying to hunt down Voldemort's Horcruxes, escape danger at every turn, and find a way to defeat evil once and for all. How does it all end?"

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits theaters on November 21st 2008.