I thought it was just a stupid rumour

[drakyndra]

So, apparently it's been officially announced: Deathly Hallows is going to be split into two movies.

All I have to say is this: WHAT THE BLAZING FUCK?

Comments

[sylver-spiders.livejournal.com]

Because what we all really need is an entire movie of three people sitting around in a tent getting grumpy with each other *nod, nod*

[biichan.livejournal.com]

It worked for the Blair Witch Project.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

BWA!

[sylver-spiders.livejournal.com]

Lol, thank you for strengthening my point ;)

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Exactly. As much as I love DH as a book, it'd be damned easy to cut down to movie length. All you need is a camping montage or two to indicate time passing.

[cat-empress.livejournal.com]

That makes no sense whatsoever. Possibly because of the fact that DH is considerably shorter than the three books that weren't split up.

Also, I'm liking how you journal is suddenly right-aligned. It looks nice.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It is plumbing the depths of WTFness!

But all I did to my LJ was change the comment headers so they were more easy to read. I didn't do anything about alignments...

[xwingace]

It's not your fault. LJ's apparently messed with something that broke this style layout. I had it on my journal as well, this morning. If you want to fix it add:

table.standard td {text-align: left;}

at the top of your custom CSS sheet in the style editor. (With thanks to LJ support)

XWA

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I'm far, far too lazy.

I'll wait until the in-charge types fix it, I'm not bothered right now.

[xwingace]

Yeah, I guess you don't live on your flist like I do at the moment. I couldn't read properly, so for me it was kinda important that it got fixed. :-)

XWA

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

I love how they manage to shoe horn all the books with the exciting and interesting plots into one yet with the one where you can cull about 10 chapters and lose nothing we get two films.

We're going to get an hour of them pointlessly wandering around camping and being generally useless, aren't we? Have they not heard of the term montage?

Call me cynical but surely this is just a ploy by Warner to keep the cash cow going for an extra film?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Thing is, I do genuinely like Deathly Hallows the book. But, like you said, it can be really easily reduced with a montagey bit.

It really does look like they're trying to keep it going.

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

I think she could have done with a harsher editor to say 'well look you can say what you want to here in a much shorter pace' because I think the pacing in the book is completely out even if the basic plot is great and there's a wonderful beginning and end.

Same with book 6 in a way. She got too involved in writing all the ship. Which was fine and dandy but I was there for the overall plot and there were times that seemed to be little more than a side story. I still suspect Half Blood Prince may actually be a better film than book.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

You're probably true on both counts, I've just seen far too many people whining about how JKR is an EVIL TRAITOR H0R! for writing those two books, which obviously are the most dreadful pieces of literature since Gutenberg decided printing was a nifty idea.

I still love them, as flawed as they may be.

I'm not sure I agree on the HBP movie being better, if only because a lot of what I like about the HP books doesn't translate as well to film. And I remain iffy about the casting of most of the kids.

[doylefan22.livejournal.com]

The books just felt, in the end rather, indulgent and like she wasn't thinking critically enough about them. I do love all the main plots though.

It really doesn't help that I had to read them, both times, over the space of two days so I didn't get back to work and have them spoiled. I prefer to take my time with books.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I prefer to read HP - and most really plotty stuff - in one go. Which does mean I'm less critical about pacing, because I get too caught up in the good stuff to get annoyed at slow bits.

[elliptic-eye.livejournal.com]

That… seems the least likely choice for splitting up with the possible but remote option of Book One, yes.

Quite apart from the, er, narrative issues with that, by the time they finish, aren't those kids going to be about thirty?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Indeed. It's just... the whole book is building towards the big finish at the end, so what's going to be the climax of the first movie? The best thing I can think of is ending with Ron coming back to save Harry on the sword hunt...

They aren't quite Hollywood teens (I think they're about two or three years older for HBP).

[crossoverman.livejournal.com]

Warner Bros is getting to the end of a lucrative franchise and they want to tease out the money-making for as long as humanly possible... goddamit!

After eviscerating Book 5, they are going to do two-films for a Book that could easily be chopped in half?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I can see the logic from a cynical perspective, but HP is my Happy Place. I don't like seeing it reduced to profit margins.

It's just... yeah.

[ponderous77.livejournal.com]

I never thought the news of more Potter would cause me pain, but ouch, the transparent money-spinning burns. They claim this way they can preserve the book's depth, but we all know they just want to pad these two movies out with a ton of overblown action sequences. I sort of wish it would just be the trio in a tent arguing over how to cook mushrooms and not Malfoy Manor (with added explosions!) and a second movie that is really just a 2.5 hour Battle of Hogwarts.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I'd believe them more about preserving integrity if they hadn't, as you mentioned skipped vital backstory stuff in favour of pointless new action stuff in the past. (Y HALO THAR POINTLESS DRAGON CHASE AROUND HOGWARTS!)

The Battle of Hogwarts bit better be freaking awesome, mind. Though I can't see how Harry going into the Forest can possibly be as beautifully sad as the book was.

[xwingace]

That dragon chase around Hogwarts wasn't just pointless, it was completely the opposite of what was described in the book. I like most of Goblet the movie, but that bit.... almost ruins the entire thing.

XWA

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Indeed. It's completely gratuitous.

[ponderous77.livejournal.com]

Hear hear, the dragon chase was just what I was thinking of. All that property damage, the danger to all those people in the stands -- it made all the adults look completely incompetent.

[xwingace]

(And now for an actual comment on the entry...)

Eh, yes, WTF, indeed. They managed to cut down on Azkaban, Goblet and Phoenix, but Hallows needs more plot time? I don't think so...

XWWA

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

It's very stupid logic.

Or a blatant cover up for "we just want to drag our money spinner out longer."

[xwingace]

Yep, most likely.

Though, with a bit of time to consider, I guess you could devote the first movie to the infiltration of the ministry. Then at the end the trio has to run and hide -- then in the second movie we've skipped most of those months of doing nothing, and we can go back to the rest of the Horcrux hunt and the battle of Hogwarts.

XWA

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

That could work. I was pondering about finishing Movie 1 on either Ron's return or escaping from Malfoy Manor, but that works too.

...Wonder how long until we find out where the split is.

whaaa?

[days-of-yore.livejournal.com]

Warner Bros Person 1: We're making a film of the Harry Potter books - any thoughts?
WBP 2: Let's make a careful and respectful adapataion that preserves the orginal magic of the books, yes?
WBP 1: Don't be ridiculous. That's what they'll be expecting. We need edgy.
WBP 2: Let's fuck it up completely and fuck the fandom off in as many ways as possible?
WBP 1: Have a promotion.

Re: whaaa?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I am distressed at how likely it is that conversation actually happened.

[bellmeister.livejournal.com]

I have to say I like the idea, I think a lot of movies could benefit from not being crammed to be cut down to a reasonable size, I must agree with some people though that it seems a strange one to actually do it for.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

There's a thread over on JournalFen where a bunch of people are talking about how the entire HP series would be better as a mini-series (or animated series, for that matter).

You have a valid point, it seems weird to split things now.

[danel4d.livejournal.com]

I've seen a fair bit of discussion about this on LJ elsewhere already, and after a lot of people wondered where the split it would be (with some concern that it'd be when Ron walks out) someone pointed out that a good way would be for destroying Locketcrux to be the climax of Film 1, and then having the visit to Xenophilius as a kind of denouement - they're the trio again, and it ends with a bit of drama as they desperately apparate away from a trap. Come back a few weeks later for film 2, with Ron and Hermione now really annoyed at Harry's obsession with the Hallows, then have Malfoy Manor as a dramatic bit early on.

Someone else pointed out that, apart from anything else, it really needed to end at least after the bit with Xeno because it's the first point in the book that the titular Hallows actually get a mention.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I've been pondering this myself, and my two thoughts on the split were at either Ron's return, or just after Malfor Manor. But I think what you say about the Xeno thing is a really good point - that gives us an explanation of the Hallows right at the end, and Ron the dramatic climax of the first one.

...I wonder if we'll get a post-credits sequence. (I suspect the Epilogue might end up post-credits in Movie 2)