Harry Potter News

(Beware reading this post if you haven't read the 6th and 7th Harry Potter books and were planning to. Those of you who are already spoiled or just don't care, read on!)


For those of you who didn't already know, I'm a big Harry Potter fan. I can't claim to have discovered these wonderful books before everyone in America jumped on the bandwagon, but I can say that I have seen all of the films and read of the books, many of them more than once. And in between the publications of book #6, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and book #7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I sat around with other Potterphiles and vigorously debated the identity of R.A.B, whether Dumbledore was actually dead, and most importantly, what the seventh Horcrux was and if it could possibly be Harry. Last summer the seventh book was read and discussed to death and we rabid fans settled into dormancy, awaiting the sixth film's adaptation to arrive in theaters in November of 2008 and give us something new to argue about. Reports from the set were good, and we were put at ease with the knowledge that not much had to be cut from the plot as the 6th book was far shorter than the 4th and 5th. Which means the Ron, Hermione, Lavender love-triangle will be in full-swing, Harry's crush in Ginny will still be explored, the flashbacks involving Voldemort and the Horcruxes will remain, and most importantly, we will finally get to see Ron play Quidditch, a storyline that should have been his in the 5th film. So, yay!

Yesterday there was a big announcement about the 7th film adaptation. (The article is here.) Rather than try and squeeze every crucial piece of information and action into one film, they have decided to divide the last book into two films! The downside to this plan is that it will delay the release of the first part from summer 2010 to November 2010. But hey, that's less than 6 months, and with the 2nd part being released in summer 2011, only 6 months between films, so at least we won't have to wait a year, or three years like with all the Star Wars installments. All in all, I'm very pleased by this development. As anyone who has read the last book knows, there just isn't a whole lot you can cut from the plot without it being extremely detrimental to the story.

So now my thoughts turn to technicalities. Where exactly would be a good place to stop the first part and begin the second? If they want to end on a cliffhanger, I think the moment Ron walks out and abandons Harry and Hermione might be good dramatically. It comes after their infiltration of the Ministry, which should provide some action, and that would mean the first part would contain all the elements of Dumbledore's will, the introduction of Xenophilius Lovegood, the discovery of R.A.B.'s identity, Kreacher's tale and the psychological weight of the Horcrux locket.


However, we would still have Harry and Hermione's adventure at Bathilda Bathgate's, Ron's return and the destruction of the locket to get through before the plot can continue. I think it would be a good ending point for the first half to stop right after Ron returns, rescues Harry and is reunited with Hermione. It's a nice bit of action and ends the film on the positive note with the three of them together before all the really intense plot elements kick in. Then, right off the bat in part 2, we would get the real introduction to the Deathly Hallows, the excursion at Malfoy Manor, Dobby's death, the break-in at Gringotts, and finally, the epic battle at Hogwarts. That seems like plenty of plot for the second installment.

Anyways, I was just really excited to hear about this because the 7th book is so good it would be a real shame for any of it to get cut. This way, we get two wonderfully complete Potter films!