Harry Potter's 'Deathly' Adventure Will Be Turned Into Two Movies
Friday, March 14, 2008; Page C12
Warner Bros. will make two movies based on the seventh and final "Harry Potter" novel to tap the popularity of J.K. Rowling's best-selling series about the young wizard.
The first part of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will be released in 2010 and the second part will be released the following year, Warner Bros. said yesterday in a statement.
The decision extends a movie franchise that has taken in $4.49 billion in worldwide ticket sales, or an average of $897 million for each of the five films so far, according to Box Office Mojo. More than 350 million copies of Rowling's books about Potter's adventures at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are in print worldwide.
"It's a great way to prolong a franchise," said BoxOfficeGuru.com editor Gitesh Pandya. "Fans are still crazy about this."
The additional film will also help bring visitors to the Harry Potter theme park that Warner Bros. plans to open with NBC Universal next year, said Tuna Amobi, an entertainment analyst with Standard & Poor's in New York.
"It could be a way to get that park off to a very solid start with new installments in the franchise," he said.
The park, called Wizarding World of Harry Potter, will feature rides, shops and attractions based on the Potter books, the companies said in May.
"Deathly Hallows" chronicles the young wizard's final confrontation with the evil Lord Voldemort. The story focuses on a long campaign by Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione to find and destroy magical objects -- horcruxes -- that hold pieces of Voldemort's soul.
The story is too long and complicated to be adapted into a single film, producer David Heyman said in the statement. The company made the decision to make two films after consulting with Rowling, who approved of the plan, he said.
" 'The Deathly Hallows' is so rich, the story so dense and there is so much that is resolved that after discussing it with Jo, we came to the conclusion that two parts were needed to do it justice," Heyman said.
David Yates, who directed the fifth film and is working on a sixth, will return for the last two, the company said. The sixth movie, in production in the United Kingdom, is scheduled for release in November.
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