MOVIE: NEWS: Book three script and TWO book four movi...

[Barb]

No: HPFGUIDX 28159

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Cindy C." <cynthiaanncoe at h...> wrote:
> Cindy wrote: 
> Anyway, the job is certainly bigger than I am.  Even if you 
> eliminate all of the chapters I would think about cutting, you're 
> still way too long for a manageable movie.  Something drastic has 
> to be done, but I just don't know what that might be.

:sigh: I wasn't going to say anything to this thread, really I 
wasn't...But I think the something drastic IS the division of the 
book into two movies.  It's not unprecedented; the second and third 
Back to the Future Movies were filmed back to back and the end of the 
second bumps right up on the beginning of the third.

There are actually a couple of plausible places to split GoF for two 
movies: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Part I and Harry Potter 
and the Goblet of Fire, Part II.

1) The first film could end just as Harry's name actually comes out 
of the Goblet and Dumbledore calls out, "Harry Potter." Talk about a 
cliffhanger!  However, in the U.S. version that occurs on page 271 
and the book continues on to page 734.  That would mean the second 
film having to cover 457 pages (although nothing says they have to be 
identical lengths).  Not that there aren't things in the second part 
that can't be drastically cut down (I would vote for abbreviating any 
scene having to do with Blast-Ended Skrewts).

2) The first film could end just as Harry walks out of the champions' 
tent during the first task and he looks up at the Hungarian 
Horntail.  (Nothing says you have to end at the end of a chapter.)  
It would be another good cliff-hanger, and since that occurs on page 
353 of the U.S. version, leaving only 389 pages, it would be closer 
to a 50-50 split.

One also has to remember that a book is a very different animal than 
a film.  Something that takes an entire page to describe can be shown 
to us in a frame or two.  Dialogue takes longer, but a clever 
scriptwriter can help cut that down while retaining important plot 
points.

--Barb
(Who would be a happy woman if the first movie were to open NOW.  And 
if the fifth book were ready yesterday.  And the sixth book.  And the 
second movie...)