Harry Potter's Penultimate Adventure

By Addie Strong
November 19, 2010

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Part 1
Photo Credit: All images courtesy of Warner Bros.

If you're a Harry Potter fan, don't worry: You still have about eight months to prepare to say goodbye to everyone's favorite boy wizard. That's because although the movie version of J.K. Rowling's final Harry Potter book series premieres today, it's only the first of a two-part farewell to the epic franchise. Producers and director David Yates opted to split "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" into separate films because of the length and intensity of Rowling's final book.

"I'm really excited about it because it should allow us to stretch a bit with the characters and give them the proper send-off," screenwriter Steve Kloves told the Baltimore Sun of the decision to make the Harry Potter finale a two-parter. "The story is highly emotional and those moments deserve time to breathe. And, personally, I feel we owe it to Jo [Rowling]—in order to preserve the integrity of the work—and the fans—for their loyalty all these years—to give them the best and most complete experience possible.”

The Harry Potter franchise—one of the longest in Hollywood history—started over 10 years ago when Warner Bros. optioned four of J.K. Rowling's novels for just $2 million. At the time, only the first Harry Potter book had been released in England—and it hadn't even reached bookstores in the United States yet. Fast forward to 2010 and Rowling has sold 400 million books in 69 languages, Warner Bros. movie studio has produced eight films (the last of which will debut in July 2011) in just 10 years and you can even visit a life-size Hogwarts and Hogsmeade amusement park in Florida.

It's an incredible decade-long run for everyone involved in the Harry Potter series, including stars like actor Daniel Radcliffe, who began playing the role of Harry Potter when he was just 11 years old. (He's now 21.)

"It's weird not to have another "Potter" film to work on," Radcliffe told the Los Angeles Times. "We know we won't have anything like this again. It's not something that happens twice in your life."

In this installment of "Harry Potter," Radcliffe's Harry embarks on a journey to find and destroy the last of Voldemort’s Horcruxes—an effort begun by Harry Potter's mentor, Dumbledore, before his death in "The Half Blood Prince." With Harry in exile due to a 10,000 galleon bounty on his head and the Death Eaters in power at both the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, this may be the darkest film in the series. It’s also the first in which most of the action takes place away from the famous magical boarding school.

"It gives this film a very different feel to be away from Hogwarts," producer David Heyman explained to the Los Angeles Times. "The main characters—Harry, Ron and Hermione—are on the run … A lot of the film is set in a naturalistic setting, and that makes it feel very real and very human. There's plenty of magic, of course, but it's set against a very real context.”

It's this very sense of reality—even within a world of wizards, wands and wonder—that is earning "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One" some early Oscar buzz this year. It's likely also why total sales of "Harry Potter"-related items on eBay are up 168 percent and listings are up 49 percent in a recent 30-day period (10/15-11/13) vs. a 30-day period six months prior.