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Harry Potter...for friends and fans alike

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MaineWriter:
From ABC news:

'Harry Potter' Fans Disappointed
New Spinoff From J.K. Rowling Will Go to a Select Few Handpicked by Author
By LAMA HASAN

LONDON, Nov. 2, 2007 —

"Harry Potter" fans brace yourselves. The wizardry tales of "Beedle the Bard" -- mentioned in the final book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" -- are handwritten and the illustrations are by J.K. Rowling herself. But here's the catch: Only seven of the books exist in the world!

"Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the 'Harry Potter' books during the past 17 years. This seventh book will be auctioned," Rowling explained in a recent BBC interview.

Harry Potter and his world of wizards, witches and warlocks has made Rowling a rich woman. The author has sold 350 million books and counting, been translated into 65 languages and had her work made into highly successful movies. But this time, Rowling told the BBC, the money will go to a charity in Europe close to her heart.

"I could not think of any person with less of a voice, more disenfranchised than a child with mental health issues or mental illness or mentally handicapped who has been taken from their family or given by their family to a mental institution and then placed in a cage," she said.

Rowling put pen to paper to say farewell to all things Harry Potter.

"I've been writing about the world, about Harry, Ron and Hermione, but it comes from that world. It's been partly, I didn't expect it to be, but it's been therapeutic in a way -- a nice way to say goodbye," she said.

What about those fans who won't get to enjoy the tales?

Fourteen-year-old Terrel Phelps is not too happy. "It's kind of depressing," he told ABC News, "because I know there's gonna be something in it that I really don't know yet I won't get to know, and that makes me upset."

Fourth-grader Alexis Harris from New York is more resigned. "I think it would be nice to read it but & what can you do?''

If you're thinking of bidding on the one book up for auction next month, the starting price is a mere $60,000.

But diehard "Potter" fans shouldn't be too disheartened -- Rowling owns the copyrights to her new fairy tales, and their mysteries may still one day be revealed.

And she is working on another story.

"There's a half-finished book for children, that will probably be the next thing I do, that I publish," she said. "But I am in no rush to publish at the moment."

Still, at least it's something to look forward to.

MaineWriter:
from Entertainment Weekly:

Final 'Harry Potter' Split Into Two Movies

Warner Bros. will release the first part of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' in November 2010 with a second movie following in May 2011
''Harry Potter'' Seeing as the franchise has grossed billions, it's a wonder the final film isn't being split into a dozen parts

Murray Close

(FROM VARIETY) – The final installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise is being released in two parts, six months apart. Warner Bros. is set to release the first part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in November 2010 with the second part of the finale opening in May 2011. Both movies will be directed by David Yates and written by Steve Kloves. The movies will be shot concurrently, and it's not yet clear at what point in the story, adapted from J.K. Rowling's 784-page book, the films will break. The seventh and final novel sees Harry and his friends battle archnemesis Voldemort to the death. The book sold a record 11 million copies during the first 24 hours after its release last July. The sixth movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, also directed by Yates, will open this November. Daniel Radcliffe and the rest of the cast from the sixth movie are already confirmed for the finale.

Brown Eyes:
I think it's a good idea to split up the last book into two movies.  I felt like the 5th movie was really rushed in order to fit all the vital info in.    These later books are so long and complex, they seem well suited to longer amounts of time on film.

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