Seven books, eight movies?
Hmm… doesn’t seem to add up unless you are talking about the phenomenally successful Harry Potter series and you are trying to cash in BIG TIME.
According to movie producers, the boy wizard will star in not one, but two films adapted from J.K. Rowling’s last “Potter” installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” The story will reportedly be split into two parts on the big screen. The first film is slated for release in November 2010, with part two following in May 2011.
Producers say it was impossible to include all the elements of the final “Potter” book in a single film. So the two “Potter” movies will be shot concurrently, much like the blockbuster trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic fantasy novel “The Lord of the Rings.”
The final “Potter” movies will take after another famous Tolkien book, “The Hobbit,” which is also being split into two live-action movies set for back-to-back shooting to begin next year.
The sixth “Potter” flick, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” began filming in September and is scheduled to wrap by early summer.
All tolled the “Potter” film franchise has raked in $4.5 billion worldwide.
ROBERT REDFORD’S DREAM PROJECT
It was so good they didn’t even need to pay him.
Okay, maybe not that good.
Still, producers didn’t have to ask Robert Redford twice to get him to narrate an IMAX film about a Grand Canyon river trip.
The passionate environmentalist has navigated the Colorado River, has a boat on Lake Powell, and has never been shy about expressing his thoughts on water conservation.
In the movie “Grand Canyon Adventure: River at Risk 3D,” which opens nationwide today, Redford lends his voice to delve into the issues affecting the river, a source of water for some 27 million people in seven states.
The film follows environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and anthropologist Wade Davis – each accompanied by their respective daughters, Kick Kennedy and Tara Davis – as they explore the river with an expert Native American guide. The flick also features music by the Dave Matthews Band.