I actually wish they could have made two movies out of all the books from the fourth on. There is simply too much content to convey in the time available to one standard-length film. The fifth book is the longest and was made into the shortest movie yet; it was total garbage. I could write a very long list about the things that I hate in the fifth film...

I agree with whoever said that the third film was the best; I think certain parts of it played even better than the book.

 I agree that the last thing I would have wanted was a whole movie devoted to pouting Harry moments from book 5. That is why it is my second favorite movie. It took out a lot of things I didn't care for and was dark(like movie 3) but catered more to the people who had read teh book and less to the nonreaders(unlike 4 which was awful).

 5 was my second favorite movie, I liked it better than the book due to the aforementioned cutting out of pouting. I just wish we had had mroe time seing the Ministry of Magic and seeing the most Excellent Sirius Black(best charater in book and movies).

 I don't think Columbus could have pulled off the dark tone in 3 and 5 and he was lucky, books 1 and 2 are short. 

 I think the too approches seen in movie 4(serve the general masses) and movie 5(serve the fans) ended upangering a lot of people. Splitting will probably serve both with minor grumbling about the drag out factor.

My hope for movies 7a and 7b is that they film them at the same time like Lord of the Rings and release them 6 to 12 months apart. That way they kids wont have aged as much and we won't be left dangling for too long. I can easily see focus being on the ministry caper  in the first one. The Gringots scence could easily be the climax of movie 7a seperating the movie will give them a chance to make that awesome. And obviously the 7b can be the philisopical wrap up with the hallows and the grand battle at Hogwarts.  

Frankly I assuming that the BBC will do a series with about 15 episodes for 7 seasons and really do everything. Probably wont happen for 20 years but I would be surprised with sooner. 

This is great news! Instead of being mediocre movies at best because of all the crap they cut out, it looks like they are finally going to actually try to keep completely true to the book.

Too bad they aren't doing this with the sixth movie too and it only took them six movies to figure out people don't like it when you cut half the book.

I never was fans of the movies because they cut so much out but maybe I'll watch these when they make it to TV in 2020 or so.

It's about f'in time. Starting from GoF, they should've made the movies 4+ hour LotR size epics. Hell, the Goblet of Fire is TWICE AS LONG as any LotR book, and yet the movie is half as long.

I always laugh at people who compare the movies to the books expecting a 2-hour film to be able to live up to the level of detail included in the book and complaining about every last thing that was left out or changed. This is one of the situations where "ignorance is bliss" is completely accurate. I've read none of the books and have found the last three movies to be quite good.

Always watch the movie first, I say. Then go back and read the book to get all the details that you missed. That way, you're pleased when you see the movie because you're just concentrating on watching the story unfold instead of worrying about how they're going to portray X Y or Z, or comparing interpretations or whatever.

They could very well film both movies continuously like they did with lord of the rings. that way, 1 director, one script writer, no sudden growth spurts or anything like that.

Seriously though; I'm not at all opposed to that idea, she'd be legal soon too. It'll be FHM, Maxim and Playboy first though. 

@dschumm:

You think that the fifth movie was geared toward fans of the book? I couldn't disagree more. I thought the movie was an embarrassment, through and through. The terrible acting was worse than ever, the art direction and set design were awful and the special effects seemed rushed and incompetent (especially Grawp). In fact, the whole operation reeked of a rush job.

@Entroper:

I'm not expecting the films to live up to the books, but I AM expecting them to stand on their own as films. The last two have not done so, and as mentioned, the fifth was a total embarrassment. The story is screamed through so quickly that the characters barely have time to be seen on screen, let alone to say anything that isn't in specific service to the ridiculously truncated plot.

the 7th book was the best book everrr. imreding it for a 5th time