Aaah, that makes sense now mm1991, thanks. I would enjoy it more knowing that. Are the books kinda like that too, 'mature' as they go along?

TWQ, I think we're the wrong group of people to ask that question to--you know we're biased! But seriously, it is an amazing book/movie series.

If you aren't sure if you'll love it or not, if you aren't a huge fan of long books with tons of characters and plots, then I'd reccomend watching the movies first. I find that helps me when I'm not feeling really motivated to read the books. Then instead of being disappointed they didn't add everything in, reading the books is fun because there's all sorts of other storylines that you haven't heard about before!

I think the film critics tend to be fairly harsh towards the movies because they haven't read the books (usually) and sometimes the movies don't make as much sense to people who haven't read the books.

The Warrior Queen, the original books are very good, despite Rowling's overuse of adjectives and Books 4-6 being more sparsely edited (Book 7 is long too but there's a lot more story in it too).
The movies vary. Some of them are very good, some are merely good and others are okay. Movie 1 and 2 are close adaptations but the direction is pedestrian (although Movie 2 does have some great scenes towards the end). Movie 3 is excellent but quite different to the original book, Movie 4 had one fantastic scene about the true nature of evil but was otherwise a visually pretty but confusing mess of a movie, Movie 5 was incredibly enjoyable and well-done, Movie 6 was visually great but quite a mess and stuffed up the most poignant part of the book it was based on (but it does have one or two very good scenes). Movie 7 was the first part of Book 7. At times it was slow-paced but that suited the build up to part 2 of Book 7. I really enjoyed it. I haven't seen the current movie yet. My favourite movies are: HP 3, 5 and 7 (Part 1). My favourite books are: HP 3, 4, 6, 7 (my absolute favourites are: HP 3 and 7).

The General, the books become more complex, interesting, darker (and less well edited ) as the series continues but there aren't any inappropriate scenes (graphic violence, strong language or sex scenes/overt references) in the latter books. I will say this though, the latter HP books do feature some dark, violent moments that aren't suitable for children. And by children I mean anyone under 12.

Thanks for the info y'all! I love to read but sometimes I don't really like 'dark' books. A lot of YA fiction seems to be exactly that nowadays. But I think I'm gonna give the series a try, nonetheless.

I saw part of one of the movies the other day (not sure which one) and Ron? (I think?) Was coughing up slugs or something and I was like..."Oh my gosh, that is so gross."

That aside, there is some romance in the books and/or movies right? Cuz I like me some romance in my books.

Yes, there's some romance in the series but it's not the main thread of the story. The Harry Potter series has some dark moments but they're not as intense as much YA fiction nowadays (not that there's anything wrong with intense fiction).

Yea, that's cool. I don't like a plot that focus's just on the romance, I just like it thrown in somewhere. and totally don't mind intense either...I just don't like...well, paranormal stuff, like vampires and things like that, I guess. :O (don't hurt me)

I saw part of one of the movies the other day (not sure which one) and Ron? (I think?) Was coughing up slugs or something and I was like..."Oh my gosh, that is so gross."

ah yes, that would be Chamber of Secrets. The second. and yes, it's slugs he's coughing up.

The BoxOfficeMojo forums are buzzing with discussion as box office history is being made.

DH2 pulled in an estimated $92,100,000 domestically Friday ($249,600,000 worldwide), by far the biggest opening day ever. It could put up a bigger worldwide gross in it's opening weekend than VDT did in it's entire run.

That's insane! Wow! Anybody know what the budget for DH2 was?

The official statement from Warner Bros. is that Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 cost a total of $250 million to make (combined!). So that means each film only cost about $125 million to make, which is rather tiny for mega-blockbusters.

Facts like that still make me wonder why it cost $220 million to make Prince Caspian. (Well, I do know why it was so expensive to make, but I don't know why they let the film have such a runaway budget in the first place. But now I'm getting off topic ...sorry)

Oh my goodness. I've delayed in writing this post since I don't even know where to start.

My party was a huge hit - we had about 12 people show up in the end, with mounds of HP food, awesome costumes, quidditch, movies, decorations, etc. All in all, I had a blast. I'll post pictures if anyone wants to see.

We left for our theater around 8:40. It seemed really early to me, but when we got there, there was already a line waiting to get in. While waiting, some of my friends got into a wizard duel with an employee who was dressed up as Voldemort (and they both got Avada Kedavra'd ). We ended up getting in two rows, 7 in one row and 7 in the row below so that we could all talk. We played card games and things while waiting, and before the movie started, a group of teens from our local theater group (I know many of them) performed the opening song of "A Very Potter Musical".

So all around it was an awesome theater with very high energy. They laughed, awwwed, and cheered at all the right parts, and the movie just flew by. So, so, so much fun. It didn't even feel like 2:30 in the morning when we got out of there.

Now. On to the movie itself. Overall, I loved it. I thought it was a fitting end to a remarkable story, although it can't compare with the book, of course.

I'm so excited to see HPDHP2 blasting through so many records! Here's crossing fingers for an opening weekend record.

That's an insane amount of money! I'm not sure what the budget was for Part 2, but it shared a budget of US $250 million with Part 1. It was probably split something like this between the two movies - Part 1: $75 million, Part 2: $175 million (this is just a guess though, because Part 2 had far more action, CGI and a bigger cast than Part 1).

Yes, they would not have had to spend too much to make both parts of DH. They would be able to reuse old sets, from Gringotts to the Chamber of Secrets, , reuse old locations and all of the cast that were used were doing both films anyway. Especially the stars.