Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 is a 2010 British-American fantasy film directed by David Yates and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is the first of two cinematic parts based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling and features an ensemble cast. The film, which is the seventh and penultimate installment in the Harry Potter film series, was written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman, David Barron, and Rowling.
The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, respectively, reprising roles as Harry's best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. It is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and is followed by the concluding entry, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.
The story follows Harry Potter who has been tasked by Dumbledore with finding and destroying Lord Voldemort's secret to immortality - the Horcruxes. Filming began on 19 February 2009 (2009-02-19) and was completed on 12 June 2010 (2010-06-12). Part 1 was released in 2D cinemas and IMAX formats worldwide on 19 November 2010.
In the film's worldwide opening weekend, Part 1 grossed $330 million, the third-highest in the series, and the highest opening of 2010, as well as the eighth-highest of all time. With a worldwide gross of $960 million, Part 1 is the third-highest-grossing film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland, and the third-highest-grossing Harry Potter film in terms of worldwide totals, behind Deathly Hallows - Part 2 and Philosopher's Stone, and the 37th highest-grossing film of all-time. The film received two nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction.
Video Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Plot
Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour addresses the wizarding media, and states that the Ministry will remain strong, even as Lord Voldemort gains strength. The Death Eaters have made major gains after Dumbledore's death, committing mass killings of Muggles and infiltrating the Ministry itself. Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out to complete the mission Dumbledore gave Harry by hunting down and destroying Voldemort's Horcruxes. Meanwhile, Severus Snape informs Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters of Harry's impending departure from Privet Drive. Voldemort commandeers Lucius Malfoy's wand, as Voldemort's own wand cannot be used to kill Harry because they share the same core.
The Order of the Phoenix gather and escort Harry to safety, using Polyjuice Potion to create decoy Harrys for the trip. During their flight they all are ambushed by Death Eaters who kill Mad-Eye Moody and Hedwig, injure George Weasley, and knock out Hagrid. After arriving at the Burrow, Harry has a vision of the wand-maker Ollivander being tortured by Voldemort. The next day Scrimgeour arrives at the Burrow with Albus Dumbledore's will and distributes three items to Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Ron receives Dumbledore's Deluminator, Hermione receives a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and Harry receives the first Golden Snitch that he ever caught in a Quidditch match. Scrimgeour reveals that Harry was also bequeathed the Sword of Godric Gryffindor. The minister tells Harry that the sword was not Dumbledore's to bequeath, and in any case is missing.
The Death Eaters kill Scrimgeour and replace him with Pius Thicknesse. The Ministry begins arresting and persecuting Muggle-born witches and wizards. Before the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley kiss passionately until Ginny's brother interrupts them. At Bill and Fleur's wedding, however, Death Eaters attack. Kingsley Shacklebolt's patronus charm forewarns the wedding party, and most escape. Harry, Hermione, and Ron disapparate to London, where they are attacked in a diner by Death Eaters. The trio are forced to seek refuge at 12 Grimmauld Place. While there, they discover that the "R.A.B." from the fake Horcrux locket is Regulus Arcturus Black, the younger brother of Sirius Black. Kreacher, the Black's house elf, tells them that Mundungus Fletcher broke in and stole many items from the house including the real locket. Kreacher and Dobby apprehend Fletcher, who reveals that the locket is in the possession of Dolores Umbridge. Using Polyjuice Potion, the trio infiltrate the Ministry and find the locket around Umbridge's neck. Harry stuns Umbridge and Hermione retrieves the locket. The trio escape from their pursuers by apparating in the wilderness but Ron is injured and cannot apparate again until he recovers.
After several unsuccessful attempts to destroy the Horcrux, the trio take turns wearing it to dilute its power. Harry sees a vision of Voldemort interrogating and killing the wand-maker Gregorovitch, who claims that a teenage boy had once stolen the legendary Elder Wand from his shop. While Ron is wearing the locket, he is overcome by negative feelings and argues with Harry before leaving him and Hermione behind. Hermione deduces that the sword of Gryffindor can destroy Horcruxes and decides with Harry to go to Godric's Hollow. They visit Harry's parents' graves and the house where they were killed. They encounter Bathilda Bagshot, who they believe may have the sword. Bathilda lets Harry and Hermione into her house, and is revealed to actually be Nagini, controlling Bathilda's reanimated corpse from inside of her. Hermione and Harry escape into the Forest of Dean, but Hermione accidentally breaks Harry's wand whilst fighting Nagini. Hermione is then able to identify the mysterious thief seen in Harry's vision as Gellert Grindelwald.
That evening Harry sees a Patronus in the form of a doe, which leads him to a frozen pond. Gryffindor's sword lies beneath the pond's ice, which Harry breaks and jumps in to retrieve it. The locket around his neck attempts to strangle him, but Ron arrives just in time to rescue Harry. Harry uses parseltongue to open the locket, and Ron destroys the Horcrux with the sword. Hermione and Ron reconcile, and the trio decide to go and visit Xenophilius Lovegood to learn more about a symbol drawn in the book Dumbledore left Hermione. Lovegood explains to them that the symbol represents the Deathly Hallows, three magical objects that when combined make a wizard master of Death. Hermione reads the story of the Hallows from her book, and after some awkward conversation the trio try to leave but are stopped by Lovegood. He explains that Luna has been kidnapped before betraying them and summoning the Death Eaters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione disapparate as Lovegood's house is destroyed.
Arriving back in the wilderness, the trio sets up camp when Snatchers find and chase them down. Hermione strikes Harry with a curse to disguise his features as the Snatchers take them all to Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix Lestrange imprisons Harry and Ron in the cellar with Luna, Ollivander, and Griphook the goblin. Bellatrix then tortures Hermione for information on how they got the sword of Gryffindor, which Bellatrix claims was in her vault at Gringott's. Harry requests help, communicating with a piece of broken mirror in his possession. Dobby apparates into the cellar to save them. Harry and Ron rush to save Hermione, and a battle ensues that sees Harry disarm Draco Malfoy. Dobby drops a chandelier above Bellatrix, forcing her to release Hermione. Bellatrix throws her knife at them as Dobby grabs everyone and disapparates. They arrive at Shell Cottage and find that Bellatrix's knife has fatally wounded Dobby. Harry insists that they bury Dobby properly without any magic, which they all agree to do.
In the final scene, Voldemort breaks into Dumbledore's tomb and steals the Elder Wand.
Maps Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1
Cast
Production
Part 1 was filmed back-to-back with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 from 19 February 2009 to 12 June 2010. Director David Yates, who shot the film alongside director of photography Eduardo Serra, described Part 1 as "quite real"; a "road movie" that's "almost like a vérité documentary".
Originally set for a single theatrical release, the idea to split the book into two parts was suggested by executive producer Lionel Wigram due to what David Heyman called "creative imperative". Heyman initially responded negatively to the idea, but Wigram asked, "No, David. How are we going to do it?". After rereading the book and discussing it with screenwriter Steve Kloves, he agreed with the division.
The production filmed at Dartford Crossing for the dramatic chase where Hagrid and Harry are being ambushed by Death Eaters.
Sets
Stuart Craig, set designer for all of the previous Harry Potter films, returned for the final two parts. He said, "We made a very different kind of film, which was shot a great deal on location. We travelled quite far, we built sets, and they spend a lot of time in a forest," he explained. "We built forest sets and integrated them into the real forests, so there were challenges there, as you might imagine." Craig was ultimately nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Part 1.
On the wedding tent for Bill and Fleur's wedding in Part 1, Craig commented on his aim to "rather than make it an extension of the house, which is rather eccentric, homemade, we decided to make it rather elegant . . . It's lined with silk and beautiful, floating candelabra. So it's a nice contrast with the house." For the Ministry of Magic set, he noted, "This is an underground world; this is a ministry, so we went to the real ministries, the Muggle ministries - Whitehall, in London - and decided that our magical ministry was kind of a parallel universe to these real ministries."
Craig also commented on his design of Malfoy Manor, saying that it is "a very strong architectural set. The exterior is based on an Elizabethan house here in this country called Hardwick Hall and it has massive windows, and these windows are kind of blinded out. The shutters are drawn so they are like blind windows and they have a real kind of presence, an ominous presence, so that gave us the basis for a good exterior. There's an extraordinary magical roof that's added and surrounded by forest which isn't there in reality, but again is one of the devices to make it more threatening and mysterious."
Costumes
The costumes for Part 1 were designed by Jany Temime, who has been the costume designer on Harry Potter productions since Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). Temime was involved in a controversy regarding her work on Fleur Delacour's wedding dress. She was accused of copying the design from a similar dress from Alexander McQueen's Fall 2008 collection. Temime spoke about the dress, saying that she "wanted it to be a witch wedding dress but not a Halloween dress. The dress is white but it needed to have something fantastic to it. So there is the phoenix [motif], the bird, which is a symbol of love in a way because there is rebirth, love never dies, it is born again."
Visual effects
After working on every film since Prisoner of Azkaban, Double Negative was asked to provide visual effects for the final instalments of the story, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Parts 1 and 2. Working closely with the film's VFX Supervisor, Tim Burke, the team was led by VFX Supervisor, David Vickery and VFX Producer Charlotte Loughlane. The main team also included 3D Supervisor, Rick Leary and 2D Supervisor, Sean Stranks.
Double Negative's work for Part 1 included the corroding Warner Brothers logo and extensive environment extensions of the Burrows and its surrounds. Additional environment work was completed on Xenophilius Lovegood's home, extending it in 3D and culminating in the Death Eaters' attack. Double Negative also advanced the Death Eaters' smoke effects, with the introduction of the 'flayed man' stage in between their smokey, fluid, flying state and their live-action presence upon landing. Other work included the Patronus charm that interrupts the wedding party to inform the guests that Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic.
The visual effects company Framestore produced most of the creature CGI, as in previous films, as well as the animated Tale of the Three Brothers sequence, which was directed and designed by Ben Hibon.
Music
Composer Nicholas Hooper, who scored Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, did not return for Deathly Hallows. Instead, Alexandre Desplat was hired to compose the score for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. The film also featured the song "O Children" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Distribution
Marketing
The first official picture from the first film was released on 1 December 2009 (2009-12-01), showing Harry, Ron and Hermione in a London street. A clip was officially released on 8 December 2009 (2009-12-08) with the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Blu-ray and DVD. At the 2010 ShoWest convention, Alan F. Horn premiered unfinished footage from both films. The 2010 MTV Movie Awards premiered more footage from Deathly Hallows. Following this was the release of the official teaser poster, which shows the release date of both Part 1 and Part 2 and a destroyed Hogwarts castle. ABC Family broadcast interviews and additional scenes from both parts during their Harry Potter weekend, which began on 8 July 2010. A two-minute trailer for the film was released worldwide on 22 September 2010.
On 29 September 2010, three character posters for Part 1 of Harry, Ron, and Hermione were released by Yahoo! Movies. The following day, a Part 1 cinema poster was released featuring the trio on the run in a forest. The theatrical poster has the tagline "Nowhere is safe", and another version with no credits has the tagline "The end begins". Various other character posters for Part 1 were released on 6 October 2010, featuring Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lord Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, Severus Snape and Fenrir Greyback. On 12 October, four new character posters were released. The posters are set to the theme of "Trust no one" and "The hunt begins".
On 15 October 2010, tickets began selling on Fandango for the US release of Part 1, and on 19 October, a 50-second clip featuring never-before-seen footage was aired at the 2010 Scream Awards. On 16 October, the second TV spot was released on Cartoon Network during a premiere of Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster. On 25 October 2010, Yahoo! Movies released an exclusive featurette of the film. On 30 October 2010, Entertainment Weekly released two new featurettes titled "Horcruxes" and "The Story", featuring a large amount of never-before-seen footage. On the same day, the Warner Bros. Harry Potter website was updated to reveal twelve miniature clips from the film.
On 3 November 2010, the Los Angeles Times released an extended clip of Harry leaving the Burrow to find the Horcruxes, titled "No One Else Is Going to Die for Me". On 4 November, a new clip was released from the Harry Potter Facebook page, titled "The Seven Potters". Two more clips were released over the next two days, including a scene depicting a café attack and another taking place in Malfoy Manor.
Theatrical release
On 26 August 2010, director David Yates, producers David Heyman and David Barron, and with Warner Bros. president Alan F. Horn attended a test screening for Deathly Hallows - Part 1 in Chicago. The unfinished film gained rave reviews from test screeners, some of whom labelled it "amazing and dark" and "the most perfect Harry Potter film". Others expressed that the film faithfully adapted the novel, which led to an inheritance of the "book's own problems".
Warner Bros. Pictures was originally going to release Part 1 of Deathly Hallows in 2D and 3D formats. On 8 October 2010, it was announced that plans for a 3D version of Part 1 had been scrapped. "Warner Bros. Pictures has made the decision to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 in 2D, in both conventional and IMAX cinemas [because] we will not have a completed 3D version of the film within our release date window. Despite everyone's best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality." Part 1 of Deathly Hallows was released on Blu-ray 3D as a Best Buy Exclusive. Part 2 was still released in 2D, 3D, and IMAX formats.
The world premiere for Deathly Hallows - Part 1 was held in Leicester Square in London on 11 November 2010, with fans from across the world turning up - some of whom had camped for days in the square. This was followed by the Belgian premiere on 12 November and the US premiere in New York City on 15 November.
Just 48 hours prior to the official North American launch of Part 1, the first 36 minutes of the film were leaked on the internet. Even before the leak, the film was already the fifth-biggest generator of advance ticket sales in history, after selling out 1,000 cinemas across the United States. Despite widely circulating rumours that the leaked footage was a marketing ploy to generate hype for the movie release date, no screener discs had been created by Warner Bros., and executives called it "a serious breach of copyright violation and theft of Warner Bros. property".
In Australia, the film had its premiere on 13 November at Warner Bros. Movie World, located on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Three hundred people attended the viewing, which was the second official showing in the world, behind the UK premiere. The film premiered in Kuwait's release on 16 November. In Israel, Estonia, and New Zealand, the film was released on 18 November.
Home media
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 was released on a single and double disc DVD and 3-disc Blu-ray combo pack on 11 April 2011 in the UK and on 15 April 2011 in the US. On 28 January 2011, it was announced by Emma Watson on the Harry Potter UK Facebook page that the page's fans will get to vote for their preferred cover for the Part 1 Blu-ray. The cover with the most votes will be the cover for the disc. Voting started that same day. The DVD and Blu-ray include eight deleted scenes, with the Blu-ray Combo Pack containing an opening scene from Part 2 featuring Harry and Ollivander discussing the Deathly Hallows. Deathly Hallows - Part 1 performed well in DVD sales, selling 7,237,437 DVD units and adding $86,932,256 to the gross revenue of the film, bringing the total to $1,043,331,967.
Reception
Box office
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 grossed $24 million in North America during its midnight showing, beating the record for the highest midnight gross of the series, previously held by Half Blood Prince, at $22.2 million. The film also had the third-highest midnight gross of all time, behind The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which grossed $30 million and $26.3 million, respectively. The film broke the record for the highest midnight gross in IMAX, with $1.4 million in box office sales, surpassing Eclipse, which grossed $1 million. All of these records were later topped in 2011 by the film's sequel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2.
In North America, the film grossed $61.7 million on its opening day, marking the sixth highest single day gross ever at the time. It became the highest opening day for a Harry Potter film in the series, a record previously held by Half-Blood Prince with $58.2 million, until it was broken by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 with $92.1 million. The film grossed a total of $125 million in its opening weekend, marking the largest opening for the franchise, previously held by Goblet of Fire and later topped by its sequel Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. It also was the second biggest November opening ever at the time, behind The Twilight Saga: New Moon's $142.8 million, the ninth biggest weekend opening for a film of all time at the North American box office, and the second biggest opening weekend for a 2010 film in the United States and Canada behind Iron Man 2's $128.1 million. The film stayed at the top of the box office for two weeks, grossing $75 million over the five-day Thanksgiving weekend, bringing its total to $219.1 million.
In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Malta, the film broke records for the highest Friday gross (£5.9 million), Saturday gross (£6.6 million), and Sunday gross (£5.7 million). Additionally, the film set the largest single day gross (£6.6 million) and the largest opening three-day gross (£18,319,721), a record previously held by Quantum of Solace, which grossed £15.4 million. As of 13 February 2011, Part 1 has grossed £52,404,464 ($86,020,929), becoming the second highest-grossing 2010 release in the country, behind Toy Story 3 (£73,405,113).
Outside North America, the film grossed an estimated $205 million in its opening weekend, becoming the sixth highest of all time, the highest for a 2010 release, and the second highest for a Harry Potter movie, behind only Half-Blood Prince. Globally, the film grossed $330 million in its opening weekend, ranking seventh on the all-time chart.
It was the highest grossing 2010 film in Indonesia ($6,149,448), Singapore ($4,546,240), Thailand ($4,933,136), Belgium and Luxembourg ($8,944,329), France and the Maghreb region ($51,104,397), Germany ($61,430,098), the Netherlands ($13,790,585), Norway ($7,144,020), Sweden ($11,209,387), and Australia ($41,350,865). In total overseas earnings, it surpassed Philosopher's Stone ($657.2 million) to become the highest grossing Harry Potter film overseas.
On 7 April 2011, Part 1 ended its run with $295,983,305 in the United States and Canada, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 2010 in these regions, and $664,300,000 from other countries around the world, for a worldwide total of $960,283,305, making it the third highest-grossing film of 2010 worldwide behind Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland, as well as the 31st highest-grossing film of all time worldwide and the third highest grossing Harry Potter film in the series behind The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 and The Philosopher's Stone.
Due to the success of the sequel in Germany, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 could return to No. 9 on the country's Cinema Charts with 28,000 viewers in July 2011.
Critical response
Review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 78% based on 261 reviews, with an average score of 7.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "It can't help but feel like the prelude it is, but Deathly Hallows: Part I is a beautifully filmed, emotionally satisfying penultimate installment for the Harry Potter series." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating to reviews, the film has a score of 65 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
The UK's Daily Telegraph also gave the film a positive review, remarking, "For the most part the action romps along, spurred by some impressive special effects," adding, "It's just slightly disappointing that, with the momentum having been established so effectively, we now have to wait until next year to enjoy the rest of the ride." Roger Ebert awarded the first part three out of four stars, praising the cast and calling it "a handsome and sometimes harrowing film . . . completely unintelligible for anyone coming to the series for the first time". Scott Bowles of USA Today called it, "Menacing and meditative, Hallows is arguably the best instalment of the planned eight-film franchise, though audiences who haven't kept up with previous chapters will be hopelessly lost", while Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly likewise praised the film as "the most cinematically rewarding chapter yet." In a review for the Orlando Sentinel, Roger Moore proclaimed Part I as "Alternately funny and touching, it's the best film in the series, an Empire Strikes Back for these wizards and their wizarding world. And those effects? They're so special you don't notice them." Ramin Setoodeh of Newsweek gave a negative review, writing, "They've taken one of the most enchanting series in contemporary fiction and sucked out all the magic . . . while Rowling's stories are endlessly inventive, Potter onscreen just gives you a headache." Lou Lumenick of the New York Post found the film to be "Beautifully shot but a soulless cash machine... [that] delivers no dramatic payoff, no resolution and not much fun."
Accolades
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects at the 83rd Academy Awards. It is the second film in the Harry Potter film series to be nominated for a Visual Effects Oscar (the previous one being Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). The film was long-listed for eight different categories, including Best Cinematography, Production Design, and Original Score, at the 64th BAFTA awards, and ultimately was nominated for Best Special Visual Effects and Make-up.
See also
- List of films split into multiple parts
References
External links
- Official website
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 on IMDb
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 at AllMovie
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 at Box Office Mojo
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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