Nick Picks | Are You Sick of Multi-Part Movies?
Welcome to Nick Picks, a regular column by Nick Spake. There are countless important questions regarding the current state of cinema and I’m here to answer them.
The whole world is hyped for the release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 in November, myself included. There’s just one major qualm I have. Why didn’t Katniss Everdeen’s story come to an end last year? The closing image of Catching Fire back in 2013 had everyone pumped for the grand finale. Alas, instead of getting a final battle the following year, we got a calm before the storm with Mockingjay – Part 1.
While the first half of Mockingjay made for a solid flick, most people would agree that it was drawn-out and basically just filler until the next film. As a single movie, Mockingjay could have been the tightest entry in the Hunger Games franchise. So how come it was split in half? Because of the almighty dollar that’s why!
Studios are often reluctant to let successful franchises die with grace. Then on the rare occasion they do, they still drag the franchise’s death out by splitting the final installment into two movies. Getting to the epic conclusion of a trilogy used to feel like triumphantly reaching the summit of a mountain. Now it feels like reaching the summit only to realize there are actually several more vertical miles to climb. The days of standalone finales like Return of the Jedi and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King are over. Now every finale is a double feature so studios can double their profits.
This trend started in 2010 when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was split in two. To be fair, this was one of the rare occasions where dividing the source material made sense. While the Harry Potter movies were loyal adaptations, many diehard purists complained that the filmmakers cut out too much. If the filmmakers worked in every little detail from the books, though, each movie would’ve been at least four or five hours. Even with a popular brand-named like Harry Potter, mainstream audiences weren’t going to see a movie that long. So no matter what, the filmmakers couldn’t please everyone.
Some people argued that the Harry Potter movies should’ve been split in half starting with Goblet of Fire, as that’s when the books really started getting lengthy. This probably would’ve been overkill. For Deathly Hallows, however, it was fitting that the adaptation spanned over two movies considering how much happens. The first half did a great job at setting the stage while the second half gave us a thrilling ending. Together, they both flowed together perfectly as a single story. The same could be said about the Kill Bill movies.
Let’s face it, though. Warner Bros. didn’t split up Deathly Hallows because they thought it made the most sense creatively. They did it because they wanted to squeeze an extra movie out of this prosperous franchise. Since it worked out so well for Harry Potter, every blockbuster series decided to do the same thing. In most cases, however, an additional movie just wasn’t necessary.
Look at Twilight. By the time we got to Breaking Dawn, a lot of people were ready for this series to just die already. Unless you were for Team Edward or Team Jacob, you likely weren’t pleased when it was announced Breaking Dawn would be spread over multiple movies. Although the Twilight books are all long, it’s amazing how little happens in them. Breaking Dawn could’ve fit everything into a single flick. Instead, we got one drawn-out movie where Bella gives birth to a creepy CGI baby and another drawn-out movie that builds up to absolutely nothing.
The Divergent movies are also guilty of this, with the final installment in Veronica Rother’s young adult trilogy being split in two. The sequels will no longer be entitled, The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1 and Part 2, though. Rather, the third film will simply be called, Allegiant. The fourth film recently got an entirely original subtitle, Ascendant. It’s a pretty obvious attempt for the studio to cover up the fact that they’re milking this franchise for every cent it’s worth. Considering that the series officially ran out of gas halfway through Insurgent, it’s hard to get excited for even one more Divergent movie, let alone two.
Perhaps the most notorious example of splitting an adaptation up is The Hobbit trilogy. J. R. R. Tolkien’s original children’s book was under 100,000 words long. That’s significantly less than all three novels in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It easily could have been one movie or two at the very most. Nevertheless, Peter Jackson still felt the necessity to stretch The Hobbit out to three movies, all of which clock in at almost three hours.
Some of the slower, atmospheric moments in the beginning of An Unexpected Journey were actually kind of refreshing, allowing us to settle back in to Middle Earth. Since Tolkien’s book only offered so much material, however, Jackson needed to stall matters with hours of pointless new characters, subplots, action sequences, and references to LOTR. Audiences started to lose their patience with The Desolation of Smaug and we were all relieved when the credits rolled for The Battle of the Five Armies. It’s a shame considering that every Hobbit movie has several strong moments that could make for a great solitary movie when edited together. As a trilogy, though, it’s just an evident cash grab.
One could argue that audiences are catching on to Hollywood’s multi-part movie gimmick. That’s why the first entry in each multi-part movie never does as well financially as the second half, or subsequent movies for that matter. A few box office analysts were actually calling Mockingjay – Part 1 a disappointment since it made less money than its predecessors domestically. Being a lesser film, it isn’t surprising Mockingjay – Part 1 wasn’t as big of a hit. That being said, Mockingjay – Part 1 still made over $300 million in the US alone. That’s $300 million extra dollars for the studio to pocket. Even if they didn’t pass $400, it’s still ultimately a big win for them.
This trend isn’t stopping any time soon as the next Avengers movie and Justice League are both to be split up. From a financial standpoint, splitting up film adaptions is a brilliant move. From an artistic standpoint, however, it’s just slowing down a lot of potentially amazing films. Granted, none of the movies listed above are nearly as shameless as something like Alien: Resurrection or Jaws: The Revenge. Mockingjay – Part 1 and the Hobbit trilogy at least have something of substance to offer. Watching a franchise drag its feet solely for the sake of money, though, is just so frustrating. Can’t money take a backseat to art for once? Not in Hollywood.