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There are few forms of entertainment that are able to deliver the same feelings of awe and wonder that are reserved for movies and the cinematic experience. The film industry has experienced considerable change and been influenced by many trends, both for better and for worse, but it’s resulted in movies that continue to grow bigger and more extravagant.
Sequels and franchises are now the norm and the easiest way to secure a billion-dollar box office return, but it’s interesting to see how this principle can get stretched out even further. There’s become a growing temptation to split big films in half and bill them as two connecting movies rather than one epic event. Sometimes this approach can bring new life to a movie, but it can also do the opposite and bury interest in a prospective series.
10 Needed To Be Split: Kill Bill Benefits From Two Separate Films To Contain The Epic Story
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most ambitious and passionate working filmmakers and his fourth movie, Kill Bill, was designed to be an epic Kung Fu and action pastiche that’s over three hours long.
During production, it started to make more sense to divide the film in half rather than start paring it down. Tarantino has since curated an extra-long version of Kill Bill that reunites the two halves, but in the end, they both have such distinct tones and cover contrasting subject matter that they still work stronger as separate movies.
9 Cash Grab: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Meanders Into A Manipulative Finale
The final installment in The Twilight Saga is one of the most egregious examples of milking a property for as long as possible. Breaking Dawn is the final chapter in Twilight and it’s not particularly more grandiose than the rest of the entries in the series.
Leaning into the trend that the Harry Potter series helped popularize, Twilight divides Breaking Dawn into two films, both of which struggle to come up with enough plot. The films largely lose themselves into the gigantic battle between vampire factions, but even that turns out to be a fabricated lesson in manipulation.
8 Needed To Be Split: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows Requires Two Movies To Cover All Its Bases
The Harry Potter film series is one of the most successful adaptations of beloved literature. The movies benefit from how Daniel Radcliffe and the rest of its cast grow up on screen to match the increasingly mature subject matter of the series.
Each Harry Potter novel grows longer than the last, which started to cause a problem with the amount of content from the movies that’s cut out or altered. To amend this, the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows decided to give itself the luxury of two movies, a decision that’s absolutely necessary.
7 Cash Grab: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Stretches Out Its Climax & Weakens The Ending
The Hunger Games trilogy is an excellent property that helped make Jennifer Lawrence a star. The Hunger Games has turned into such a success that there are still efforts to somehow return to its universe. The first sign of Lionsgate trying to hold onto The Hunger Games for as long as possible is by splitting up the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, into two movies.
The story in Mockingjay is surprisingly simple as Katniss secures her final attack against President Snow, but the movies stretch out both halves of Mockingjay into bloated messes that stretch out the action.
6 Needed To Be Split: The Toxic Avenger Part II & III Were Filmed Concurrently & Later Divided
Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Entertainment are important figures in the independent film industry, with The Toxic Avenger largely considered to be their flagship series. The unlikely success of the original movie led to a sequel in 1989, but during the sequel’s production, it was determined that there was simply too much footage, which could actually be divided into two complimentary movies.
The Toxic Avenger Part II details Toxie’s reunion with his father, while Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, carries over these themes and focuses on Toxie’s moral compass as he begins to work for the villainous Apocalypse, Inc.
5 Cash Grab: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Divides The Classic Story To Draw Out A Good Thing
The DC Animated Universe has been turning out hits for well over a decade. Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is an iconic take on Batman, and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns finally brings it to life through an animated feature. Unfortunately, The Dark Knight Returns is split into two films, which are released only four months apart, and are only 76 minutes each.
These are hardly full entities and their separation is clearly to milk the property, even though both films act as quality adaptations. There’s even a deluxe edition that does compile them together into one long movie.
4 Needed To Be Split: Nymphomaniac Was Envisioned As A Single Film That Grew To Be Too Unruly
Lars von Trier is as far from conventional as filmmakers get and he’s used to putting together polarizing movies that don’t subscribe to the common conventions of filmmaking. One of the director’s more controversial projects is Nymphomaniac, a drama where a troubled woman recounts her life’s experiences to a caring soul.
The four-hour runtime is a testament to the movie’s fearless nature, but the studio was worried that audiences wouldn’t tolerate such a ruthless exercise. As a result, Nymphomaniac is divided into two volumes that cover complementary sides of Joe’s life.
3 Cash Grab: The Success Of The MCU Guaranteed That Double The Infinity War Would Pay Off
Avengers: Infinity War is a unique situation in which its ballooning scope is actually justified and fans hungrily want as much as possible. Accordingly, Avengers: Infinity War was always devised as a story so big that it would be told across two movies, but it’s also a concentrated effort where each movie would obviously bring in tremendous returns.
Under different circumstances, it’s possible to imagine a version of Infinity War that’s just one movie, but the scope that Marvel starts at means that an extra chapter was all but inevitable. Over time, Infinity War: Part 2 evolved into Endgame.
2 Needed To Be Split: Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit Started As Two Movies & Continued To Grow
Peter Jackson’s situation with The Hobbit films is so unusual because it’s practically the reverse of what he experienced with his exceptional Lord of the Rings trilogy. Jackson had to fight hard to make Lord of the Rings a trilogy, but it’s a decision that makes sense.
The Hobbit, on the other hand, is a solo book that’s not that long. The initial plan was to turn The Hobbit into two movies, however, the scope of Jackson’s project grew bigger and bigger until it was only feasible to divide the movie up further and add a third chapter.
1 Cash Grab: The Divergent Series: Allegiant Doesn’t Even Get To Finish Its Story
The Divergent Series attempts to jump on the young adult adaptation train, but unfortunately, the cinematic adaptations of the Veronica Roth trilogy of books have the greatest case of diminishing returns. The Divergent Series’ plan was to split the third and final entry into two parts, Allegiant and Ascendant.
However, the box office failure of Allegiant led to plans for its second half to be shifted to television and then ultimately abandoned. Allegiant goes out on a cliffhanger and had The Divergent Series not stretched itself thin then it could have completed its trilogy.
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