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With the release of The Divergent Series: Allegiant, the first of a two part adaptation of the final book in the series, Hollywood’s obsession with squeezing as much money as possible out of any and every novel-based YA franchise continues, and it only seems to be getting worse. Not that its initial beginning was that great, but since 2011, no less than four different film series have released their final installment as two part adaptations. While some may argue that it’s in order to be more faithful to the source material, it’s almost impossible to see it as anything other than an opportunity to milk a franchise for ever penny possible, even at the expense of the quality of the films.

This whole trend started with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2010 and 2011. Originally set to be released as one final film to end the series, the movie was split into two parts when the filmmakers decided that they had enough footage and story for two movies. And both movies made a killing at the box office. Combined, the two films have grossed over two billion dollars and officially kicked of the two part adaptation craze. In the years following The Deathly Hallows success, the Twilight franchise announced that Breaking Dawn, the final film in that franchise, would also be presented in two parts. Next, The Hunger Games followed suit with the adaptation of Mockingjay. Even The Hobbit was expanded first into two movies, and then later into three. Marvel has also jumped on the bandwagon by announcing that their Phase 3 slate of films would end in a two part Avengers movie. This trend has become so popular and widespread, it was almost a relief when it was revealed the last Maze Runner movie would be just one movie.

“The Hobbit” appears courtesy of BagoGames and is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

So what exactly is the problem with this trend? Surely, filmmakers can be truer to the source material when given two movies to tell a story. The problem with this approach comes from the fact that, in almost all of these instances, there is not enough story for two movies. As a result, the films feel unfinished. The first part of any two part adaptation is all set up with no pay off, and the second part is all pay off with no set up. There is no satisfying conclusion for the audience, and the films have almost no “re-watchability,” since neither can really be viewed without the other, meaning that a movie night for these movies could be about four hours long. Instead, scenes in the books that were a couple of pages long get many several minutes of screen time as the film progresses. Something that should be a small memorable moment in the climax becomes a tedious scene that is desperately trying to pad out the run time as much as possible. And that’s not even the worst part.

The worst part is the fact that these films are released a year apart, meaning that fans have wait two full years before finally seeing the complete chapter of their favorite book series. No other form of entertainment does this. No one releases half an album or book a year before the other half. Combine that with the price of two tickets for what is essentially one movie and it becomes harder and harder to view this trend as anything other than a corporate cash grab, especially when taking into account that most of the franchises listed in this article are young adult novel adaptations, whose cliches have earned billions of dollars. Even the movies that pull this off better than most still have a lot of issues. Harry Potter often gets pass for starting this dumb trend since their fans are rabid about anything involving Potter (which is why history is repeating itself with the three part Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), and will often defend the fact that splitting the book into two films was not a bad idea, but in fact necessary to the story. Ignoring the fact that the Deathly Hallows book is not even the longest Harry Potter book, both of these movies could have easily been edited down into one film. Someone has probably already done that, in fact.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 1” appears courtesy of Sisterazzi and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

The one upside is that this trend does seem to be dying down. A fairly sizable group of critics and audiences are wising up to the fact that these splits have very little, if anything, to do with accuracy to the source material. As mentioned earlier in this article, The Maze Runner has decided to ignore this trend and actually be a trilogy. Combined with the disappointing opening for the first part of the Allegiant adaptation, as well as the growing apathy to young adult adaptations, this trend may finally die. The one exception to this might end up being Avengers: Infinity War which, based on early reports, may actually contain too much content for one movie. The same can be said for the Justice League movies set to be released in the next five years. Hell, The Hobbit probably could have worked as two movies (only with Guillermo del Toro directing, though).

But who’s to say what will happen in the next few years. The Maze Runner may announce they are splitting the last movie into two parts, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 might not decide to end properly, or books follow suit and just release a novel in two halves a year apart.

Want to know more? Part 2 releases February 2017!

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