Harry Potter EW Cover

With less than 100 days left until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the hype machine is officially starting up with the new Fall Preview issue of Entertainment Weekly, available on newsstands today.  You can check out an excerpt of the Deathly Hallows feature here, and the full article over at Mugglenet.

The article does confirm where the split will be between Parts I and II of the final films (SPOILER warnings for those prefer to wait).  Fans had speculated that the movie would likely split just after the trio are captured by Snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor, since that happens around the halfway mark of book and it sounded like it would give the first part a big cliffhanger ending.  Judging from this information from EW, it sounds like the split will be happening later than that part of the book:

"Part 1, by the way, will end at about Chapter 24 of the book, with Voldemort gaining possession of the Elder wand, one of the three Deathly Hallows that allow the bearer to conquer death."

That would be just after the Malfoy Manor chapter, as well as one of the book's saddest death scenes, so that should leave everyone nice and miserable on their way out of the theater.  That also means that Part II will open with the trio sneaking into Gringotts to retrieve one of the Horcruxes - which involves a dragon - before heading back for the final Hogwarts battle, which sounds like it will be taking up most of Part II.  Which sounds pretty sweet.

Also, if you're a Harry Potter fan in the UK, you have a chance to win tickets to the Deathly Hallows premiere in London if you sign up for the Join The Final Battle Facebook page by midnight tomorrow. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 opens in theaters on November 19.