The final part split

Blame "Harry Potter." Or, better yet, blame the studio that made "Harry Potter." The film adaptations of the books had been so successful, made so much money, and captured so much national attention, no one wanted it to end. But there were only seven books, so how to keep it going?

The "Potter" team came across an ingenious discovery. It would take the final book and split it in half, ramping up the tension, ramping up the Box Office, and killing the creative vision of the book. While, arguably, the two halves of the final "Harry Potter" book are both great films, they're not what was originally intended.

But splitting the final book gave the team an extra movie, millions of extra Box Office dollars, and another year to dominate the headlines and pop culture. Their gambit worked, and now it appears to be here to stay.

"The Hunger Games: Mocking Jay, Part 1" debuted yesterday. It's the first half of the third and final installment of the "Hunger Games" trilogy. Yes, the trilogy will be four movies over four years. And, yes, it will accomplish the same things a split of "Harry Potter" did years ago — more money, more time dominating the headlines, and more time to finish their vision of the world.

Personally, I would have preferred one, three hour movie to wrap up the series as opposed to two, two-hour films split over two years. That would make more sense, but it's far less profitable.

Three hour movies show fewer times a day, meaning fewer screenings, meaning fewer dollars and fewer repeat customers. Also, it only give you one bite at the Box Office apple, and while that's nice, it's not the same as getting two big bites. Then, of course, there's the fact you spend an extra year building up tension an interest — especially since your third movie splits the third story in half, leaving the audience with precious little in the way of resolution.

Don't get me wrong, I loved "Mockingjay Part 1." It is a good film with good performances. It's one of the better movies I've seen this year. But it's not complete. You can see the slow, deliberate pace at times that is taken because it must be; because one story is being split over two movies. It's something I didn't notice in the first two films, and that's what makes this one inferior. It doesn't do anything. It doesn't really move the story forward and it doesn't provide resolution, because it can't.

As an avid film fan, that's infuriating. But that hardly matters to the studio. They get another film, another year of dominating the headlines, and another insanely profitable film to release next November. That's all they wanted, anyway.