No 3D For “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part I”

Harry Potter and his pals won’t be using magic to combat evil in 3D after all.

On Friday, Warner Bros. Studios announced that the first part of the film in the blockbuster Harry Pottter film franchise will only be released to standard and IMAX theaters in 2D — not the eye-popping 3D technology as was originally planned.

Hollywood bosses say they simply don’t have enough time to convert the film to 3D before its Nov. 19 release date. Warner Bros. had hoped to be able to transform the film into 3D format, but trashed the idea after taking inventory of their timetable.

“We will not have a completed 3D version of the film within our release date
window,” read a press release issued by The WB last week. “Despite everyone’s best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality. We do not want to disappoint fans who have long-anticipated the conclusion of this extraordinary journey.”

“This decision, which we completely support, underscores the fact that Warner Bros. has always put quality first,” says director David Yates.

At least there’s one bright spot: The studio says Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will still be released in both 2D and 3D on July 15, 2011.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final of J.K. Rowling’s novels about a bespectacled British boy wizard and his adventures at Hogwarts School, but in a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, Rowling said she “could definitely” write several new books about Potter.