Belby is a Ravenclaw studen and appears in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, set to hit theaters later this year. Knox had also been signed on to appear in The Deathly Hallows as well.

From Yahoo:

Robert Knox, an 18-year-old actor set to appear in the next Harry Potter film, was fatally stabbed outside a London pub on Saturday. According to British media reports, the actor was part of a brawl that sent five males to the hospital, including a 21-year-old who was arrested on suspicion of murder after being treated for facial injuries.

Pretty sad stuff and awful, awful news for his family. The producers are done shooting Half-Blood Prince, so the disheartening task of finding a replacement for the final two installments lies with them.

So, hey, here you go. A new picture from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Click to enlarge.

It seems that those rumors have now been confirmed. The LA Times is reporting that Warner Bros. will announce today today that they plan to split Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final “Potter” novel, into two films – one to be released in November 2010 and the second in May 2011.

The two movies will actually be filmed at one time like one movie so David Yates will be the director for both of them. These films will mark his third and fourth times behind the lense of a Potter film after directing both Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which is being finished up for a November 21 release. The titles for the two new films will be simply Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.

Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer of Warner Bros. said Wednesday that “it would have been a disservice” to downsize “Deathly Hallows” into one film.

“This way, we have an extra hour and a half, at least, to celebrate what this franchise has been and do justice to all the words and ideas that Jo has put in the amazing story,” Horn said. “This is the end of the story too. We want to celebrate it. We want to give a full meal.”

Author J.K. Rowling has reportedly already given her approval for the split.

The story claims that the decision is based on creative reasons and not financial ones. With the Harry Potter books coming in longer and longer (the first one was only 223 pages while “Deathly Hallows” is 776 pages long) it has become increasingly difficult for filmmakers to fit all the story fans expect into each film. Rowling herself has stated on her website, “It is simply impossible to incorporate every storyline into a film under four hours long.”

The article claims that employees and workers on the sixth film, “Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince,” were told the news over the weekend.

At Warner Bros, who are rumured to be thinking of Oscars and a big-name director such as Steven Spielberg for the final film, a spokesman said: “People are discussing all possibilities.”

I have not read the book, but I expect that if the studio can get two decent scripts out of the one book and Rowling will support it, the act of splitting it into two movies is a no brainer. Each film in the series grosses upwards of $750M to $1B worldwide so the return on investment would be absolutely huge considering they would likely film both movies at the same time. It would seem unlikely that fans would complain either as they would get to see more of the book on film and enjoy an additional movie that they didn’t expect. It’s a win-win for pretty much everyone involved.

Of course, it’s possible that the thought never even occurred to them until they read the article. That would be something that wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.