Harry Potter News

[Blackride]

I have not read the books as of yet and but I am enjoying the movies so far. I can't wait to see the latest one!

[Geekyfanboy]

'Harry Potter' toots box office horn
Warner Bros. tubthumps franchise's success
By DIANE GARRETT
Talk Back - post a comment

'Harry Potter'
Warner Bros. is touting another "Harry Potter" milestone: Top-grossing film franchise worldwide. Ever.

According to numbers-crunchers at the studio, the first five installments in the wizarding film series have amassed more than $4.47 billion worldwide, passing the worldwide B.O. for all previous 22 James Bond films and the six "Star Wars" movies.

Bond, which dates back to 1962, has generated $4.44 billion worldwide and the "Star Wars" pics have pulled down $4.23 billion since the first release in 1977.

None of the tallies account for inflation or rising ticket prices.

And domestically the "Star Wars" franchise still far outpaces the boy wizard. All told, the "Star Wars" pics have grossed $2.18 billion, while the "Harry Potter" franchise has grossed $1.41 billion. But then there are still two more "Potters" to go.

Warner prexy and chief operating officer Alan Horn acknowledged it would be hard to come up with an apples-to-apples comparison among the top three franchises.

"It's just a fun number," Horn said of the milestone. "It is not any way to diminish the box office totals of 'Star Wars' and the Bond movies."The fifth installment has grossed more than $900 million thus far, with just under $300 million coming from domestic B.O. The studio projects it will generate an additional $20 million to $25 million overseas.

Bond filmmakers, meanwhile, are doing their best to keep adding to their franchise's tally, with at least two more installments of that series in the works. Although Sony is calling the next installment "Bond 22," Warner included the "unofficial" Bond movie, "Never Say Never Again" in its tally.

The "Star Wars" franchise, meanwhile, is dormant -- at least for now.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117971747.html?categoryId=13&cs=1

[Rico]

Very interesting.  I do kind of like to see the numbers adjusted for inflation.  Harry Potter does seem to have a big world wide appeal more than some of the other big franchises.

[billybob476]

It's nice to see a popular franchise that isn't US-centric.

[The IC]

That reminds me.  I am going to see OOtP on the Imax tomorrow night.

[MrOsterman]

Meh.  Just makes me mad that some of the more well written, better organized fantasy/ Sci Fi hadn't gotten the media blitz's that Potter got.

I'm seriously considering starting an Anti-Golden Compass series of protests on the grounds of implied anti-catholic overtones just to help drum up some excitement and press for it.  I mean Stardust passed like a ship in the night when it hit...

I'm bitter and I'm tired.

Mr. O

[Geekyfanboy]

This is from the upcoming DVD release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which came out on DVD in England today but won't be out in the US till next month... there are two sneak peeks of the upcoming Half Blood Prince movie coming out next fall... I can't wait for this movie.

Check it out..

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Heck yea!!!  Quittich returns!!! about blasted time!!!!

King Linksr

[Boothanew]

I loved the movie in theaters! and I wanna buy it when it comes out.

[Dan M]

It's been pulled from YouTube for copyright issues.

Curse my metal body; I wasn't fast enough.

[Geekyfanboy]

Well it seems there are lot of Harry Potter fans here on the forums so I thought I would start a thread just for Harry Potter News.

Entertainment Weekly Names J.K. Rowling "Entertainer of the Year"
J.K. Rowling

Entertainment Weekly has named J.K. Rowling their "Entertainer of the Year" for 2007 (cover of new issue with JRK, here).The magazine says the reason they selected the Harry Potter author as their top entertainer was "because she did something very, very hard, and she did it very, very well, thus pleasing hundreds of millions of children and adults very, very much. In an era of videogame consoles, online multiplayer ''environments,'' and tinier-is-better mobisodes, minisodes, and webisodes, she got people to tote around her big, fat old-fashioned printed-on-paper books as if they were the hottest new entertainment devices on the planet."

Praising the timelessness of our favorite author's works, the article continues:

"As it turns out, the Harry Potter books are much richer than their progression from lightness to darkness, from childhood to adulthood, from the episodic simplicity of chapter-books to the heft and sweep of epic novels, and in their constant, book-by-book recalibration of what their readers were prepared to absorb, they've proven unlike anything else in a century of children's literature. Can there be any remaining doubt that Rowling meant every word when she said, some time back, that she planned every aspect of her story ''so carefully I sometimes feel as though my brain is going to explode''? The planning clearly paid off, not only in the blossoming of the books into a worldwide cross-cultural phenomenon but in the widespread declarations that greeted the July publication of volume 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, that Rowling had created something timeless, a tale that children would read 25 and 50 years from now."

...

Rowling's writing is distinguished by its great and sustained generosity — toward her readers and her characters — and the books she spent so long creating are entertaining enough to satisfy anybody who reads them in order to flee the cares of the everyday world, even if what looks like a chance to disapparate ultimately lands us in a universe very much like the one we were trying to escape. As odd as it may sound, Rowling is a realist. Even when the incantations are flying (not to mention the people), she stays focused on the humanness of what she's writing about: the cost of pride and stubbornness and vanity, the toll of living in fear, the ache of loss, the search for home, the pain of holding a lifelong secret, the need to be loved, the quest to find out who you truly are."
Hear hear! The new issue of "Entertainment Weekly" featuring JKR on the cover will be on newsstands this weekend.

[Geekyfanboy]

Not sure how many of you have caught this.. it's been around the past few weeks. This caused an uproar in the HP fandom as many thought this was a prequel to the Harry Potter series. Come to find out that this is a fan fic that a Dad wrote for his kids. The website is very cool and if you didn't know any better it looks like something Warner Bros would produce.

You can check it out here http://www.elderscrossing.com/

The story is called Jame Potter and the Halls of Elders' Crossing

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Keep the info coming.  Its very interesting.

King Linksr

[Geekyfanboy]

J. K. Rowling on Forbes List of UK Billionaires

Forbes Magazine has released a new list detailing the growing number of billionaires from the UK, and have included Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling among the individuals on this year's list. In addition to being the only woman on the list, Jo Rowling is also the only author. Forbes goes into more detail about our favorite author in a profile, which states:

    Rowling is the only author on our list. The seventh (and last) installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hit bookstores in July and worldwide sales of the first six topped 325 million copies. The film series, from which Rowling enjoys a cut of royalties and merchandising has grossed $3.5 billion, and there's no doubt three more movies to come.

On a related note, Jo has also received the honor of being chosen, via a poll, as America's top pick for a celebrity substitute teacher for a day. Sponsored by the The National Education Association in the lead up to Substitute Educators Day, people voted for their choice of celebrity they would most like to see as a substitute teacher. With 25% of the vote, Jo Rowling topped such celebrities as Microsoft founder Bill Gates, athlete Tiger Woods, and actress America Ferrera from the TV show "Ugly Betty" for the distinction.

[Geekyfanboy]

Jessie Cave to Play Lavender Brown

CBBC Newsround has a follow up on the news from yesterday regarding the actress to play Lavender Brown in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Readers will remember Rupert Grint mentioned a girl named Jessie for the part; her full name is now confirmed to be Jessie Cave. The article notes Ms. Cave "is 20 years old. Your first chance to see Jessie on screen though will be in CBBC drama Summerhill going out early next year. It's not known if Jessie attended the open auditions for Lavender.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" does continue with production, and will be released in theaters November 21, 2008. Thanks to BBC.