New Potter Trailer - [8:32 AM]

Cinematical: "That's the new two-minute trailer for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince below, which Warner Bros. is hoping will help stave off death threats from fans who are still resentful that the film was pushed back to next July from its original release date of next week. (Just think! If it weren't for that, you'd be seeing the film less than seven days from now!) " - Potter news has been very slow to come on this site since the release of the final book. I was looking forward to our day-after-Thanksgiving tradition of a movie with the family, this years choice was of course Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, until Warner Brothers decided to play Scrooge and push it off until next summer. Summer Potter releases of Potter movies don't hold the magic for me. Yes, I'm a bit bitter. Oh well, enough complaining.

The trailer looks pretty darned good.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Potter Trailer - [9:26 AM]

Here's the latest Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer, from Trailer Addict. There's definitely stuff in there I don't remember reading? Hmmmm...

Labels: Movies, Potter

Guess I'm a Hufflepuff - [11:17 AM]

MuggleNet: "His research found 'Hufflepuff' readers take the tales at a slow, steady and systematic pace and enjoy re-reading the books over and over." - Well, I finally know what house I'd be in.

Labels: Potter

Warner Brothers, I don't like you. - [9:20 AM]

We all know May is the beginning of the Blockbuster Season in the movie business, but Hollywood has been pretty good about giving us some decent films in November and December in recent years. Hey, think back to November and December 2001, an awesome time for movie going.

This year we have a family movie-going wasteland, thanks in part, to Warner Brothers rescheduling Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince.

I'm not sure what our day after Thanksgiving film will be this year, it was going to be Potter, now... what's worth seeing, and family friendly? City of Ember looks like it's going to be really good but it starts in October, will it hang in there until late November? Beyond that I'm not overly impressed by most of the November releases.

Thanks Warner Brothers, appreciate it.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Happy Birthday HPProgs! - [9:27 AM]

Harry Potter Prognostications: "Today is HPProgs’ two year birthday/anniversary. It is hard to believe we have been around for two years and we are still going strong. What started as a complete lark has actually become a source of entertainment, information and plain old good times (and to quote Greg: general tomfoolery and hi jinks)." - Two years old? Boy, time sure does fly, doesn't it?

Labels: Potter

Potter Disappointment - [8:26 AM]

Cinematical: "This is the cover of the new Entertainment Weekly, which hit newsstands today, approximately 24 hours after its top story became outdated. As you've heard by now, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is no longer the most-anticipated movie of the fall; it's now the most-anticipated movie of July 17, 2009. Whoops." - Entertainment Weekly and WB are both owned by Time Warner, so you know this was a quick decision. What was the true motivation? We may never know, but I don't think it had to do with the summer blockbuster season. This is Potter, not some chick flick, it would've done just fine in the dead season for movies, January through March. The trailers were late in coming, that tells me they couldn't get it together.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Prognosticating Trouble? - [8:41 AM]

In Episode #82 of HPProgs, Greg and Penny, just do touch on trouble with the release of Half-Blood Prince. They wonder why we haven't seen a trailer. Well, now we know.

Keep up the good work! I'm still listening after all this time, when time permits of course, just not actively commenting.

Labels: Potter

Warner Brothers, you losers! - [8:28 AM]

MuggleNet: "BURBANK, CA, August 14, 2008 – Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that it has moved back the release date of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” to Summer 2009. The sixth installment of the blockbuster Harry Potter franchise will now open day-and-date domestically and in the major international markets on July 17, 2009. The announcement was made by Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros." - It would seem to me WB just blew it, period. I don't know what the true dates are for blockbuster season but July 17th seems kind of late to me. And another thing, do you think more people are going to go see it because you're showing it in the summer? Please. Did you hear of a little trilogy called The Lord of the Rings? It managed to do quite well in the late fall, thank you very much.

So, either they did a bad job with their schedule, or they looked at their books and said "Gee, our movie lineup sucks for next year, we need something big or we're going to be in trouble."

I guess the story points to the latter.

Ya know, I prefer to see Potter films in the fall. It gives us something during an otherwise bad time for movie releases, although it's gotten much better over time. So does this also mean we're not going to see the first installment of Deathly Hallows for two years past the release of Half-Blood Prince, with another two after that for part two? That would suck guys. Hopefully it's all filmed together and released within ONE YEAR of Half-Blood Prince since they're delaying this release so long.

Thanks for the pointer Nick.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Half-Blood Prince Trailer - [6:11 PM]

If, like me, you prefer to watch trailers on Apple's trailer site, here's a link to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Enjoy.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer review - [6:40 PM]

The HD versions looks spectacular! It looks like they nailed the early interactions between Dumbledore and Tom Riddle, maybe nailed is a bit too strong a word to choose, but they do look good. We get to see a young Tom Riddle in the trailer, Dumbledore putting on Gaunt's ring, and what I believe is the lake scene and one including Jenny that I can't quite place. There's also a scene of someone running through a wheat field, my memory must be slipping because I don't remember anything like that in the book, so I wonder how that works in? Maybe something to do with young Riddles transformation into Voldemort, the time he spent going farther into the dark arts than any other wizard. Oh my, oh my, hold onto your seats if this trailer is any indication of what we should expect out of the film!

Labels: Potter

Half-Blood Prince, trailer #1 - [6:26 PM]

Labels: Potter

Deathly Hallows - [12:42 PM]

One year ago today we Potter freaks were caught up in J.K. Rowling's final installment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It's hard to believe it's been a year.

Labels: Potter

No, no, no, no, no! - [7:58 PM]

Veriterisum: "Also, new scans from Movie Magic magazine reveal that, since Bill was cut from the sixth movie, the werewolf Fenrir Greyback 'attacks Harry, but Harry or (someone unseen) petrifies him in time. But Ron's Dad is not so lucky -- Fenrir mauls his face and nearly kills him.'" - I'm going to drop to the floor and kick and scream now. Why make a change like that? So now Mr. Weasley will be mangled in the seventh movie, instead of Bill? Is Shell Cottage even going to appear in part one, or part two, of The Deathly Hallows movie? Are these guys going to completely jack up the story line? I'm sorry, but this stuff really does put my knickers in twist. I don't mind if things are subtle but these kinds of changes lead to other changes so they can keep continuity in the story. J.K. Rowling drops interesting clues in each and every book, things you think didn't matter, but then she ties it together nicely in the next book, or the one after that. This one isn't too egregious, but it is a change that doesn't seem necessary.

Let it go Rob, let it go, it's just a stoopid book and movie, ohmmmmm, ohmmmmm, ohmmmmm....

Labels: Potter

800 word Potter prequel - [9:12 AM]

Harry Potter Prognostications: "If you are having any difficulty reading the handwritten version, here is a typed copy of the submission. Enjoy!" - I haven't had a chance to read this, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it.

Labels: Potter

Potter Actor Killed - [3:08 PM]

The Telegraph [via HPANA]: "Friends said the murder victim, who they named as 18-year-old Robert Knox, worked as a film extra and was due to appear in the new Harry Potter film coming out in November."

Labels: Movies, Potter

Potter at 10 - [11:09 PM]

MuggleNet: "This September marks the 10th anniversary of when Sorcerer's Stone was first released in the United States, and Scholastic is ready to celebrate!" - Wow, it's hard to believe it's been ten years!

Labels: Potter

Random Potter - [1:38 PM]

To the class's horror, Hagrid proceeded to explain that the reason the skrewts had been killing one another was an excess of pent-up energy, and that the solution would be for each student to fix a leash on a skrewt and take it for a short walk.

Hagrid
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
by J.K. Rowling, Chapter 18

via the Harry Potter Quote Conjerer

Labels: Potter

Random Potter Links - [8:51 AM]

MuggleNet: "Over the past few months, we've been updating you on various construction photos from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Today, Screamscape.com has a few new pictures from construction, most notably one of a building from Hogsmeade Village." - They should've started construction on this after the release of the first film. Back in April 2003 I wondered why WB and Magic Mountain hadn't started building a Potter themed park, here we are a full five years on, if they'd only listened.

HPANA: "We now have confirmation from Warner Bros. on reports this morning from various movie sites that the first of the two films will hit theatres on November 19, 2010." - This is fantastic! I love fall releases of Potter. The first film was released on November, 16 2001.

Cinematical: "Like, could you imagine William Moseley being the guy that gets to befriend Hermione and Ron, come onto Cho Chang,* chum up to Dumbledore, and take on Voldemort?" - Um, no.

MuggleNet: "May 2nd, 1998 was the day Harry finally defeated Lord Voldemort within Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Labels: Potter

The Next Potter? - [12:06 PM]

Beyond Hogwarts: "And if she does write some new books about Harry's magical world, what should they be about? Would you like to read books about Albus Severus Potter and his adventures at Hogwarts? Or would you like to know more about the times of James, Sirius and Remus? How about going all the way back to the time of Dumbledore and Grindelwald? Or even further?" - I've actually thought about this a lot. Seeing the magical world J.K. Rowling created walk into the sunset would be ok, but I wouldn't cry if she did another series of books based in the past. That said, if I could pick a time period for Ms. Rowling to write about it would be the rise of you-know-who and the First Wizarding War.

Labels: Potter

Half-Blood Prince - [9:30 AM]

First Showing: "Warner Brothers has released the first official photo from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Overall, the image is rather nondescript and doesn't tell us much, save for that the three leads - Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) - are returning for the sixth time. You can faintly make out the headline in the newspaper Hermione is holding as possibly 'More Disappearances at Ministry of Magic' or something like that."

Labels: Movies, Potter

JKR in Court - [5:55 AM]

CNN: "J.K. Rowling says the Harry Potter characters she created are as dear as her children -- too precious to allow an inferior Potter encyclopedia to be published without letting the world know the ordeal is draining her of her will to write." - Please, please, finish the encyclopedia.

Labels: Potter

Why cast Sanguini? - [9:26 AM]

Veritaserum: "Although these casting have not been confirmed by Warner Bros., Tom Moorcroft is listed as playing Regulus Black and Charlie Bennison will reportedly play Sanguini." - Kim and I were just talking about these casting choices, they look fitting enough, but we wonder why bother casting a Sanguini character? I know tough choices are made when adapting a book into a screenplay and that goes for who shows up on the big screen and who doesn't. Sanguini means absolutely nothing in the Big Potter Picture. I guess the Christmas party scene is still in, that's good.

Here's hoping Half-Blood Prince does the book justice. Good luck guys!

Labels: Potter

First Baseball, now this? - [10:02 PM]

MuggleNet.com: "After retiring from the world of Quidditch as one of most respected and celebrated players in the history of the sport, Ginny Weasley has written a book exposing the rampant use of wizarding growth hormone in the professional Quidditch world" - What a shame.

Labels: April Fools, Potter

New FOX reality show - [1:23 PM]

MuggleNet.com: "After years of tending to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, everyone’s favorite half-giant is making a name for himself on television. Are You Smarter Than Rubeus Hagrid? airs every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. ET on FOX." - Sign me up!

Labels: April Fools, Potter

Big Potter News - [12:09 AM]

Harry Potter Prognostications: "t is official, the LA Times has reported that WB will be making the announcement tomorrow that Deathly Hallows will be split into two movies with David Yates directing them" - This is huge news. The big question for the Potter faithful, where do you draw the line between part one and part two? I do believe this is a wonderful idea because I'd like to see the series finish with a bang! Splitting Deathly Hallows will give Warner Brothers the opportunity to do things the right way, and by right way I mean epic battle scenes reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings. I can't wait to see The Battle of Hogwarts. Maybe they'll split the book at Shell Cottage? Seems a reasonable place to leave us hanging. I guess we'll find out later.

Update: Another cool thing I missed the first time I read the announcement. The first of the two parts will be released in November of 2010, I LOVE November release dates. We typically see a movie the day after Thanksgiving and Potter would be perfect. We'll get to see The Half-Blood Prince this November, then Deathly Hallows, Part One, two years later. I love it when a plan comes together.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Potter News - [10:46 AM]

Yes, it's been quite a while since I've written about our favorite boy wizard. Apparently there's been a lot of talk about who will direct the final installment, even Spielberg's name was mentioned. According to Lois Lowry, author of The Giver trilogy, David Yates will direct The Giver after completing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Labels: Potter

Potter News, Half-Blood Prince - [2:25 PM]

Veritaserum: " Oscar-winning actor Jim Broadbent told DarkHorizons that he has been cast as Horace Slughorn in the film adaptation of Half-Blood Prince." - This is an excellent choice for Horace Slughorn IMHO!

Now, if we could get them to get a new Dumbledore I'd be very happy.

Labels: Movies, Potter

Deathly Hallows, Update #7 - [1:02 AM]

Book 7 in the books, I loved it, and that's all I'll say for the next couple of weeks.

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

Deathly Hallows, Update #6 - [1:35 PM]

Well this had better be my second to the last update for Deathly Hallows. I'm on page 670, or so. If I don't kill it off this weekend there's definitely something wrong with me.

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

Deathly Hallows, Update #4 - [4:16 PM]

Well, as expected, Kim completed the book yesterday. She's dying for me to finish so we can talk about it. I managed to read for two hours last night, and got to page 232.

At this pace I'll be working on the book for a while... So please, no spoilers!

Maybe I'll stop working a bit early tonight and get a jump start on reading. I need to put in a good five to six hours tonight, that should put me well on my way to completion, if I can stay awake!

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

More Deathly Hallows pre-order issues - [10:23 AM]

My mom spoke to a kid at Target that had the exact same problem I did with my Border pre-order. He called to confirm his order, they didn't have a copy set aside for him.

So, how many people didn't get their copies on Friday night because Borders, and Amazon, didn't come through?

A good friend of mine, and colleague, Stuart Rawling, didn't receive his book on Saturday as promised from Amazon. They've made things right for him, he's getting his copy this afternoon for free. Well done Amazon, that's how you should treat your customer.

So, if you still need a copy and have ~$18.00, go to your local Wal-Mart, the brick and mortar version, they had tons of them.

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

Deathly Hallows, Update #3 - [5:00 PM]

We kicked around San Luis Obispo today, it's such a lovely town. We're back in town now, and managed to get in a bit of reading before going to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law.

I'm now on page 152, Kim is way out at 400, I'm sure she'll knock this thing out on Monday.

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

Deathly Hallows, Update #2 - [11:00 PM]

We made it back from dinner, read a bit longer, it's now 11PM, I'm off to bed.

Great read so far, I'm on page 120 now.

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

Deathly Hallows, Update #1 - [7:00 PM]

Kim and I managed to find two copies of Deathly Hallows at our local
WalMart, hat tip Bill Lazar.

We'd planned a trip to Morro Bay for the weekend and we've managed to
get in a bit of reading this afternoon, I'm a snail like reader so
I'm only just beginning chapter six. Kim is on about page 150, chapter
eight. I'm not going to give away anything, so don't worry.

It's 7PM, we're heading out to dinner. More later.

Labels: Deathly Hallows, Potter

Harry Potter Dies - [9:42 PM]

Scotsman.com News: "As an off-camera film-maker offers his congratulations, Rowling, 41, says: 'Thank you...yeah, you don't know, it might be rubbish. Some people will loathe it, they will absolutely loathe it. For some people to love it, other people must loathe it. That's just in the nature of the plot.'" - Does this support those of us that believe Harry is a big time goner? I guess we'll find out in just over five days.

Another choice piece from the article...

"Excerpts released at STV's scheduled launch in Glasgow yesterday might add fuel to the conspiracy theory gripping Potter fans across the globe - that the boy wizard Harry dies at the end of the seventh and final novel. The rumour mill has gone into frenzied overdrive in the run-up to the worldwide release of the last Potter novel on 21 July."

Labels: Potter

Order of the Phoenix Reviews - [8:50 AM]

HPANA: "With the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opening up today some additional reviews of the movie have been posted online." - I was creating my own list, but HPANA is on the job!

Labels: Potter

Potty Wee Potter - [9:08 AM]

The Order of the Phoenix plays tonight, midnight. Unfortunately I won't be there, I'd love to, but I can't convince my lovely wife to go. What can I say, we're getting old, and it's hard to stay awake that long.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now 10 days + change away. Wow! It's a big topic at work between a few Potter die hards. Yesterday's topic was "How will Dumbledore help Harry stay alive." At most I think Dumbledore will be available via his portrait in his Hogwarts office. Which made me wonder where else will he have portraits? One of the guys thinks Dumbledore will pull an Obi-wan. I don't know about that, but it's definitely fun to hear everybody's theories about it.

Oh, I reserved my copy at Borders in Visalia, so I'll see you there on the 20th.

Labels: Potter