Harry Potter: A Look Back

Harry Potter: It All Ends

Please see the video below for the touching ending to the 10 years of incredible work done by the
Harry Potter cast and crew.
IT ALL ENDS!

Harry Potter: It All Ends

Emotional Goodbyes

J.K. Rowling, Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint Give Emotional Goodbye to 'Potter' Series

J.K. Rowling, Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint Give Emotional Goodbye to 'Potter' Series

Sunday, December 31, 2006

2006: The Year in Harry Potter Books

What The Leaky Cauldron did for the year in the Harry Potter films, they've done for the Harry Potter books: a great recap of news stories about the Harry Potter books.

"And now for the last of our three wrapups of the year in Potter - our look at what has happened with the Harry Potter book series and in J.K. Rowling news. It's been a year of anticipation, clues, teases, attempted bannings, exciting events and most importantly a lead-up to the last part of this era of Harry Potter fandom. Huge thanks to Sue and Julie for researching this - enjoy!"

To read the book recap, go to The Leaky Cauldron website's news archive and look for the date of December 31, 2006.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Friday, December 29, 2006

2006: The Year in Harry Potter Film

The Leaky Cauldron has a great recap of the stories they featured about the Harry Potter films last year.

2006: The Year in Harry Potter Film

"It's that time again, when we go over everything we've learned and read and done over this terrific year. We have so much big news to recap for the year 2006, that for the first time we're splitting our year in review up into parts. Tonight we recap the year in Harry Potter movies - with the year in fans and books to come tomorrow and on Sunday. Huge thanks to Sue for pulling the links and everyone who helped out with this! Read on, because it's been a great year, that sets up a 2007 to beat all."

If you'd like to check out the recap, visit The Leaky Cauldron website and look for the news archive. You'll find the recap under the date of December 29, 2006.

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Thursday, December 28, 2006

Baker & Taylor List "Deathly Hallows" Publish Date as 7/31/07

TLC has received several reports about a possible release date for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as seen on Baker & Taylor, a company that provides materials to many public and school libraries, as well as retailers. The release date they have for book seven posted is that of July 31, 2007, however Scholastic says they have not released any information about this yet. Here is the information we received so far:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by Rowling, J. K.

$35.01 (USD)
Est Disc $ 19.12

General Title Info

ISBN: 9789990164237ISBN-10: 9990164231
Publish Status: NOT YET PUBLISHED
Binding: HARDCOVER
Publish Date: 2007/07/31
Publisher: Arthur a Levine
Dewey: FIC
Audience: Children's - Grade 4-6, Age 9-11

We will continue to update with more on this as we get it.

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Royal Mail in UK Begins Planning Delivery of "Deathly Hallows"

With no official release date yet announced, the Royal Mail is nonetheless beginning to plan their strategy for delivery of the final Harry Potter book to customers in the UK. The BBC reports today that "the postal service is to meet with online retailers next month. Demand is expected to be high as last year, 500,000 pre-ordered copies of the sixth book were delivered in the UK. A Royal Mail spokesman said: "This kind of operation takes a lot of planning."

J.K.Rowling is still writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

HPEF Announces 2008 and 2009 Conferences

HP Education Fanon, Inc. has announced two new conferences for Harry Potter fans to enjoy. Produced by the same group who brought us Lumos and is sponsoring Prophecy 2007: From Hero to Legend next year in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, they are announcing the following:

Portus 2008, to be held July 10-13 2008, in Dallas, Texas. Held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, the theme is said to be "Opening the door to the Department of Mysteries," and "will explore all the metaphysical aspects of the Wizarding World."Level Two 2009 will be held July 23-29 , 2009 at the San Jose Cultural Center and Facilities in San Jose, California. The theme of this "will focus on Defense Against the Dark Arts – both those within Harry’s world, and those that fans and scholars encounter."

We will continue to post updates on these events as well as
Phoenix Rising, Sectus, the gathering in Chicago August 7-11, 2008 called Terminus and other major Harry Potter gatherings as we can.

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

"Deathly Hallows" On Way to Becoming Biggest-Selling HP Book

Amazon.co.uk is reporting today that after the announcement of the title of Book Seven, pre-orders of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows surged to the top of their best seller list. A spokesman for the online retailing giant said today the astonishing response may be an indicator of future sales of the last Harry Potter book.

"To reach No 1 in our best-sellers chart after only eight hours is an incredible achievement.

"Thousands of people in homes and offices across the UK went online to reserve their copy the moment they had the opportunity.

"If the initial response is anything to go by, this could be the biggest-selling Harry Potter of all time."

Please note: As seen via our
Cauldron Shop, the UK, French and German editions are available for pre-order from Amazon; the US and Canadian Amazon orders still remain at an email notification status only. No release date for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been announced.

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Bookies Already Making Odds on Demise of Harry Potter in "Deathly Hallows"

Not ones to let any sense of sentimental holiday spirit stand in the way, bookies are already making odds on the demise of Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The BBC reports one oddsmaker feels that "the general consensus seems to be that Harry is the final Horcrux and to ensure that Voldemort dies he will need to be sacrifice," and thus "most of the early money has been for Harry, who has been cut from 10/1 to 6/1." The article goes on to note that Lord Voldemort is "the 4-5 favourite to kill off the popular character in the seventh book in the series." Other characters from the beloved series are also mentioned:

"Other contenders to kill Harry include Professor Snape at 5-2, Draco Malfroy at 6-1, Ron Weasley at 6-1 and Hermione Granger at 6-1.

Mr Adams added that the bookies have also accepted punts on Ron and Hermione to marry, with Harry as best man, and on Harry to catch the snitch in a Quidditch world cup.

"The oddsmakers hasten to add that all bets "will be void and stake money will be returned if Harry confounds pundits and survives."

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Alfonso Cuaron Interview Mentions Ties Between PoA Film and HBP; Expresses Interest in "Deathly Hallows"

Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuaron has given a new interview with SFGate.com where he mentions again his interest in possibly returning to helm a Harry Potter movie. Echoing previous reports, Mr. Cuaron says he recently spoke as well with JKR, saying "I could tell based on our conversation that she is just so excited about No. 7. She was going through a really good stream of writing.'' Alfonso Cuaron also confirmed that indeed, he had ideas while filming PoA that possibly tied into the future books, including Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Each time she got wind of a direction he was taking "Prisoner of Azkaban'' in, she would tell him, "That thing you're trying to do sounds very interesting, but I would appreciate it if you don't do it because it would contradict something I'm going to do in book 6.'' Cuarón always honored her requests.

"You are dealing with a woman who has an amazing control of her universe and knows inch by inch that castle," he says.

Working on "Azkaban,'' which many critics consider the best of the Potter films, was "a blast," Cuarón says. "Those were the two most beautiful years of my life. Everything that happens around a J.K. Rowling creation is enveloped in this beautiful, beneficial energy.''

UPDATE: According to this very
short interview from Slashfilm, Mr. Cuaron has expressed interest in directing the film version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," as he said "Let's see how the seventh book ends up, maybe that one -- maybe." No director has been announced as yet for Half-Blood Prince, which is due to begin filming next summer.

(SOURCE:
THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Friday, December 22, 2006

Amazon UK Puts Book Seven on Pre-Order, Sets Price

Several readers have let us know that Amazon.UK has now set a price for Book Seven at £13.99 (or roughly 27.39 USD), and has gone from a "Notify Me" status to an actual "Pre-Order" status. Thanks to reader Roonwit, we also know the UK retailer is telling those who have pre-ordered, amazingly, that there will be an estimated delivery date as "22 Feb 2007 - 23 Feb 2007."

UPDATE: It would seem some clarification is taking place as the page now says "Delivery Date. When you reserve your copy you may see a system generated message specifying the delivery date. In actual fact we do not know when this book will be published. We will keep you up to date as and when we have more information."

More as we get it!

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Amazon Calls Book Seven "Most Eagerly Awaited Books of All Time"

With the news of the title for the last Harry Potter book now publicly announced, there has been widespread media reaction as you can imagine. Here are just a few of the news stories of interest on the subject:

Amazon.com is the focus of this story from Bloomberg news which highlights the fact that "Amazon said it experienced a surge of activity on its Web site after the announcement, describing it as ``one of the most eagerly awaited books of all time.''

The Telegraph has further comments from the UK Amazon spokesperson who said:"This is the first piece of the jigsaw in the final part of the Harry Potter series," he said. "The book's release will be met with an unprecedented level of excitement - but also a sense of sadness. Over the past 10 years, so many people have been enchanted by the world and characters that JK Rowling has created. It will be like saying goodbye to an old friend."

The Times online reports on the anticipation already by booksellers for a release date of the last book, where they predict huge sales. One spokesperson from Waterstones says:"This is a wonderfully intriguing and ominous title, with all the sense of magic and adventure that any true Potter fan has come to love and expect....But surely the question all Potter fans will want answering as soon as possible is - when can they get their hands on a copy? We don’t know the answer yet, but we’re predicting that 2007 could be a pretty special year for Potter fans all around the world."

Lizo from CBBC Newsround gives us his thoughts on the title of the last book, as he says "I love the title Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it's got a really scary feel to it, without giving too much away." For more on Lizo's thoughts, click here.

Finally, our own Melissa Anelli was interviewed by the Chicago Tribune where she sums up the feelings of many of us by noting "As Potter fans, we're elated and also saddened - this is the last one! It's like being given a fantastic Christmas present on the last Christmas ever."

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)