HBP Filming News: Threat of Strike to Affect Harry Potter Six?

There are a couple pieces of news to tell you this morning in relation to filming for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

The Guardian is reporting today that the threat of a looming actor's strike due next summer is affecting the production of some big budget films in the UK, and they mention it could affect the filming of HBP. Noting that this strike "looks set to take place in June next year and will in fact manifest itself as a combined strike by the Screen Actors Guild, the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America (West) against the Producers Guild of America. The predicted strike has already sent Hollywood into a frenzy of planning, with many studios reportedly accelerating production of films to avoid gaps in their release schedules." On this list of movies possibly to be affected is the sixth Harry Potter film.

At this time we have heard no change in production schedules, as the actors are in rehearsal this week for the movie, and we will update you should any more develop on this front. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is still confirmed to be released on November 21, 2008.

On a related note, as a followup to the news TLC first told you about a few weeks ago, noted cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel has confirmed in a note written in his native French, that he will begin principal photography on Half-Blood Prince next week on September 24. Thanks to UHP who also let us know that Mr. Delbonnel also confirmed to them that fellow French native Jany Temime is returning yet again as costume designer for the new Harry Potter movie.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Happy Birthday, Hermione Granger!

The calendar on author J. K. Rowling's official site has been updated for the 19th, which has just dawned in the UK, to wish a Happy Birthday to Hermione Granger. Cheers Hermione!

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Complete Set of Signed Harry Potter Books Up for Charity Auction

We have a couple pieces of news today relating to Harry Potter books being auctioned to support charitable efforts.

The first is a rare complete set of books signed by author J.K. Rowling are to be auctioned off on Ebay starting at midnight September 24, with proceeds to benefit Books Abroad, an organization which provides books to children in need in some 80 countries in the world. The BBC reports all that these books are rare and "are so valuable that they are being kept in an Aberdeenshire police station." You can see video of these books via the Books Abroad website (direct link to you-tube here), which reports these books are being auctioned off "is one of the items secured by Books Abroad as they get ready to celebrate their 25th anniversary with a fund-raising ball later this month." The website states:

"Through her Huntly connections, J.K. Rowling knows of the work of Books Abroad. Although she cannot attend our 25th Anniversary Ball in person, she was very keen to support us. We are very grateful to her for this generous contribution to our fund-raising efforts"

On a related note, there is another set of all seven Harry Potter books currently up for auction to benefit the Catie Hoch Foundation. This is a foundation which helps hundreds of children with cancer and their families. Readers will remember that Jo had been touched by Catie and her plight before the llittle girl lost her fight against neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of pediatric cancer, and Jo has continued to support this organization. Bidding for the signed set of Harry Potter books currently stands at $7,000 and the auction is ongoing until September 21. You can bid and learn more about this auction via this link.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Actor Jim Broadbent: I am Horace Slughorn

In an exclusive interview with our friend Garth Franklin of Dark Horizons, actor Jim Broadbent confirms that he has been cast in the role of new Potions master Horace Slughorn for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Film.

The actor, who says he has read the Harry Potter books, confirms he will play the pivotal character in the sixth Harry Potter film which is in rehearsals this week and is set to begin filming shortly. Jim Broadbent, best known for his roles in Moulin Rouge, both Bridget Jones film and his Academy Award winning role in "Iris" says the following:

DH: Who are you?

Broadbent: Who am I? He's called Horace Slughorn. He's a retired teacher of magic who's drawn back out of retirement because he's got some secrets they need in the battle against the Deatheaters and he's quite star struck as a teacher and he's drawn back into the fold because he likes to notch up celebrity students, and he's drawn back by Harry.

DH: Is he a comic character?

Broadbent: He is quite a comic character, yes. I haven't started yet. I've had endless costume fittings and makeup and ...

DH: What kind of costumes?

Broadbent: Tweedy sort of things with a bit of padding. He's an older man, I'm aging up again.

You can see some additional photos of the actor here in our galleries. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released in theaters on November 21, 2008.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

JK Rowling Extending Open Book Tour to Canada

Canadian visitor Lori sent us this article from GlobeandMail.com, which reveals Jo's plans to hold a book reading in Canada:

Ms. Rowling, who lives in England, will make an appearance the morning of Oct. 23 at the Wintergarden Theatre in downtown Toronto. It's an all-ages event hosted by Toronto's International Festival of Authors and Rowling's Canadian publisher, Vancouver-based Raincoast Books. Ms. Rowling will read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, entertain questions from fans and autograph complimentary copies of “Deathly Hallows.”

Starting today through September 27th, Canadian fans can visit Raincoast's website and enter for the drawing that awards 10 pairs of tickets daily. Tickets are also being given out through Canadian libraries and the country's 79 public and Catholic school boards.

Good luck to all who enter!

(SOURCE: MUGGLENET)

Warner Brothers Confirms US OOTP DVD Details

After various sites confirmed the Limited Edition Gift Set and 2-disc Special Edition, Warner Brothers has announced details for all four DVD sets being released on December 11th.

Details of note:

Single disc (both fullscreen and widescreen) priced at $28.98
Dual-Disc at $34.99
HD and Blu-ray at $35.99
Dual-disc set to include "sneak" peek at Half-Blood Prince
Additional 17 minutes of OOTP footage included on all DVDs
Limited Edition Gift Set to include "more than three hours of all-new content from the past Harry Potter films."

For all information from Warner Brothers, click the link below.

UPDATE: To hold all of this information, we now have a page in our OOTP Movie section of MuggleNet. Read more...

(SOURCE: MUGGLENET)

Entertainment Writer Praises Dan's Manners

In a profile published this week entitled "The down-to-earth megastar," MSNBC entertainment writer Miki Turner had some glowing things to say about Daniel Radcliffe. Here's an excerpt from her article:

A couple of weeks ago, however, I was waiting to get on an elevator going down when I ran into Daniel Radcliffe, who of course, was and is perpetually upward bound.“Pardon me,” he said as he got on an elevator that was actually going down. “I’m terribly sorry,” he said after realizing his mistake. “I hope I haven’t held you up.”

Considering my last experience on these very same elevators was with Jamie Foxx and his bodyguard, who refused to let anyone else on the elevator when it stopped on each floor, I was pretty impressed with Radcliffe’s manners.

Check out the full article, which is well worth reading, at MSNBC. Thanks to DR.com for the tip!

(SOURCE: VERITASERUM)

Winners to JKR New York Open Book Tour Appearance Now Being Notified

Lucky winners in the sweepstakes contest to see Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling at her New York Carnegie Hall appearance are now being notified by Scholastic. TLC readers Helene, Didir, and Meghan have sent us very happy owls relaying this most joyful news. If you are among the 1,000 Harry Potter fans who won two tickets to this Open Book Tour stop at Carnegie Hall Friday, October 19th at 7 p.m., please send in your reports and we will post them! Congratulations!

As noted previously, J.K. Rowling will be embarking on an Open Book Tour here in the US in October, making three stops in Los Angeles, New York City, and New Orleans for school children. Scholastic, the US publishers of the Harry Potter novels and sponsors of this tour, have now announced the schools in Orleans Parish, Louisiana who will be attending the event on October 18. ALL 80 public schools in Orleans parish will be part of this event, with Scholastic also very generously donating a complete set of the Harry Potter series, books 1-7, to every public school in Orleans Parish and public library in New Orleans as well as "donating 10,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first book in J.K. Rowling’s series, to Orleans Parish public schools for students who have not yet read the books and are now ready to begin their Hogwarts journey. " Amazing. Readers will remember that New Orleans suffered terrible damage from Hurricane Katrina, with many of the libraries along the Gulf coast in Louisiana and Mississippi still in need of replenishment of books. Congratulations to all the lucky school children in the three cities who will hear our favorite author read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, receive an autographed copy of the book, and hear Jo answer questions about the beloved series of books.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Back Cover Artwork for "Order of the Phoenix" DVD

Trumpeting the tagline "Sleek, Swift, and Exciting," you can now see some clear new images of the back cover to the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD courtesy of DVDtown.com. These indicate again the special features that are to be included on the DVD when it is released on December 11 (along with the HD ,Blu-Ray and special Box Set gift editions).

Single-disc Back artwork
2 Disc edition Back Artwork
2 Disc edition Front Cover artwork

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Dan on His HBP Schedule and DH

In another interview with MTV, Daniel Radcliffe mentioned a bit more about when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince begins production while promoting December Boys:

Radcliffe jumps right back into the wizarding world next week, when he starts shooting "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" on Monday. "It's pretty whirlwind," he said. "I stop press on the 14th and start on the 17th. There's just one week of rehearsal. That's manic. But when you know the character as well as I do, it's easy to get back into the role. So the amount of prep you do, it's possible to do a lot of what you need on the day of. It comes very naturally now."

He also mentions how he will tease Rupert Grint (Ron), when he has to do his kissing scenes in the sixth movie:

Just because it's easy now doesn't mean he's not excited — especially about certain parts, such as being able to give Rupert Grint a hard time when it's his turn at a kissing scene. "I'm going to be on set pointing at him every time. It's going to be funny," Radcliffe grinned mischievously.

Dan also goes into quite a bit of detail about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so, again, if you have not finished the book, please heed with caution.

(SOURCE: VERITASERUM)

Dan Radcliffe on HBP Film: Tragedy of Slughorn Outweighs Comedy

MTV has a new interview with Dan Radcliffe now online, where the actor speaks about the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film, and talks about the role of new Potions master Horace Slughorn. Dan does not indicate who will be portraying this pivotal character in the sixth Harry Potter film, but notes that in the movie "most of the time he’s gonna be very funny... but then you will really see the dark side of him."

Indicating that a key scene to be included will be from the "After the Burial" chapter in HBP, the article says the following:

The dark side, of course, is displayed most prominently in what’s sure to be a vital part of the film – Slughorn’s memory of giving young Tom Riddle information on creating horcruxes. Harry is ultimately able to retrieve the memory in a moment of great sadness, when he pleads with a sobbing Horace to erase the damage he’s done and honor Lily Potter. It’s moments like these, said Radcliffe, that make “the tragedy [of Slughorn] outweigh the comedy.”

As stated no actor for the role of Horace Slughorn has yet been announced. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is set to commence principal photography later this month.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Emma Watson Included on People's "Best Dressed" List

Actress Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) has been named one of the "Best Dressed" celebrities in People Magazine's annual round up of the "Best and Worst Dressed" of 2007. In the latest issue, set to be on newsstands this Friday, Emma is along side such actresses as Penelope Cruz, Jessica Biel and Reese Witherspoon for their fashion excellence throughout the year. Emma has appeared in a number of glamorous photo spreads this past year, one of which from the UK's Tatler, can be seen in our Image Galleries here.

Congratulations Emma!

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Rumor Alert: Casting Rumor for Young Voldemort in "Half-Blood Prince"

Official casting news continues to be scarce as we draw closer to the anticipated start of filming for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film in a few weeks, but now we have a rumor tonight regarding a possible candidate for the role of young Tom Riddle. An article in the new issue of Teen Vogue features a young actor by the name of Jamie Campbell Bower, and mentions that the actor "has his fingers crossed" he will play the role of young Voldemort. You can see a scan of this article here courtesy of HarryPotterla. This mention does not confirm the actor has the part, but it is the first name we have heard in conjunction for this part. Readers will remember there was an open casting call for the part of young Tom Riddle earlier this summer in London. Jamie Campbell Bower will be seen later this fall in the highly-anticipated film "Sweeney Todd," which features several actors from the Harry Potter films including Alan Rickman (Severus Snape), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew).

As always with these reports, please keep them in the rumor category until we receive official confirmation from Warner Brothers.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

LA Schools to See JKR on Open Book Tour Announced, New Orleans School to be Announced Wednesday

As announced previously, author J.K. Rowling is making three appearances here in the US on the "Open Book Tour," with stops in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. On three of these appearances select schools were chosen to see the Harry Potter author at an appearance where she will read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, answer questions and autograph copies of the final Harry Potter book for lucky schoolchildren. Last week the schools in New York City for the Scholastic sponsored event with JKR on October 19 were announced, and today the 40 schools in Los Angeles, California were announced. According to CBS2, "a student from each of the 40 schools will attend the event based on an essay contest" at this appearance with 15 high schools, 15 middle schools and 10 elementary schools all part of those chosen to participate in this event on October 15. To see the entire list, click here.

Schools from Orleans parish chosen to participate in the New Orleans, Louisiana event to be held October 18 will be announced this Wednesday.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Harry Potter Top Grossing Motion Picture Franchise

Warner Brothers has announced this evening that the Harry Potter series is the largest-grossing film franchise to date globally, surpassing Star Wars and and James Bond. Totaling $4.47 billion in ticket sales (with two films left to go, WB points out), several high-ups at Warner Brothers are quoted in the press release:

In making the announcement, Alan Horn [President & Chief Operating Officer] said, “It would be an understatement to say we are proud of the success of the Harry Potter films. We also want to congratulate all of the extraordinary actors, filmmakers and artists who have shared this remarkable cinematic journey with us.”

Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, said, “It is a thrill to see the Harry Potter franchise reach this unparalleled mark, and, with two movies yet to come, it is amazing to think what heights the franchise could reach by the end of the decade.

Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, Warner Bros. Pictures President of International Distribution, added, “This worldwide box office record once again proves that the appeal of the Harry Potter movies knows no border, no age limit, and no language barrier. Each of the five films has captured the hearts and sparked the imagination of audiences everywhere.”

Of note, Variety has published an article comparing the Potter film franchise to the other big ones:

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.

And all three have generated millions upon millions in downstream ancillary coin for their studios, once homevideo and TV revenue are added into the tallies.

To read the press release from Warner Brothers, click the link below.
Read more...

(SOURCE: MUGGLENET)

First Look at Harry Potter DVD Box Set Due in December

Previously we told you the Harry Potter DVDs were to be released later this year in a High Definition format in a special gift box set. The first look at this set is now online via DVDTimes.

This special set, which will contain the first five Harry Potter DVDs (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) features some nifty repackaging of the DVDs. The covers to each of the DVDs now resemble the style of book covers, and say “Year One,” “Year two” etc. along with the title of the film.

Contained in what resembles Harry’s trunk or suitcase with the Hogwart’s crest on the front, this set of five DVDs also include what looks like a separate Hogwarts DVD game, trading cards and a nice bookmark set which features Hedwig delivering her letter, a broom, the Prophecy globe, the Snitch, and the Gryffindor Lion badge. Check it out here via DVDtimes.

This set will be available the same day as the standard and high definition discs of “Order of the Phoenix” on December 11. We hope to have this available for pre-order soon in our Cauldron Shop, and will update with more on this when we can.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

New Release Date for Order of the Phoenix DVD

DVDActive.com and ComingSoon.net, both reliable movie sources, are now reporting that the fifth film will be released on DVD December 11th. From DVDActive:

Extras on the two-disc release will include 10 minutes of additional scenes, a A&E documentary, a Trailing Tonks feature with Actress Nat Tena, various making of featurettes, and a Fun and Games feature in which director David Yates and editor Mark Day show us what a difference a good edit makes and allows you to edit a scene.

It looks like some fun new features that have not been on Potter DVDs before will appear with OOTP! In addition, the film is slated for Blu-Ray and HD-DVD release. We'll update with more when we hear it!

(SOURCE: MUGGLENET)

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" Fan Favorite in New Poll

The last may well be the best, as results of a new new poll indicate the final book in the Harry Potter series is the favorite among readers. With over 45,000 people selecting their favorite Harry Potter novel in a poll sponsored by MSN, book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was the top pick. The BBC reports that second place went to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, while Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was in last place. As reported previously, the final installment of the Harry Potter series shattered sales records as Deathly Hallows sold a whopping 11 million copies the first day of its release in July.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Dan Starts 'December Boys' Publicity in U.S.

Daniel Radcliffe, from the Harry Potter series, started the publicity tour in the U.S. for his newest film, December Boys by appearing on this morning’s episode of the Today Show.

Dan discussed the new movie, as well as mentioning that filming for Half-Blood Prince is scheduled to start filming in two weeks and also stated that if Equus comes to Broadway next Spring that he will definitely reprise his role of Alan Strang.

Thanks to VTM for letting us know that you can also view the video on the Today's Show web site.

(SOURCE: HPANA)

Helena Bonham Carter to Film HBP Scenes in Spring, 2008

While not yet officially confirmed by Warner Brothers, representatives for actress Helena Bonham Carter have said the actress would be reprising her role as Bellatrix Lestrange for the upcoming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" film. In an article with The Independent, they discuss the actress, who is currently expecting her second child with husband, director Tim Burton. The reps say that that Helena Carter Bonham would be back filming the sixth Harry Potter film next year, with the article noting "her publicist said yesterday that Bonham Carter was not due back on the Potter set until the spring."

Under the helm of returning director David YatesHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is due to start principle production shortly, and is due in theaters November of 2008.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

'OotP' Audio Interviews with Heyman, Yates & Radcliffe

With the publicity of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix now over we have some new interviews with David Heyman, Daniel Radcliffe and David Yates, which have just made their way onto the web.

In his interviews (scroll down for part 1), Daniel Radcliffe answers fans questions, discusses the series, working on Extras and many other things.

Meanwhile, in another interview David Heyman and David Yates discuss directing style, casting and editing processes.

Thanks to Snitchseeker via Shannon and ProfForbin and EGross for all the links.

(SOURCE: HPANA)