Half-Blood Prince Best Seller of 2005

Selling over 4.1 million copies on the day of its release alone, Half-Blood Prince topped the list of the best-selling novels of 2005 in the US. According to a report released today by Reuters and Nielsen's BookScan, the sixth adventure beat out every other book that was on sale for the entire year.

HBP sales totaled 7.02 million copies for the entire year, and sales only started in July.

(SOURCE: MUGGLE NET)

GoF HD DVD Release Date Announced

Warner Home Video has announced that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be released on HD DVD on April 11, 2006. GoF is one of 24 confirmed titles WHV is releasing on HD DVD from March 28-May 16, 2006. The release is timed in conjunction with the initial deliveries of HD DVD players.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

JK Rowling's New Year's Writing Resolutions

Jo has updated her diary with some "New Year's Writing Resolutions":

2. Do not lose any more notebooks.After a somewhat panicky few weeks I have finally located a missing notebook. As always when I mislay these things, I had been 'remembering', in its absence, that it contained notes so essential and ideas so imaginative that I would never be able to duplicate them, and the whole of the next book would be impoverished if they were never found. Now that I have said notebook beside me on this desk, however, I see that it contains few useful nuggets amid a lot of complete dross. Nevertheless, the stress I endured while believing it to be the notebook equivalent of the Holy Grail was enough to remind me that I must take better care of my working materials.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

(SOURCE: MUGGLE NET)

Christian Science Monitor: Harry Potter and Good and Evil

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting article on Harry Potter, and the influence of J.K. Rowling's books on millions of children all over the world. The piece alludes to the continuing debate over the morality of the novels, saying

"Belief in magic is an old trait in myth and literature. Rowling . . . successfully dramatizes for all age groups the high stakes in the battle of conscience between right and wrong.

What parent would not support Rowling's portrayal of the values of loyalty, honesty, and courage in the face of life's perils? . . . The British author puts the cup of the dark arts to the lips of her young readers, albeit with a strong moral sensibility."

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

"Goblet of Fire" Past 800 Million Mark; Tops at International Box Office

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire has now surpassed the $800 million mark in world wide box office totals. The BBC also reports today that the fourth Harry Potter film was the most successful film internationally in 2005 (which does NOT include the US totals). However, Goblet was topped here in the US by the final Star Wars film Revenge of the Sith which earned almost $103 million dollars more than Goblet did last year. Box Office Mojo is reporting that current totals for Goblet of Fire world wide stand at $811.9 million dollars.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Possible GoF DVD Deleted Scenes and More

We received word today of a list of some of the possible scenes that will be included on the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire DVD. A few of these things we had heard from the film makers previously that they might be included, as well as some of the calendar scans we saw previously contained scenes not included in the theatrical release. We can not yet confirm these are the DVD deleted scenes, and will update you once we get confirmation from Warner Brothers. You can read this list of eight scenes below.

Also today we heard that Best Buy has the Goblet DVD as being released in three formats, fullscreen, wide screen, and a deluxe version. This is the first time we have heard of a deluxe version; we don't know if this means it will come in a boxed set with the other three films, or if it is a special edition of the film. We can not yet confirm this, and are working on getting that nailed down as well. We were told as well that the Best Buy release date is marked as March 7th, which we also told you was a possiblity back last month. All very exciting, but we consider this a rumor until we get word from WB. Thanks to Harry Latino for the list.!

! BEWARE GOBLET OF FIRE MOVIE SPOILERS AWAIT BELOW !

SCENE 1: Dumbledore ask to his pupils to welcome the Durmstrangs and Beauxbatons students. All the Hogwart students then start to sing Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts or the school song.

SCENE 2: A Durmstrangs student asks a girl if she wants to go with him to the Yule Ball. She says "yes" and the two friends make gestures in the background.

SCENE 3: Harry tries to speak with Cho Chang, but her friends are around her and the opportunity never works out.

SCENE 4: At the Yule Ball, Flitwick introduces the Weird Sisters band. The star singer addresses the crowd and then the music begins.

SCENE 5: Karkaroff tell to Snape about the mark on his arm. Snape ignores him and removes points to Fawcet and Stebbins, who are briefly shown, and Snape disregards Karkaroff's concerns then.

SCENE 6: Mr. Crouch and Harry are speaking, then Madeye appears as Barty leaves.

SCENE 7: The trio speaks about the death of Mr. Crouch. Ron thinks that the Daily Prophet will cover it up on Fudges orders. Hermione believes that this death, Harrys burning scar, and the fact that the Dark Mark had been cast, are too much of a coincidence, and she thinks Harry should go talk to Dumbledore about all of this.

SCENE 8: The trio discuss their suspicions about what Karkarov has on his arm. Hermione asks Harry what ingredients Snape think he stole from him, and she relises that they are all ingredients in a polyjuice potion.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)