Hogwarts Herald

Stopping by Emma Watson’s official website has been very informative for me this fine day. By the way, if you haven’t been, it’s a lovely and well designed site and you should definately visit. Different journal entries to date have updated me on some amazing things!!!

First of all, it was posted that the principal filming on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has finshed. Filming finished on Saturday May 17th, and now the entire cast and crew is “eagerly awaiting the November release.” HBP is scheduled to be released in theaters in the US November 21, 2008. I, for one, will be in line at 10 minutes to midnight in my wizarding best. My goal on the read-along is to be done with boox six in time for the November release of the film. I had better get cracking!

The next wonderful tidbit is about Harry Potter the Exhibition. That’s right, just like Titanic: The Exhibition and Bodies: The Exhibiton, there will now be Harry Potter: The Exhibition. A 10,000 square foot experience that will include costumes props and artifacts of many of the Hogwarts environments including the Gryffindor Common Room and Hagrid’s Hut. The Exhibition will be opening Spring of 2009 and will be touring the world stopping in at least 10 cities. Let’s hope Vegas is one of them. Of course, Titanic and Bodies were both supposed to be here for only a month or two, and they are both still here several years later. One can only hope the same will be true of Harry. More details as they come in, I promise!

In other news, not from Emma, it looks like Warner Brothers has heard my cry of lament. The official Harry Potter website has been updated with tons of new content. Games and graphics. Finally it is more than just an ad for the newest DVDs. It has the Sorting Hat, and Olivanders Wand Shop where you get your very own wand. And everywhere you navigate there is something interactive and fun! Thank you Warner Brothers for paying attention to what your customers want!!!

And finally, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, Scholastic has announced a special edition of SS to be released in September. The new copy of the book will have a brand new cover by Marie GrandPre as well as some extra tidbits from JK Rowling. I can’t wait!!!

When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is released it will be like a second Christmas to Postal Services. Apart from Christmas, the busiest days for the various postal services are the days directly following the release of a new Harry Potter book. The Royal Mail in the UK is already making plans for the release of Book 7 according to an article today on CBBC, the news service on the BBC geared for kids and teens.

Apparently a good 500,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince were delivered to UK homes in 2005. Just think…if a hardcover copy of Half-Blood Prince weighs 36 ounces, or 2.25 pounds, that means the Royal Mail carried approximately 1,125,000 pounds of Harry Potter. That’s a lot of Potter. No wonder they start making delivery plans before the release date is even announced.

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