Hogwarts Herald

Harry Potter the Exhibition has been on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago as its world premiere since April 2009. It is to remain on display there until September 27, 2009. It will then be packed up and moved to its next destination, which has finally been announced. The second stop will be at the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. It will be on display in Boston from October 25, 2009 until February 21, 2010. Its stop in Boston is expected to be its only New England region stop. Personally I found it a disappointing experience, but if you have a major Harry Potter fan that wants to see it for themselves at least couple it with visiting its host museum. Hopefully, you can see it at a place you have not explored too much and only go for the Harry Potter exhibit like I did in Chicago. However, a lot of others have really enjoyed it and I will admit it has some cool stuff. It just is a very small exhibit that is rather costly to see for the limited entertainment value it offers.

Yesterday at midnight fans turned out in record numbers to see the latest Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, at midnight at theaters across the United States. The movie earned $22.2 million yesterday just from midnight showings of the movie based on the 6th book in the Harry Potter series. The revenue was earned from showings on over 3,000 screens across the country. The previous record holder for earnings from midnight releases was The Dark Knight, which earned $18 million from midnight showings on its release day last summer. The $22.2 million figure is also almost twice as much as the last Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, made in midnight showings, as that movie made $12 million with midnight showings.

Tomorrow, July 10, 2009, begins another Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family as the release of the next movie in theaters approaches (quickly or slowly depending on your view). The Harry Potter weekend on ABC Family includes showings of the first 4 Harry Potter movies (see below for the line up) as well as extra content. The extra content includes never before seen footage and interviews with some of the cast of the sixth movie (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince). The cast interviews include ones with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy).

Friday, July 10th, 2009

7:30pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

12:30pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

4pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

8pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

12:30pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

4:30pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

7:30pm Eastern Time/Pacific Time - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The movie soundtrack for the latest Harry Potter movie is being released on July 14, 2009, which is a day before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes to theaters on the 15th of July. The soundtrack features 28 tracks, which offers over 60 minutes of music from the movie. The score for the 6th movie was done by Nicholas Hooper, who also worked on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This release is the first Harry Potter film soundtrack that is an enhanced CD. This means that it comes with a free digital download of the soundtrack as well as exclusive bonus content.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is being released in regular theaters on July 15, 2009, however it is not being released as an IMAX movie until July 29, 2009. The reason for the delay is related to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen having a contract for four weeks of being an exclusive release in IMAX theaters (i.e. no other major theatrical release movies being shown and probably just those non-fiction type movies can be shown). Originally the two movies were not supposed to overlap, as the contract was made when Harry Potter was still supposed to come out in November 2008.

The wait might keep some from seeing it as they want to see it right away and now wait for the IMAX version and also do not want to pay to see it when if first comes out and then again later for the IMAX version, which is usually more expensive to see in the first place. It sounds like the IMAX version might be work waiting for or at least going to see as a second time seeing the movie. It is supposed to have some IMAX 3D parts. I for one am definitely seeing the movie on July 15 and will wait until closer to the date to decide if I will see it as an IMAX as well.

Pen and pencil drawings by Cliff Wright will be on display and for sale at the Glasgow Art Fair. Cliff Wright illustrated the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban book. The pen and pencil drawings are the forerunners to the front and back cover art for the second book in the Harry Potter series. The front cover illustration shows Harry Potter and Hermione riding a hippogriff. The front cover is expected to go for £13,000. The other sketch on sale is of a snarling dog (i.e. Sirius Black in his dog form). This one is expected to go for £11,000. These two pieces are part of 10 that Wright did for the publisher Bloomsbury as rough ideas. The Glasgow Art Fair goes from April 23 through 26, 2009.

The release date changing for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is nothing new, as it was majorly delayed and changed once before. Yet, again the release date has changed as if to keep us on our toes as we await it coming. At least this time the change is only a few days and actually brings the release date sooner. It is now expected to hit theaters on Wednesday, July 15, 2009, instead of Friday, July 17, 2009 date.

This change actually works way better for me. I already have the whole summer planned out almost to the hour due to my All the Ballparks trip and the July 17, 2009 release date left me with no easy way to work seeing the movie into the summer schedule until August. The July 15 date happens to go with the down time of the summer because it is baseball’s All Star break. We originally planned to do some historic Civil War sites in Georgia and Tennessee that day, but now will probably be seeing Harry Potter with those being moved to if we have time status.

Entertainment Weekly has published a top ten list of heroes as well as a top ten list of villains. The top ten was voted on by the readers of EW.com. Harry Potter ended up in 5th place in the top ten heroes list behind Superman, Batman, Buffy, and Indiana Jones. The first two and fourth one do not surprise me much, but really I never really think about Buffy when I think of fictional heroes, although I do agree she is a hero character. Behind Harry in the top ten list in order are Jack Bauer (sorry, but I never heard of this one), Han Solo, James Bond, Luke Skywalker, and John McClane (also never heard of this characer).

The top ten villains list includes the main villain from Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort. Voldemort comes in at number 3 on the top ten behind The Joker and Darth Vader. Interesting how the villain is higher than the hero, but then again I kind of find the other villains on the list not anywhere near as memorable as most of the heroes. Behind Voldemort in order are Maleficent, Benjamin Linus, Hannibal Lecter, Hans Gruber, Lex Luthor, Emperor Palpatine, and The Wicked Witch of the West.

The opening of the Harry Potter Exhibition in Chicago is still over a month away. The Warner Brothers website for the exhibit and their contest was recently updated to announce that the Flying Car has arrived in Chicago as the first of over 200 costumes, artifacts, and props that will be in the Exhibition. The Flying Car is a Ford Anglia. The flying car was used in the second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In the movie the car is a once normal car that has been enchanted by Arthur Weasley to make it fly. Dobby makes it impossible for Ron and Harry to get to Platform 9 3/4 to board the Hogwarts Express and they end up taking the flying car to get to Hogwarts. The car gets pretty beat up when they end up landing in the Whomping Willow as a crash landing after the long flight of following the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts. After that experience the car ends up living in the Forbidden Forest. It comes to their rescue later on in the movie in the scene with the giant spiders.

Harry Potter the Exhibition is premiering in Chicago on April 30, 2009, where it will remain on display until September 27, 2009. The exhibited is then expected to continue in a touring exhibition fashion with it likely appearing at other science museums and such around the world, however as of now no other locations have been announced for this supposedly traveling exhibit. As is they did extend the Chicago dates by an extra two weeks or so already.

A beach in South Pembrokeshire is expected to be used as a film location for the Deathly Hallows movies (or at least one of them). The shooting on location is expected to take place early summer 2009, as the studio has made accommodation and self catering arrangements in Pembrokeshire already. The location will be used for the seaside scenes related to the fictional village of Tinworth in Cornwall, which is where the Shell Cottage that Harry, Ron, and Hermione take shelter in is located (I cannot really remember, but I think this scene comes early enough that it would be in the first part of the movie). The exact filming location has not been released. It sounds like most of the shooting is taking place at the studios at Leavesden and that the Pembrokeshire location will be one of the main on location shooting sites.

The 25 year old stunt double, David Holmes, for Daniel Radcliffe (a.k.a. Harry Potter) was injured during the rehearsal for flying shots for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies back in January 2009. The accident caused a spine injury. Since the accident he has been unable to move his legs, arms, or hands. It has been reported that the doctor’s say he has only about a five percent chance of regaining the ability to move his arms and legs. Thus it is very unlikely that he will ever walk again. According to a friend, if there is ever a chance that David can walk again he believes that David will do it. It is a sad thing to happen, but at least it seems the stuntman may be handling it well.

It has been confirmed by a Traveler’s Tale animator that they are in fact working on a LEGO Harry Potter video game along with a new LEGO Indiana Jones game based on just the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls movie that got left out of the first LEGO Indiana Jones game. Both games have not been officially announced and they have yet to be confirmed as for sure release projects, but it is reassuring to know they are at least potentially being developed for actual release in the coming years.

Personally I love the LEGO games. The Star Wars ones are the best. Some have said the Indiana Jones one was not very good, but personally I have enjoyed playing the Wii and DS version of that game just as much as the Star Wars ones. I really am not too much into Star Wars or Indiana Jones, but I really like LEGO and the video games have proven quite entertaining for me. I am excited that there is now true potential of getting a Harry Potter LEGO game, as I love Harry Potter and have enjoyed many of the game releases that have come out around the movie releases, however, the video game releases have gotten kind of stale over the years.

When Sorcerer’s Stone came out for a video game I owned it for at least four game systems and each was unique from each other in how the game worked and what parts of the plot were in it and such. The latest ones just have not been as good in my opinion, although using the Wii remote sort of as a wand is kind of fun. Anyways, I think the release of a LEGO Harry Potter game would be awesome. Perhaps they will do it in some sort of trilogy format like Star Wars and Indiana Jones, however, I honestly would like to see a LEGO game for each book/movie with it including a lot of parts of the plots rather than just a few levels per movie, as the triology games seem to do.

The Red Nose Day Comic Relief show airs its annual comedy special this Friday, March 13, 2009, on the BBC. Some of the Harry Potter movie cast are expected to at least make an appearance for part of this year’s comedy special. The program description is pretty darn vague, but it sounds like some part of the cast will be making a very brief appearance during one of the hours, however I doubt it is very Harry Potter related and more just about the actors/actresses supporting the cause.

The special benefits the Comic Relief Charity. The Comic Relief Charity has other Harry Potter ties beyond just this years show. For one, J.K. Rowling donates the profits (or at least part of them) from the two Harry Potter companion books called Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages to the Comic Relief Charity. Also, cast members such as Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Dawn French (Fat Lady in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) have appeared on past editions of the annual special.

On Friday, March 6, 2009, a rare version of Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone for those unfamiliar with what the first book in the series true title is) sold for $19,120 in a rare books auction. The copy was a 1997 first edition of the book with the original publisher’s softcover wrappers. The book also had an illustrated card signed by J.K. Rowling. Only 200 copies of this version were made in the first printing of Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone. Prior to this winning bid the record for the highest price this version has gone for at auction was $10,750, which occurred in October 2008. The new record is almost double that amount. The winning bidder was from Dubai. He is a comic book collector, but his wife is a Harry Potter fan.

The Harry Potter series of books have once again been nominated in the Favorite Books category of Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice Awards. The books were also nominated last year and were the winner last year. I cannot easily locate the older year’s of nominations and winners, so perhaps they have been nominated and won more than just last year. They are up against the Twilight Series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book. Personally, I think it is stupid to have the two Diary of a Wimpy Kid books as separate nominations when the other two nominations were series lumped together. I got to imagine they could have come up with something better, but then again it does seem that the Kid’s Choice Awards are very biased and the show is kind of like a giant commercial rather than a celebration of the great things from the previous year like other television awards shows are.

This is mainly shown in that in many categories the stuff is not from last year, which includes pretty much dead television shows (i.e. some nominated no longer make new episodes) and books not published last year. However, if they did not do that then there would be no Harry Potter nomination this year. I certainly would not be surprised if in 2010 we see the sixth Harry Potter movie as a nominee (perhaps even winner) in the Favorite Movie category and perhaps even an actor or actress or two nominated in the Favorite Movie Actor and/or Favorite Movie Actress categories.

By the way the show will be on Nickelodeon on March 28, 2009, at 8pm Eastern time.