July 16, 2009, 10:20 AM EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A long school break has been kind to "Harry Potter."
After a two-year gap since the last film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" opened with a whopping $58.4 million domestically in its first day. That's the best single-day haul yet for the franchise and the fourth-best daily gross ever.
Receipts include a record $22.2 million from midnight screenings alone.
The sixth installment in the "Harry Potter" series had the second-highest debut ever for a movie opening on Wednesday. It trailed only "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which premiered with $62 million last month.
The two-year lag since the fifth "Harry Potter" movie was the longest in the franchise's history.
July 15, 2009, 11:37 AM EST
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Harry Potter has conjured up a record-breaking witching hour.
Warner Bros. says "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" took in $22.2 million domestically from midnight screenings. That breaks the record set by another Warner blockbuster, "The Dark Knight," which grossed $18.5 million from midnight showings last summer.
The sixth installment in the "Harry Potter" franchise also topped the midnight haul of this year's biggest hit, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." The "Transformers" sequel pulled in $16 million from midnight screenings on its first day in June.
And the new adventure of the teen wizard raked in $10 million more from midnight screenings than part five, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."
Early in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," young wizard-in-training and prophesied chosen one Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is magically transported to a small house by his headmaster, Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon). Dumbledore says, "Harry, I suppose you must be wondering why I've brought you here." Harry replies, "Actually, sir, after all these years I just sort of go with it." And in that brief moment, it also reflects how the audience feels: We've spent years with the creators and actors behind this series (currently in its sixth film, with only a two-film adaptation of the final book to go). And we, like Harry, trust the people taking us on this journey, because we've come to know them as worthy stewards of our interest in the past. And with "Half-Blood Prince," they continue to earn that trust with what may be the best film in the series.
July 13, 2009, 2:07 PM EST
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican lauded the latest Harry Potter film on Monday, saying "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" made the age-old debate over good vs. evil crystal clear.
The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano even gave two thumbs up to the film's treatment of adolescent love, saying it achieved the "correct balance" and made the stars more credible to the general audience.
The newspaper said the film, which opens Wednesday, was the best adaptation yet of the J.K. Rowling series about the adventures of the bespectacled child wizard Harry Potter and his Hogwarts chums as they battle Harry's nemesis, the evil sorcerer Voldemort.
While criticizing Rowling for omitting any explicit "reference to the transcendent" in her books, L'Osservatore said the latest installment nevertheless makes clear that good should overcome evil "and that sometimes this requires costs and sacrifice." [Read More]
This harmless brat is now a true game changer in ‘Half-Blood Prince’
COMMENTARY
By Craig Berman
msnbc.com contributor
updated 4:52 p.m. ET, Fri., July 10, 2009
Draco Malfoy is a brat. He’s been a brat ever since he first showed up in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” and presumably he’s still a brat today. Were it not for the fact that he carries a wand and can curse people, he’d be at home in every schoolyard on the planet, basking in the glow of knowing that he was both disliked and feared by most who crossed his path.
Brats are allowed to be brats because there are no consequences for their actions. If they have a problem with a teacher, mom or dad calls the school and it soon becomes the teacher’s problem. If they don’t make first-string on the Quidditch team, daddy pulls some strings and makes a donation, and suddenly there’s an opening at seeker. They get what they want, and anyone who stands in their path... [Read More]
Jamie Waylett, better known to "Harry Potter" fans as Hogwarts bully Vincent Crabbe, has been charged with growing marijuana in his mother's house.
According to a police spokesman, Waylett "is due to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later this month. He is charged with producing a Class B drug, namely 10 plants of cannabis."
Waylett was arrested in April after police searched his car and found 8 bags of pot. Agents later performed a sweep of Waylett's house and found more of the
wacky weed growing in Jamies room, "alongside Jamie's DJ equipment and a games console," natch.)
The 19-year-old, who is scheduled to appear in court on July 16, faces a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison if found guilty.
Too bad "Harry Potter" doesn't film in cannabis-friendly L.A, where we're pretty sure this sort of infraction is slightly less frowned upon than double-parking.
LONDON (AP) -- The agent for "Harry Potter" star Rupert Grint says the actor is recovering from a mild case of swine flu.
Grint plays the boy wizard's best friend Ron Weasley in the hit film franchise.
Christian Hodell of Hamilton Hodell management said Saturday that Grint took a few days away from the set of the latest film, but has now been able to return to work.
JK Rowling is being sued for £500 million for plagiarism.
The estate of little-known British author Adrian Jacobs has claimed Rowling's fourth novel 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' was copied from Jacobs' 1987 book 'The Adventures Of Willy The Wizard No 1: Livid Land'.
Jacobs' died in 1997 without ever reading a 'Harry Potter' novel - the first title in the hit series was published the same year - but his son and grandson are convinced Rowling studied and duplicated his 36-page story, which also featured a child who discovers he has magical powers.
President’s daughter celebrates turning 8 by meeting Radcliffe and Rowling.
By Michael Inbar
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 11:48 a.m. ET, Thurs., June 11, 2009
Holy Hogwarts! Sasha Obama learned there are some exhilarating perks that go along with being the president’s daughter by having her 8th birthday party thrown on the set of the new Harry Potter film — and reportedly meeting star Daniel Radcliffe along with Potter creator J.K. Rowling.
Sasha and big sister Malia, 10, traveled with their mother, first lady Michelle Obama, to Leavesden Studios, about 20 miles outside London, England, to mark Sasha’s big day. According to the local paper, the Watford Observer, the Obamas toured the Harry Potter film set, and then repaired to the set’s Hogwarts Grand Hall for a birthday party hosted by Rowling and attended by a gaggle of young ones.
The paper reported Harry Potter himself, Radcliffe, made a surprise pop-in at the... [Read More]
