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The Daily Prophet |
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February 2002
Magic inspires kids' story writing contest
No Awards but Harry's winning the Box-Office Battle LONDON (Reuters) - Gandalf the Wizard has put his money on "The Lord of the Rings" to work its magic at the Oscars next month. And in the lead-up to Hollywood's big night, the Tolkien fantasy scooped a string of glittering prizes while rival Harry Potter was busy winning the battle of the box office. After "The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" landed five British Film Academy Awards, star Ian McKellen firmly backed the fantasy epic to dominate Oscar night. "The received wisdom is that they (Hollywood) never vote a fantasy movie as best film, which gives an added excitement," said McKellen, who plays the wizard in the sweeping three-part epic that cost \\$270 million to make in New Zealand. "But my money is absolutely on 'Lord of the Rings' because I don't think it looks like a fantasy film, it looks as if it actually happened. That may win them over," he told BBC Television on Monday. McKellen said it was always likely that one of the most renowned literary works of the 20th century -- J.R.R. Tolkien's classic -- would have a ready-made audience. But Director Peter Jackson, whose film has already garnered 13 Oscar nominations, was inevitably taking a risk with impassioned fans of this dark tale of the fight between good and evil played out by hobbits, elves, wizards and orcs. "Of course if they hadn't liked what Peter Jackson had done, if his imagination hand't fitted in with theirs, then we would have problems. "But all is going well -- it opened in Japan and has gone right through the roof. Every single country in the world has taken to it." Making "Lord of the Rings" was a great leap of faith by the producers. Three films were made back-to-back over 18 gruelling months with a cast of 2,400. The next two movies in the trilogy are to open at the end of 2002 and 2003. The big surprise at Sunday night's glittering British awards ceremony was the total eclipse of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." The tale of the teenage wizard was nominated for eight awards -- but it came away with none. But Harry Potter is at least laughing all the way to the bank. The film has so far earned \\$926.1 million, making it the second-highest grossing film ever after the romantic blockbuster "Titanic." Monday 25th February 2002 Harry Potter fans' final chance to see filming at Kings Cross Ananova: Travellers arriving at Kings Cross have their last chance of seeing the new Harry Potter film being made. Platform four's signs have been changed to platform nine-and-three-quarters. The Hogwart's Express is in the station. Trunks and other props are at the end of the platform. It's the final day of filming at Kings Cross for Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets. Filming has been going on for the last few Sundays. The second Harry Potter film is due out later in the year. Sunday 24th February 2002 Harry Potter is 'bad for fat kids' The Harry Potter books are 'fattist' because they portray overweight kids in a bad way, it's been claimed. Harry's cousin Dudley is overweight - and he's also selfish, stupid, lazy and greedy. The charity Weight Concern reckons more kids will see fat children in this way - and this could lead to them being bullied at school. In the books, Harry's life is made miserable by his large cousin Dudley, who is spoiled rotten by his evil aunt and uncle. Dudley scoffs his food down, demands presents and cries like a baby whenever he doesn't get his own way. But some parent and teacher groups have rubbished the claims as "madness", and say the Harry Potter books are great because they encourage kids to read more. Friday 22nd February 2002 Hogwarts Express steams to London BBC: The Hogwarts Express is waiting for Harry Potter, after making the journey to London for filming on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The bright red steam engine is hidden away in Carnforth when not needed by the film crew, but has now arrived at platform nine and three quarters. The train left its home and went through Preston, Crewe, Nuneaton, Milton Keynes, Bletchley, Watford, Willesden Junction and Camden Road Junction before arriving at its temporary base of Hornsey depot. The train only just survived to become a film star. It went out of service and was supposed to be sent for scrap. Thankfully for those students who need to get to Hogwarts for the new term, the train was saved, painted red over the old green and pressed into service for a magical return. Thursday 21st February 2002 Harry Potter sends legal ace Grisham down LONDON (Reuters) - Harry Potter has flown back to the top of the bestseller list after outperforming legal thriller writer John Grisham, according to industry figures. JK Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" knocked Grisham's family saga "A Painted House" down to second place, chart compiler Whitaker BookTrack said on Wednesday. The bespectacled boy wizard cast his spell on the top five, claiming third spot with "The Prisoner of Azkaban" and fourth with "The Chamber of Secrets". It comes a day after the first Harry Potter film was named the second biggest box office hit in history, after grossing 650 million pounds around the world. A first edition of Rowling's first Potter book sold for almost 10,000 pounds earlier this month at a London auction. The teenage wizard's adventure books have sold an estimated 100 million copies worldwide. Grisham's new novel "The Summons", a tale of death, dark secrets and temptation in the American Deep South, fell from second place to fifth. The week's biggest climber was "Having It and Eating It", the debut novel of Guardian journalist Sabine Durrant. Her novel, a satire on women who give up their jobs to bring up children, shot up more than 2,500 places to 93rd. The Whitaker BookTrack list is based on sales at more than 6,000 shops across Britain, including online retailers. Wednesday 20th February 2002 Harry Potter is officially the second biggest film ever Ananova: Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone is now the second biggest film of all time. It took over the number two slot from Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace at the weekend. Titanic remains the highest-grossing film ever. The Harry Potter film, which was made by Warner Brothers, has now made £649million since it was first released in November, reports www.screendaily.co.uk. Tuesday 19th February 2002 Harry Potter DVD gets UK release date The DVD of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is to be released in the UK on May 11. This is two weeks before the US release. It will be a special two-disc collector's edition. Disc One will feature the film in either full screen or widescreen format. Disc Two is expected to include extra features including a virtual tour of Hogwarts, a Quidditch game, profiles of the resident ghosts and deleted footage. It will also feature interviews with Director Chris Columbus and Producer David Heyman plus footage from the second film Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets The Chamber Of Secrets will hit UK cinemas in November. The DVD of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is available to pre-order from Ananova's ecommerce partner HMV in normal and widescreen formats. Friday 15th February 2002 Harry Potter banned from Gulf schools The Harry Potter series and George Orwell's Animal Farm are among 26 books that have been banned from schools in the United Arab Emirates. The Ministry of Education banned the books because they contain "written or illustrated material that contradicts Islamic and Arab values," reports the Al-Hayat newspaper. The paper said the banned books contain pictures of alcoholic drinks, pigs and other "indecent images". It also says it insults Arabs and Muslims and had false historical references, such as using the word Israel instead of Palestine, either in maps or in written texts. The ministry warned private schools to abide by its decision and required them to present a list of books to be taught to students. Thursday 14th February 2002 Grisham spells trouble for Harry Potter LONDON (Reuters) - Thriller writer John Grisham has broken Harry Potter's spell on the bestseller charts, according to new figures. Grisham last week topped both the hardback and paperback charts and occupied the first two places in the combined sales list, chart compiler Whitaker BookTrack said on Wednesday. The U.S.-born former lawyer, whose courtroom dramas have sold millions around the world, knocked Harry Potter creator JK Rowling into third place. "The Summons", Grisham's first legal thriller in two years, shot to the top of the hardback list after its February 5 release. Set in Ford County, Mississippi, the backdrop to his first novel "A Time to Kill", the thriller centres on an old judge who summons his two sons to hear details of his will, but dies before he can explain their inheritance, leaving behind a dark secret. Meanwhile, Grisham's family drama "A Painted House", set in rural Arkansas, notched up a second week at the top of the paperback chart. Grisham's success spelt bad news for the fantasy novels which have dominated the charts since before Christmas. Author JRR Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was the week's biggest faller, dropping 52 places to 84th. JK Rowling saw her "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" drop one place to third, while "The Prisoner of Azkaban" was a non-mover at four. Liverpool-born author Lyn Andrews scored one of the week's biggest successes with her Dublin-based romantic novel "The House on Lonely Street", up to fifth from 72nd. Wednesday 13th February 2002 Harry Potter producer nominated for top award Ananova: British producer David Heyman could be in line for a top American award for his work on Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. Heyman is one of five nominations for the Producer's Guild of America's (PGA) Producer of the Year Award for motion pictures. But he faces tough competition from the producers of Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. The adaptation of JRR Tolkien's epic fantasy racked up another awards nominations after receiving a massive 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director, yesterday. The other films nominated for the prestigious industry award are A Beautiful Mind, musical Moulin Rouge and animated movie Shrek. Meanwhile the producers of television dramas Wit, which starred British actress Emma Thompson, Anne Frank, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows and 61 are battling it out for awards. The fifth nomination in the Best Television Producer category is for popular drama Band of Brothers, produced by Hollywood mogul Steven Spielberg and Castaway star Tom Hanks. And Frasier producer David Angell, who was one of those killed on board a plane which ploughed into the World Trade Centre on September 11, could receive a posthumous award for his work on the popular comedy show. Angell, who created the sitcom, died with his wife Lynn while en route from Boston to Los Angeles after a family wedding. He and the rest of the Frasier team are nominated in the Producer of the Year category for Episodic Television (Comedy). The PGA award winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hollywood on Sunday March 3. Wednesday 13th February 2002 Harry Potter book sells for 10,000 pounds LONDON (Reuters) - A first edition of J.K. Rowling's first Harry Potter book has sold for almost 10,000 pounds at a London auction. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was the first in the series of teenage wizard adventures which have sold a total of more than 100 million copies worldwide. "There are about 300 of these first editions," said the buyer Adrian Harrington, a book shop owner from London. "This is probably the most important children's book since 'The Lord of the Rings'," he told Reuters on Tuesday. "Time will prove that." His hard-back version will go on sale in his shop. Americans were very interested in the wizard books, buying them for investment purposes or just for their children, he said. "I think Harry Potter's first editions will always be collected. The book seems to have found a good place in the history of publishing," said Daniel Crouch, a specialist in the book department at Bonhams auction house which held the sale. Tuesday 12th February 2002 Magic Launch for Harry Potter Video HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Having finally been handed a movie that can fly in the same stratosphere as the top-selling videos of all time, Warner Bros. is conjuring all its magic marketing spells -- and digging deep into its pocketbook. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” will launch on video May 28 with a \\$25 million marketing campaign -- the most lavish by far for Warner Home Video (WHV), the studio's video arm. WHV spent the past two weeks directing retailers, distributors and media to its recently redesigned business-to-business Web site, http://www.whvdirect.com, for an announcement that began with a video of “Potter” producer David Heyman from the set of the second film in the series, “The Chamber of Secrets.” ``We believe we can make this the biggest video release ever,'' he said of last year's top-grossing film (\\$294 million in 2001 alone). The videocassette (\\$24.99 suggested retail price) will feature five minutes of extra footage, and the two-disc DVD ($26.99) will offer hours of extra material. Among the deleted scenes is one in which the young wizards and witches have trouble with a spell that causes one of their classmates' legs to lock together. The pricing of “Potter” is higher than most Warner titles, but not as high as that of some other studios; Disney animated films, for instance, usually run \\$26.99 for VHS and $29.99 for DVDs. It's not unusual for double-disc DVD special editions to run as high as $39.99. ``Our pricing is in line with the industry norm and with what consumers and retailers expect of a title of this magnitude,'' said Mike Saksa, VP of U.S. marketing. Warner Bros. has never had the kind of blockbuster that generates sales in the range of 15 million-20 million units like Fox's “Phantom Menace,” Paramount's “Titanic” or Universal's “Jurassic Park.” And it has certainly never had the kind of family title that can exceed 20 million copies like DreamWorks' “Shrek” or any of several Disney animated hits. In fact, Warner has had only one title that exceeded the 10 million mark, “Batman,” more than a decade ago. Its biggest hits in recent years, such as “Pokemon: The First Movie,” “The Perfect Storm,” “Miss Congeniality” and the DVD of “The Matrix,” have each sold in the 5 million unit range. Saksa said research shows the purchase interest by nonparents is almost equal to that of parents. WHV says its marketing campaign will reach 95% of kids 6-11 more than 15 times each. The studio will run ads for the DVD and VHS on five of the six major broadcast networks (excluding UPN), and cable channels including Cartoon Network, MTV, Nickelodeon, USA, ABC Family and E! from May 16 to June 16. WHV took the cloak off its video plans for “Harry Potter” in an online media announcement Tuesday morning. After a promotional clip for “Sorcerer's Stone,” Web users were directed to a live chat with Warner sales and marketing execs, where it was revealed that the movie will have a typical 45-day pay-per-view window, and the DVD will have no audio commentary track. Included among the numerous extra features on the DVD will be a barrage of interactive features such as a 360-degree self-guided tour of Hogwarts (including Gryffindor common room), the Great Hall, Harry's room and Hagrid's hut, all of which can be controlled by the viewer's remote. The DVD also includes never-before-seen footage; interviews with Heyman and director Chris Columbus; a montage of Quidditch matches and a guide on playing the game; and an introduction to the ghosts of Hogwarts. As part of its two-picture worldwide deal on the theatrical and video of the first two films, WHV will partner with Coca-Cola on a promotional campaign from May 1 to June 30. Details are still being worked out. Wednesday 6th February 2002 “Harry Potter” works Magic in Chinese Bow SHANGHAI (Variety) - ``Ha-li Bo Te'' mania has hit the Chinese mainland. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is working unprecedented magic at local wickets. Warner Bros. estimates the picture grossed \\$2 million on 200 prints over the first five days of official release (Jan. 30-Feb. 3), an impressive sum for a foreign movie in China. American distributors typically repatriate only 10%-15% of total grosses in China: “Titanic,” for example, returned only an estimated \\$6.5 million to Fox and Paramount out of a total estimated $43 million gross on the mainland. Shanghai Film Art Center, where the film premiered Jan. 26, reported that all of its first-night tickets had sold out a week before, and it's still filling around 70% of seats. “These are excellent figures for us, especially at this time of year,” Chen Qingyi, the center's director of marketing. “It's doing as well as 'Pearl Harbor' did last year, and this time of year is normally slow for Chinese cinemas.” The weeks preceding the Chinese New Year (Feb. 12-15) are notoriously slow for the Chinese box office, with audiences holding out for the holidays. Chen predicted the picture would play to a full house once kids break for vacation, and that “Ha-Li Bo Te” would play into March, an extraordinary run for a foreign film. Warner Bros. broke the mould in getting its film in cinemas over the holiday period, which is normally reserved for domestic movies. “The most important factor in the film's success here,” Chen Qingyi insisted, “is the speed at which it came out -- just two months after the U.S. release.” Pirated VCDs and DVDs of the film appeared on the streets before the end of 2001, but Chen reckons that much of the audience held out for the big screen experience. The success of the “Harry Potter” books -- which went on sale across the country last October -- also worked in the film's favor. Wang Ruiqin, chief editor of the People's Literature Publishing House, which translated and published J. K. Rowling's works, said the “Harry Potter” novels are now the bestselling children's books in Chinese history. The series is now in its 11th printing, with 3 million copies sold. The timing of the “Harry” release may also work in favor of “The Lord of the Rings,” from WB sibling New Line, which is set to open here soon. Translations of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic appeared in Shanghai bookstores last November. Tuesday 5th February 2002 Thunderpants gets UK release date Rupert Grint's new film Thunderpants will be released in the UK in May. Grint is best known for playing Ron Weasley in Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone. In Thunderpants he plays a child genius who invents a special pair of trousers to help his friend, who can't stop breaking wind, become an astronaut. Grint plays Allan A Allen, and Bruce Cook is his friend Patrick Smash. Stephen Fry and Simon Callow also appear in Thunderpants. Tuesday 5th February 2002 Hornby boosted by Harry Potter Hornby says Christmas trading was boosted by sales of Harry Potter trains. It says the Hogwarts Express range will be strengthened in the current quarter. It will introduce more Super Detail locomotives and rolling stock. The schoolboy wizard is expected to push Hornby's full-year profits above market expectations. The recent launch of the new Scalextric Sport track system is expected to further boost Hornby's sales. Chairman Neil Johnson says: "I am delighted to announce details of our recent trading, which reflects continuing solid progress in all sectors of the business. "The achievement of substantially higher sales, whilst retaining close control of stock levels, has demonstrated that the company now has the products and supply chain to build its business worldwide." Monday 4th February 2002 Potter challenges romantic fiction in library league JK Rowling has soared up the lending league to mount a challenge to Catherine Cookson's dominance of the library world. Her Harry Potter book Goblet Of Fire has become the third most loaned title. Cookson has retained her position as the UK's most borrowed author, A year earlier Rowling's highest entry was way down at 77 in the top 100 most borrowed book list, compiled by Public Lending Right. Cookson's The Thursday Friend and The Blind Years were the most frequently loaned titles, the list reveals. She also takes the fourth, fifth and sixth spots. The actual number of loans is not released by PLR - which distributes payments to authors based on the number of loans - it is believed that Rowling's top book poses a threat to Cookson's dominance. Rowling's other books are also highly ranked with Chamber Of Secrets at eight, Philosopher's Stone at 13 and Prisoner of Azkaban at 17. But the most loaned author continues to be Cookson, as she has been since PRL began compiling the list in 1987. While individual Rowling titles are well loaned, she has not actually made it on to the top 20 of most loaned authors, or even the most loaned children's authors. Friday 1st February 2002 |
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