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The Daily Prophet |
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October 2002
Potter director pays tribute to Dumbledore actor
Potter stars: we want to do more films! BBC: Potter fans will be relieved to hear the three young stars of the films say they'd really like to do more than the three films they're signed up for. Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry, Rupert Grint, who is Ron, and Emma Watson, who plays Hermione, all said they'd loved working on the films and aren't going to be quitting just yet. The film's director Chris Columbus had said he didn't think they would continue after the Prisoner of Azkaban, because of it being such hard work. But speaking at a press conference in London, all three said they hoped to continue. "I'd like to do more," said Rupert. "Maybe up to number five. We have such a good time doing them." Wizard fans are on the edge of their seats waiting to see the new film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which hits UK screens on 15 November. Friday 25th October 2002 Dan & co to quit after Potter 3? BBC: Daniel, Rupert and Emma are likely to pack away their Hogwarts robes and quit after The Prisoner of Azkaban comes out, reckons Chris Columbus. The director of Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets says he's willing to bet on them giving their magical roles a break and going back to "being kids" for a while. But Potter fans have been reacting angrily to the news. Dan Radcliffe, who plays Harry, told reporters on Tuesday: "We're all definitely doing the third film. After that, who knows?" Although he's still a Potter producer, Chris Columbus decided not to direct the third film, Azkaban. He was worn out and wanted to spend more time with his family. It's very demanding doing three big films in a row, which is why he thinks Dan and his pals will have a rest. Azkaban starts filming in March and could be released in June 2004. Wednesday 23rd October 2002 JK: There will NOT be an eighth Potter book JK Rowling and her agents have categorically denied that an eighth Harry Potter adventure is planned. Reports in UK newspapers on Sunday and Monday had claimed that these were the titles for the remaining two Harry Potter adventures and a "secret" eighth book: Harry Potter and The Pyramids of Furmat Harry Potter and the Chariots of Light Harry Potter and The Alchemist's Cell But JK Rowling, speaking from Edinburgh, has exclusively told Newsround: "No one, literally no one, not in my family or anybody, knows the titles to Book Six or Seven. "And I'm going to keep it that way for now." And a spokesman from the Christopher Little Literary Agency confirmed that the author is only planning seven books. "There is absolutely no truth in reports that JK Rowling is planning an eighth Harry Potter adventure, or that these are the titles of the remaining books to be published." The false titles seem to have emerged in early 2000. Someone in America - we don't know who - appears to have made up the three names and registered them along with Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. (At that time, the fourth book hadn't been published and the title was still a secret). Later in 2000, all four titles were transferred to Warner Bros - although it's not clear why this happened. The misunderstanding that these were the names of the new Harry Potter books took place when journalists checked what names were owned by Warner Bros. Those journalists assumed (wrongly) that these must be unpublished titles. JK Rowling has said in the past that the whole Harry Potter saga fits neatly into seven books, one for each of Harry's years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. And if she ever did write an eighth book, then it wouldn't be another adventure, but a book for charity which would be the encyclopedia of the Harry Potter world. At the moment JK Rowling is putting the finishing touches to the fifth book Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix. The film of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets will be released next month. Monday 21st October 2002 Second Chamber of Secrets trailer out BBC: It's here! The second full-length trailer for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets can be seen on the internet. For those of you who just can't wait for the film to come out in less than a month, it gives us a tantalising glimpse into the second movie. We see the ghost of Moaning Myrtle for the first time, played by actress Shirley Henderson. She's shown talking to Harry in the girls' toilets. There's funny bits too like when Ron is seen puking slugs after his spell on Draco backfires. Harry is shown using floo powder for the first time to get to Diagon Alley. There's also some new scenes with Kenneth Branagh, which show how great he's going to be as Professor Lockhart. The film's out in the UK on 15 November. Wednesday 16th October 2002 Chamber of Secrets is finally finished! BBC: The movie of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets has now been finished. The film will start being shown to journalists and reviewers within the next few weeks, and the first reviews should start appearing soon. Like the first one, it looks like being a PG certificate. As for the length, there are reports from one big cinema chain that it has a running time of 178 minutes. Sadly, it's not true. This one is only slightly longer than Philosopher's Stone, clocking in at 155 minutes (2 hours and 35 minutes). Much less than the 181 minutes that the first Lord of the Rings lasted. The movie will premiere in London on Sunday 3 and will be in cinemas on 15 November. Tuesday 15th October 2002 Wizards and spaceships hit auction block Reuters: Harry Potter's wand box, the blueprints for a "Star Wars" spaceship and Tom Hanks' helmet from "Saving Private Ryan" all go under the hammer this week. Auctioneer Cooper Owen's "At the Movies" sale takes place on Thursday. Among the Harry Potter memorabilia is an envelope inviting young Harry to Hogwarts School addressed to "The Cupboard under the Stairs" where the boy wizard was kept by his uncle and aunt at their boring suburban house on Privet Drive. Cooper Owen estimate the envelope, one of a limited number released to charities after the blockbuster film hit the wide screen will sell for between 1,500-2,000 pounds, while the wand box has an estimate of 300-400 pounds. The blueprints of the Star Wars "Millennium Falcon" spaceship are estimated to realise about 2,500-3,000 pounds each while the helmet, dog tags, pen knives and leather holster worn by Hanks could top 6,000 pounds. Although many of the items for sale are from recent movies, the old Hollywood is also well represented. A dress worn by Audrey Hepburn could sell for between 350-400 pounds while sandals owned by Marilyn Monroe and a Joan Collins negligee are also up for sale. A full list of the lots is available at www.cooperowen.com Wednesday 9th October 2002 Barbie and Harry Potter top Santa lists Reuters: Parents: start your engines -- Whether the economy is gloomy or booming, children still want the most popular toys, according to Toy Wishes magazine, which has unveiled the toys it predicts will be the top sellers this holiday season. The toys on "Hot Dozen" list, which were showcased by the magazine with an event at the International Toy Centre in New York, aren't just popular, they are expected to be "the most impossible to find," the magazine said on Tuesday The hysteria that surrounds the hottest toys is legendary some years, with parents camping out in parking lots to be the first into a store and $20 (13 pounds) toys being auctioned off for 10 times face value. "We add a little fuel to the fire, but a lot of these things would be hot without the list," said Jim Silver, co-publisher of Toy Wishes. "We're also able to bring recognition to a toy that might not get it...we can help bring it to the forefront." The "Hot Dozen" list this year includes a line of electronic plush cats that, when touched, mimic mannerisms of real cats, a new Barbie with hair that "grows" and a Lego set depicting scenes from the second "Harry Potter" book and upcoming movie. It could be even harder for parents to get their hands on this year's Cabbage Patch Kid or Tickle Me Elmo, as the West Coast port lockout drags on, delaying the shipment of toys into the United States. Even though the faltering economy has left wallets lighter, retailers are struggling, and consumer confidence is shaky, holidays are a time when parents indulge their children. "Birthdays and the holidays are the two key points in the year when you're not going to disappoint your child even if you've just had a pink slip or afraid one is coming," said Brean Murray toy analyst Margaret Whitfield. There are several criteria for the list, said Jim Silver, co-publisher of Toy Wishes. "We look for a hot license, like Harry Potter, if it's fun to play with, or if it's a brand or collectible like Barbie. Last year's Harry Potter Lego set was the item you couldn't find," said Silver. "Chamber of Secrets is the same type of craze." The "Hot Dozen" toys:
Wednesday 9th October 2002 Harry Potter's agent takes to the net Reuters: Forget the broomstick. Harry Potter's literary agent has taken to the Internet. J.K. Rowling's tales of a teenage wizard taught children around the world the joy of reading. Her agent, Christopher Little, is now convinced he can get kids both to read science fiction and surf the net. So he has come to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the publishing industry's leading marketplace, to promote "The Outernet," a series of space adventure stories that link children to a website where they can use passwords from the books to develop and explore the virtual characters. "I love trailblazers," Little said of the books, which are written by British authors Steve Barlow and Steve Kidmore. He is convinced they will be read by millions of children around the globe within the next two years. And he certainly has quite some track record in the publishing industry. Little's life was changed forever in 1995 when the page-turning tale of a teenage wizard landed on his desk. He instantly signed up Rowling and a literary legend was born. "Harry Potter has sold 175 million copies in 59 languages," Little told Reuters. "There will never be another Harry Potter -- the breadth of the imagination she has is extraordinary. I shall never be as excited as I was when I read Harry Potter. That is a once in a lifetime thing." But now he is fired up with a whole new enthusiasm, convinced that taking the printed word onto the information superhighway is the way forward. Caxton the printer meets Gates the computer wizard. "This is the merging of literature and the new media and it has never been done before," he said, sitting in a Frankfurt hotel surrounded by stacks of "Outernet" books, the language rights to which he hopes to sell at the Frankfurt fair. "This is the future. We are trying to get our children away from the computer to read and here's a way to get them to read and then go back on the computer. This is 21st century publishing," he said. "It is so different from Harry. They are chalk and cheese," he said of the "Outernet" books. "I am trying to avoid the comparison because there isn't one." The first two "Outernet" books have been published in Britain and the United States. Four more are in the pipeline. The site that takes the kids off into cyberspace -- www.go2outer.net --- has already had almost 400,000 hits. For readers have been fired up by the tale of an apparently harmless old laptop computer which unexpectedly takes a bunch of kids into a whole new galaxy where they become freedom-loving Friends intent on defending the universe against the Foes. Equipped with passwords from the books aimed at eight to 11-year-olds, the young readers can sign up to become FIB (Friends Intelligence Bureau) agents and send and receive o-mails (Outernet mails). At the age of 60, Little has embarked on this new project with almost child-like enthusiasm and concludes with a resoundingly delivered rallying cry to his young audience: "Read the books, surf the net, save the galaxy." Wednesday 9th October 2002 Christian imagery in Harry Potter? Reuters: Harry Potter may carry a wand, ride a broomstick and count a werewolf among his friends but a new book claims the boy wizard's adventures are really full of Christian imagery and morals. "I could run a weekly bible study using Harry Potter as a starting point. It is a gold mine of biblical truth if you look at it that way," Connie Neal, author of "The Gospel According to Harry Potter," told Reuters in an interview. J.K. Rowling's best-selling series of books have stirred up considerable controversy among Christians with critics fearing that children may seek to emulate some of the occult practices that are depicted. "Poor Harry I think got a bad rap at the beginning," Neal said, noting her book includes 52 of 80 incidents, which she called "glimmers of the Gospel," in the Potter books. "I was surprised there were so many. Some were very blatant." Neal's favourites include the death of Harry's mother. The Dark Lord Voldemort threw the curse of death at Harry but his mother loved him so much that she threw himself in front of the curse and saved him at the cost of her own life. Her sacrifice mysteriously broke the power of Voldemort. She noted that during a recent conversation, a teen-ager with a pierced nose had commented to her; "Hey, isn't that a bit like what Jesus did on the cross." Harry also prays in two places, celebrates Christmas and Easter and belongs to a house, Gryffindor, whose symbol is a lion and whose most bitter opponent, Slytherin, is represented by a snake. Jesus is sometimes described as "The Lion of Judah" while Satan is often depicted as a serpent or snake. "Satan is never mentioned in Harry Potter but I've not found a better literary representation of evil than in Voldemort," Neal said. Neal's book, published last month by Westminster John Knox Press, the publisher of the highly successful "The Gospel According to Peanuts," has not been well received by Harry Potter critics within the Christian community. "Connie Neal is well meaning but she really doesn't know what she is talking about," said Richard Abanes, author of "Harry Potter and the Bible - the Menace behind the Magick." "Kids are curious and when they are either watching the (Harry Potter) movie or reading the books they become curious about witches and spells, not Christianity. There is no Gospel according to Harry Potter," Abanes said. Abanes said that while witches and magic are used in fantasy literature such as C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia" or J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings," those works take place in a different world with different rules. "Harry Potter takes place in the here and now in England, using references to existing occult practices," he said. "If you are reading certain fantasy literature that has magic of a kind that you can go to the library and look it up then it might be a problem. If they can't it is no problem at all," Abanes said. He also said virtually all the good characters lie, cheat, steal and go against authority. One of the book's heroes, Harry's friend Hagrid, is frequently drunk. Neal said she was also concerned about the dangers of children becoming interested in the occult, noting it was important for parents to discuss that with their children before reading them the books. "Our world is full of lots of dark spiritual pursuits. If you believe the Bible you have to believe they are real and dangerous," she said. Abanes, however, remains unconvinced. "Kids are kids. You can give them all the warnings you want about eating too much candy but leave a kid in a candy store, tell them they can eat one piece a day and they are not going to listen to you," he said. Tuesday 8th October 2002 Publishers hail Harry Potter and Jesus Reuters: Publishers have hailed Jesus Christ and Harry Potter as saviours of their industry in tough economic times. The search for spiritual sustenance after last year's September 11 attacks has boosted the profits of religious publishers while children have demonstrated an insatiable appetite for the exploits of a boy wizard. With the industry hit by the current global downturn, the number of companies attending this year's Frankfurt Book Fair has dropped four percent -- but there are still 6,375 exhibitors from 110 countries. At Tuesday's media launch of publishing's biggest marketplace of the year, organisers were quick to pay tribute to two of its stars. "The industry depends on two young men: Jesus Christ on the one hand and Harry Potter on the other," said Dr Hubertus Schenkel, chairman of the fair's supervisory board. Spiritual advice was in demand, he said, particularly in the United States. "Especially after the attacks of September 11, religious publishers around the world have been able to make gains," Schenkel told reporters. "Anything to do with trying to understand the meaning of life is also doing well -- from the Bible to esotericism and psychology and including how-to guides on keeping the peace in the family," he added. In a media age where so many children's lives are dominated by Pokemon and Playstation, the industry lauded author J.K. Rowling for re-introducing kids to the joys of reading. Schenkel was among those to marvel, noting that more than 150 million copies have now been sold of the four Potter books. "And just how much the market is waiting for Harry Potter was revealed by the reaction when author Joanne Rowling hit the headlines in September with reports of her pregnancy and that she had almost finished number five in the series," he said. He forecast that publishing companies will in future depend even more on the pulling power of their best-selling authors. "For several years now, many publishing companies have acted on the assumption that 80 percent of their sales come from 20 percent of their titles," he said. No fewer than 80 percent of the world's rights deals are clinched every year at Frankfurt, viewed as unmissable by industry big hitters, although some U.S. publishers did cancel last year after the September 11 attacks. Book Fair Director Volker Neumann, bemoaning the slight drop in companies attending, said: "We are going through difficult times -- but we are confident that after this decline, things will be better again this year." With a number of publishing companies and old-established bookshops going out of business, he said: "The media industry as a whole is going through difficult times. This is true of book publishers as well." Dieter Schormann, President of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, was cautious in his outlook. About a third of German booksellers think that sales will still be weak in the second half of the year. "Even if Christmas business is good, we must still expect a slight sales deficit," he concluded. Tuesday 8th October 2002 Potter film should be finished next week BBC: Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets should be finished by Wednesday, 9 October, according to the movie's producer David Heyman. Speaking exclusively to Newsround's Lizo on the film set of Chamber of Secrets, he said: "I think it's a big step forward in many ways. It's more adventurous, and there's more humour." The new film has more big action sequences like the giant spiders, the Basilisk and the flying car. And Heyman says the Quidditch sequences are "a big improvement on the first". Heyman also runs his own film company called Heyday Films. It plans to bring two other children's books to the big screen. Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism, by Georgia Byng, is about a young girl who discovers how to hypnotise people. And Cirque du Freak, by Darren Shan, is about a young boy who becomes a half-vampire. Heyman says he's "very excited" about both projects. Before those come to the screen though, he's working on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It'll be directed by Alfonso Cuaron. They've already been to Edinburgh to discuss ideas with JK Rowling. "We sat down with her and talked through some Alfonso's initial thoughts for the third film, and she was thrilled," Heyman reveals. In the meantime, the world premiere of Chamber of Secrets will be in London on 3 November. Friday 4th October 2002 BBC to premiere Philosopher's Stone in 2003 BBC: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone will have its TV premiere on BBC One, late next year. The BBC and ITV have been locked in a fierce battle that Draco and Harry would be proud of to win the right to show the wizardly blockbuster. TV companies fight so hard for big films like this to be shown on their channel because they know it will win them millions of viewers. The Philosopher's Stone is the second biggest film ever, and made a Gringotts-shaking £650 million. Nobody knows the exact date of the premiere, but there are rumours it could be the big family movie for Christmas Day. But some other TV companies have complained that the BBC has spent so much money on a Hollywood film, when they could have bought the rights to British-made flicks. Thursday 3rd October 2002 |