Alan Horn issues statement regarding HBP delay

Alan Horn, President of Warner Brothers, has issued a statement in response to the large amount of disappointment from their decision to delay Half-Blood Prince from November 21, 2008  until July 17th, 2009:Here is his words to the fans.

"Many of you have written to me to express your disappointment in our moving “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” to Summer 2009. Please be assured that we share your love for Harry Potter and would certainly never do anything to hurt any of the films. Over the past 10 years, we have nurtured and protected each film, and the integrity of the books upon which they are based, to the best of our ability. The decision to move “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” was not taken lightly, and was never intended to upset our Harry Potter fans. We know you have built this series into what it is, and we thank you for your ongoing enthusiasm and support. If I may offer a silver lining: there would have been a two-year gap between “Half-Blood Prince” and the much-anticipated first part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which opens in November 2010. So although we have to wait a little longer for “Half-Blood Prince,” the wait from that film until “Deathly Hallows” will be less than 18 months. I am sorry to have disappointed you now, but if you hold on a little longer, I believe it will be worth the wait. "

 

PR: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix soundtrack

WARNER BROS. RECORDS TO RELEASE HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK
ON JULY 10TH

Soundtrack to Fifth Installment of Blockbuster Harry Potter Film Franchise Scored by Award-Winning British Composer Nicholas Hooper

(June 14, 2007, Burbank, CA): Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Original Motion Picture Soundtrack — the score to the highly anticipated feature film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — will be released by Warner Bros. Records on Tuesday, July 10th, the day before the movie opens in theatres across the U.S. and Canada on Wednesday, July 11th.

The fifth installment of the blockbuster fantasy adventure franchise has been scored by award-winning British composer Nicholas Hooper, who has enjoyed a long association with the film’s director, David Yates. Hooper and Yates have worked extensively together in television, as well as on the feature The Tichborne Claimant. Most recently, Hooper won the 2007 BAFTA TV Award for Best Original Music for his score for the telefilm Prime Suspect — The Final Act, starring Helen Mirren. He was also nominated for a 2006 BAFTA TV Award for his score to the Yates-directed drama The Girl in the Café. Hooper follows in the footsteps of the previous Harry Potter composers: Patrick Doyle, who scored 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and John Williams, who composed the music for the first three Harry Potter films, which together were nominated for three Grammy Awards and two Oscars, and sold more than a million copies worldwide.

Based on the fifth book in the series of best-selling novels by British author J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix finds Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) returning for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts only to discover that much of the wizarding community has been led to believe that the story of the teenager’s recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is a lie, putting Harry’s integrity in question. Worse, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge (Robert Hardy), has appointed a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the duplicitous Professor Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). But Professor Umbridge’s “Ministry-approved” course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the Dark Forces threatening them, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint), Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students, Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.

“I saw the scoring of this Harry Potter film as a great opportunity to work with such important themes on a grand scale,” Hooper says. “David Yates and I started early, even before filming started, working on such themes as Ministry of Magic, Umbridge, and Voldemort. However, as we came closer to the final cut, the music developed beyond what we had first imagined, so there was that inevitable race against time. My process is one of discovery, rather than having a specific plan. This can be nerve-wracking, but it has its creative benefits.”

Hooper recorded nearly two hours of music at London’s fabled Abbey Road Studios, famous for its acoustics and ambience. His team included engineer Peter Cobbin (the Lord of the Rings trilogy), and conductor Alastair King (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest) who conducted the Chamber Orchestra of London. “The team was the best around,” Hooper says. “We had a complete rapport and I always felt that they knew what we were trying to achieve.”

Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Heyday Films production, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, and Julie Walters. Directed by David Yates, the film is produced by David Heyman and David Barron, with Lionel Wigram executive producing. The screenplay is by Michael Goldenberg, based on the novel by J.K. Rowling.

Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment company, will release the film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on July 11th, 2007 in the United States and Canada.

###

For further information, please contact: cinemediapromo@yahoo.com or visit www.harrypottersoundtrack.com

 

JKR discusses the past & the future In a new interview author JK Rowling discusses what she is currently working on, her disappointment with spoilers from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows appearing on the web before publication, on not writing anything in the future as popular and mentions that she has no pressure to write. Jo on writing additional fantasy books: I think that there will be some disappointment if I don't write another fantasy. But I must admit, I think I've done my fantasy. To go and create another fantasy universe would feel wrong, and I don't know if I'm capable of it. On what she is currently working on: I'm sort of writing two things at the moment. One is for children and the other is not for children. The weird thing is that this is exactly the way I started writing Harry. I was writing two things simultaneously for a year before Harry took over. So one will oust the other in due course, and I'll know that's my next thing.   Source: USA Today

Watts, Fiennes & Townsend not lined up for 'Half-Blood Prince' movie Contrary to numerous web site stories Naomi Watts, Joseph Fiennes and Stuart Townsend are not scheduled to appear in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie, according to their representatives. Filming for the movie is set to start in late September and casting news should be announced in the coming weeks. Please don't believe everything you read on the web until official word is released.  Source: MTV.com

PRESS RELEASE - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 

Demandi launches the international „Harry Potter Prediction Game“. 

Fans worldwide are looking forward to the release of the seventh and probably last Harry Potter novel: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. Joanne K. Rowling increased the tension by announcing that at least two characters will die. 

But which characters won’t survive the novel? Is Harry’s archenemy Lord Voldermort going to die? Or will Harry loose one of his closest friends? Or….will Harry Potter die?

 

Demandi asks you to predict which characters will die in the course of the novel!

 The prediction game can be found under the following link:  

http://www.demandi.co.uk/uc/uk_potter_prediction 

Demandi is also conducting a prize draw at the end of the survey in which participants can win: 

1 LEGO Hogwarts™ Castle

 

sponsored by: Lego

The prediction game ends on the 21st July. (Novel’s release date)

 

 

The horrible Slovenian translation of HP books   Dear HP fans, yesterday I received a letter from the webmaster of the Harry Potter Slovenia web site (www.hpslo.com). That letter upset me very much.   Please read what I learned from that letter and the Slovenian web site and give us a hand with this problem if you can.    Harry Potter came to Slovenia in 1999, through a small publishing house Epta and the translator Jakob Kenda. Slovenian readers became enchanted by Harry Potter’s world, not only through the writing of JK Rowling, but through translations of Mr Kenda as well. In November 2005 Epta announced that the last two books in the series are not to be translated by him but Branko Gradisnik. The Slovenian translation of the Half-Blood Prince was finally published in February 2006, 7 months after the release of the original. Mr Gradisnik has openly declared that he had not even read the first five books, neither the original nor the translation. According to him, knowing too much would spoil his innocence as a reader and therefore, his translation might be too comprehensible, too smooth and fluent, not obscure enough... Because of his ignorance of Harry Potter world and lack of understanding for its main characters, Mr. Gradisnik misinterpreted their words and acts on many occasions. Harry Potter’s world is simply not the same any more; it is not as it should be. Imagine Hagrid speaking flawless English and Fleur barely being capable of pronouncing her sister's name ('Gabhielle')... There are many contents mistakes, sentences missing or added out of nowhere, inconsistencies, incomprehensible parts, strange newly coined words ... Mr. Gradisnik's writing style does not resemble the original in any way. Long forgotten words and phrases make the Half-Blood Prince sound like it was written ages ago. As a result, kids are complaining on forums that they would need another translation of Mr Gradisnik's translation. Characters speak totally out-of-character, making Half-Blood Prince look like a poor example of fan-fiction. It also lacks appropriate emotional undertones – serious or even sad passages come off as a parody or a burlesque, because of translator's ridiculous choice of words. But the real "icing on the cake" comes at the end of the book: There are twenty-four pages of Mr Gradisnik's monologue – the so-called Explanatory Appendix – in which he explains his linguistic preferences and mocks the translating solutions of Jakob Kenda. Furthermore, his explanations of various terms from the sixth book are far from being accurate. Ever since the announcement of the publishing date of “HP and the Deathly Hallows”, the fans have been trying to get the answer about who is going to translate the seventh book. But the publisher is remaining blind and deaf to their questions.   There are rumours about Epta being on the verge of ruin. They have not published any other book for more than a year. The director has moved to the Netherlands. The fans seriously doubt whether Epta is still functioning at all and whether they will be capable of providing a decent translation of the final book.   The administrator of HPSlo sais: “We have been trying to get our message across, but time is running out and the list of people who can make a difference is getting shorter every day. Nevertheless, we still hope that our voice will be heard.”   So now HPSlo with all Slovenian HP fans and myself ask all the readers of this article to help us to made the publishers translate the last book as the 1st five were done. And it would be great to return of Jakob Kenda with the last book. If you can do anything for this, please contact us by e-mail: odbor@hpslo.com (HpSlo) or admin@harrypotter.am (HP.am). Visit http://www.hpslo.com/?hpslo=slovenianhbp to be able to read some quotes and excerpts from the translation and perhaps leave a comment. Thanks in advance, Admin

 

 

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Harry Potter Test: Which Hogwarts house would be right for you?
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Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff und Ravenclav: The four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are by no means alike. Even still for each and every sorcerer's apprentice there's a house at Hogwarts which would suit them down to the ground. But which Hogwarts house would suit YOU? demandi presents in collaboration with hp-fans.de the great Harry Potter Test. Answer the questions and find out into which house you'd be classified by the Sorting Hat.

The Harry Potter Test can be found under the following link: http://www.demandi.co.uk/uk_3597_pottertest.php