Tag Archives: Harry Potter

‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ will be told in book form, too

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J.K. Rowling is releasing a new Harry Potter book! Well, sorta. As previously reported, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a stage play coming to the West End in London this summer. Today, Pottermore announced that Rowling and her Cursed Child creative team including Jack Thorne and John Tiffany will release a script book of the play. It isn’t entirely made clear what this means exactly, but I guess we are to assume that the new book, transcribed from the stage play, will read more like a play than the typical narrated Potter books we’re accustomed to. Still, this is huge for Potter fans everywhere; if you can’t make it to London to see Cursed Child live, you’ll still be able to enjoy “the official eighth story in Harry Potter canon.” Score!

The stage play is broken up into two separate performances meant to be seen in order on the same day (matinee and evening) or across two consecutive evenings. The script book will combine it all together and is officially titled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 & 2. Do you consider yourself a devout Potter-head? If so, take note: Rowling & co. will release two different versions of the book this summer. The first is being dubbed the “Special Rehearsal Edition” and it will comprise of the version of the play script at the time of the play’s preview performances (which begin June 7). Eventually, that will be replaced with the “Definitive Collector’s Edition” following the first official performance of the play that’s planned for July 30.

Looking for more details about the play’s plot and cast? For that you’ll have to jump after the break! Continue reading ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ will be told in book form, too →

First look & details: Potter prequel ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ with Eddie Redmayne

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It sure is a great time to be a fan of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! Less than a month after a Harry Potter stage play was announced, more information surrounding the tightly veiled Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them has surfaced. But before we dive in, here’s a quick refresher.

In September of 2013, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling announced a new partnership with Warner Bros. to adapt her 2009 standalone paperback Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them into a movie. Fantastic Beasts, a text book that serves as an extensive introduction to the magical beasts that exist in the magical, non-Muggle world, is actually mentioned in the first Potter novel, The Sorcerer’s Stone; it’s a required reading for first-year students. The text is written by famed magizoologist Newt Scamander. A magizoologist, mind you, is a person who studies magical creatures. In her surprise announcement, Rowling shared, “The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.”

Since then, Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) has been cast to star in Fantastic Beasts as Newt Scamander, and it’s been confirmed that Rowling will make her screenwriting debut here and David Yates (director of the final four Potter films) is back at the helm.

Entertainment Weekly recently published pictures from the set and shared some non-spoilery plot points. Here’s what we know so far:

Eccentric magizoologist Newt Scamander comes to New York (for a reason [EW] won’t disclose) with his trusty weathered case. This case is one of those way-way-way-bigger-on-the-inside magical devices, and within are expansive habitats for a collection of rare and endangered magical creatures from Newt’s travels around globe. He discovers the American wizarding community is fearfully hiding from Muggles (who are called “No-Maj” in the States [pronounced “no madge,” as in “no magic”]) and the threat of public exposure is an even graver concern than in the UK (remember the Salem witch trials?). Fantastic Beasts is the story of what happens when this uniquely skilled English wizard travels to wiz-phobic America and a variety of his creatures, some quite dangerous … get out of their case.

Catch your first glimpse of Redmayne as Scamander in EW‘s cover photo above. The mag reveals that he’s posing here in the “art deco-influenced Magical Congress of the United States of America (or MACUSA), which is the American version of the Ministry of Magic that’s housed inside the Woolworth Building in the film.”

You’ll find even more photos in the gallery below. Featured alongside Redmayne are more new, original characters including Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein (played by Katherine Waterston), Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), and Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler).

Despite the film taking place in 1926 New York City, some 70 years before Harry realizes his potential across the pond at Hogwarts, I am beyond confident that Rowling and Redmayne will deliver an exhilaratingly fun new adventure for wizarding world fans new and old.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is due out November 2016. Don’t be surprised if we get a trilogy out of this.

[Via EW 1, 2, 3, 4]

Harry Potter returns in London-based stage play from J.K. Rowling coming next year

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The eighth story.

Nineteen years later.

These are strings of words that are being used to describe Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a stage play from Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. I’ll give you a second to catch your breath.

Unlike the upcoming film penned by Rowling called Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them which takes place in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter but some 70 years before Harry blinks into existence, Cursed Child is a true continuation of Harry’s story that picks up where the Deathly Hallows epilogue left off. The official logline reads:

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

This is pretty incredible. The only official post-Deathly Hallows information we’ve received directly from Rowling herself has come in the form of bite-sized tweets and other articles posted on Pottermore, such as this Rita Skeeter column. A full-on, two-part stage play is bound to kickstart Pottermania back into high gear again.

Rowling dreamed up Harry’s next adventure with Jack Thorne (Skins, Let the Right One In) and John Tiffany (Once, Black Watch). The famed author is playing a major role in resurrecting the boy who lived, however she is leaving writing and directing duties to Thorne and Tiffany, respectively. Imogen Heap has been tapped to compose the score.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will premiere at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End in Summer 2016. As mentioned earlier, the play will be broken up into two parts, and thankfully they will release at the same time (unlike the Deathly Hallows theatrical two-parter that had fans waiting a year to finish Harry’s story). The two parts are intended to be seen in order on the same day; for example, you’d see Part 1 at a matinee show and Part 2 in the evening. Alternatively, you can see Parts 1 & 2 on two consecutive evenings. Previews begin in London on June 7 and opening performances go into full swing starting July 30. For those of you who don’t live in the UK or can’t fly out in time (myself included), here’s to hoping that Rowling and company have the tenacity to bring Cursed Child stateside.

As we await more news to come from this exciting announcement, let’s contemplate casting. Do you think Rowling will reel Daniel Radcliffe (who has Broadway experience!) and the rest of the original film actors to take part in this new story? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Via The Play; Pottermore]

Harry Potter returns!

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…In a Rita Skeeter column penned by J.K. Rowling. It’s a 1500 word “article” posted at Pottermore.com written in the voice of the fictional Daily Prophet gossip columnist who is known to report false information more often than not. Though the article and its contents must be taken with a grain of salt like anything else Rita Skeeter writes, it’s a short-lived fun look at what Potter and his closest pals have been up to since the Battle of Hogwarts.

It’s the Quidditch World Cup Final and “Dumbledore’s Army” has shown up in support. Harry is “about to turn 34″ and “there are a couple of threads of silver in the famous Auror’s black hair, but he continues to wear the distinctive round glasses that some might say are better suited to a style-deficient twelve-year-old,” rambles Skeeter. “The famous lightning scar has company: Potter is sporting a nasty cut over his right cheekbone.” Intrigue!

The post also catches Potterheads up with Ron Weasley and his family, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood. Though the post was orignially locked into Pottermore.com and required registration to read, the Internet (read: Reddit) has provided an easier way to view it in full: click here.

At the TCAs promoting his upcoming comedy A Young Doctor’s Notebook & Other Stories, real life’s Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe commented on the new HP material that surfaced. “I don’t know. My inclination is to say ‘No,'” said Radcliffe when asking if he’d ever reprise the role on the big screen again. “It’s not even hypothetical at the moment. What she’s written, I haven’t read it yet. I am going to read it. But [it is], as I understand it, a very short piece that I’m not sure it, of itself, worthy of adaptation to film.” Later, he added, “He’s at least sorta 12 years older in it than I am now, so I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that for a long time, I’m hoping.”

Here’s to hoping Rowling steps into Skeeter’s slippery shoes again for another update on our favorite albeit aging wizards.

[Quotes via HitFix]

J.K. Rowling to pen a script set in the wizarding world of (pre) Harry Potter

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Harry Potter fans, perk up! J.K. Rowling is back with another film in mind. Now before you freak out too hard, this new film will not star The Boy Who Lived but instead it will focus on Newt Scamander, the fictitious author of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. This book was first mentioned in the first Potter novel The Sorcerer’s Stone and Rowling would later adapt it into a real book in 2001. Adapting Fantastic Beasts marks Rowling’s screening debut, and though plot details are under wraps, a press release makes it known that the original story will take place in the wizarding world featured in the Potter books and movies but it unfolds 70 years before Harry is introduced. Rowling release the following statement:

It all started when Warner Bros. came to me with the suggestion of turning ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ into a film. I thought it was a fun idea, but the idea of seeing Newt Scamander, the supposed author of ‘Fantastic Beasts,’ realized by another writer was difficult. Having lived for so long in my fictional universe, I feel very protective of it and I already knew a lot about Newt. As hard-core Harry Potter fans will know, I liked him so much that I even married his grandson, Rolf, to one of my favourite characters from the Harry Potter series, Luna Lovegood.

As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. That is how I ended up pitching my own idea for a film to Warner Bros.

Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for seventeen years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world. The laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, seventy years before Harry’s gets underway.

To learn more about Scamander, a famed Magizoologist and once Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, check out his Wiki page. Buy a copy of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them at Amazon today to prepare for the upcoming film. The plan is for this to be the first picture in a new film series.

Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection covers all eight films and new bonus material in 31 discs

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Warner Bros. is readying the most comprehensive Harry Potter movie collection ever released. The “Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection” 31-disc box set contains the following: all eight Harry Potter movies on Blu-ray, DVD and UltraViolet Digital Copy; more than 37 hours of special features including all previously released materials and more than 10 hours of new to disc bonus content; and 5 hours of never-before-seen material. Deathly Hallows part 1 & 2 can be watched in 2D or 3D if you have a TV that can handle it. Unfortunately, there is one major gripe that fans will find in this amazing collection: only the first two films in the franchise–namely Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets–include both the theatrical versions and extended cuts. The other six films only come with their theatrical versions. Will Warner release an even more epic box set including the extended cuts of the rest of the films and more bonus footage? That is still unknown.

But if you truly are a loyal Potter fan then there’s no denying how great this collection really is. Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection in all its elaborate design, comes out September 7 for $500. Head over to Amazon to preorder today; the e-tailer is selling it for a more digestible $349. Jump after the break to watch the collection come to life (you’ll see what I mean) and there’s also a first look at new bonus footage featuring a young and old Rupert Grint. A lengthy press release further details what you’ll get. Continue reading Harry Potter Wizard’s Collection covers all eight films and new bonus material in 31 discs →