After an extra long wait (first due to the writer’s strike, then to Hollywood’s deciding to push it back some more), HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is finally coming out July 15h. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Michael Gambon, this film also brings back such favorites as Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane, Maggie Smith, David Thewlis, Tom Felton and Julie Walters, while adding some new actors to the mix: Jim Broadbent brings Professor Horace Slughorn to life, while Hero Fiennes-Tiffin (nephew to Ralph Fiennes) gives us insight into the young Tom Riddle aka Voldemort.

This installment is being directed by David Yates, who also brought us HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.  Hopefully having learned his lesson from that one (it was cut waaaay too far down from the books in most fans opinions, including mine), this new film runs a respectable 2 1/2 hours, which should give us plenty of time to enjoy the story and the characters.  That’s especially important since this book is the one that sets up the sides for almost all the important people in it.

(A while back I picked up some secondhand audiobooks of the first 4 titles in the series.  I’ve been listening to them in the car, catching myself up on the storyline.  Still can’t decide whether to re-read HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, though, before or after the movie as it’s been a couple years since I read it…  I think I prefer to revisit the story with the movie version first, then re-read the book to see what’s different.)

Less than a month and counting!  (Unfortunately, we’ll then have a year and a half to wait for the next one, too…  <ARRgggh> Talk about exquisite agony…)

Technorati Tags: daniel radcliffe, dumbledore, emma watson, Harry Potter, hermione granger, Michael Gambon, ron weasley, rupert grint

HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, originally slated to come out during the Thanksgiving season, has been pushed back to take advantage of the hole left in next year’s schedule by this year’s writers’ strike. (And ain’t it amazing that hole just happens to coincide with the same weekend that BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT just happened to kick box office butt on?) So now we’ll all have to wait until July 19, 2009 to get our Harry Potter movie fix. Unfortunately, no one seems to have mentioned it to Warner Bros. advertising unit: the trailers for the movie have been starting to show at theaters and will need to be changed. Plus, they also forgot to tell sister company Entertainment Weekly about the move, so EW put Harry Potter on the cover of their Aug 22-29 Fall Movie Preview issue. Please, oh please, tell me the production has been handled better. (Bad enough they cut the guts out of HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX… Hate to think what they could do to this one if they really put their minds to it?) Ah, well, I guess this gives me plenty of time to re-read the series from the beginning, hmmm? And if they don’t push the last 2 (yep, they’re splitting HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS in half), then we should get the final installments in 2010 and 2011 – not quite 1-2-3, but pretty close for movies…

Technorati Tags: Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter, Michael Gambon, The Dark Knight

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, aka Harry Potter Book 7, may get more screen justice than ORDER OF THE PHOENIX: David Heyman, producer, is expected to announce that rather than trying to chop the last huge book down to movie size, two movies will be made of HALLOWS to accommodate the entire last installment in the J. K. Rowling book series.

Of course, this means more money for the studio, the cast and the author by making it into 2 films (something they all really need, eh?) but it also means we should get treated to the whole final story in all its glory, something Harry Potter movie 5, ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, missed its mark on, especially considering they took the longest book at that point and made it the shortest movie of all 5 to date. (Who’s brilliant idea was THAT? <slap> <slap>)

Meanwhile HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is currently filming with a release date of Nov 2008. Maybe they’ll get a clue from all the recent press and make sure book 6 gets good treatment also. After all, they all make more money the more we go see it, and we’ll want to see it more than once if its done well, right? (Duh…)

Back to watching the first 5 HARRY POTTER DVDs while we wait.

Technorati Tags: Books, DVD, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, MOVIES