Harry Potter News
Last updated Saturday, July 19, 2003
- Book Five has been out for almost a month.
- Finally some news! And it's wonderful, tremendously fantastic news!!! Book Five has a publishing date! Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will hit bookstores in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia on June 21st. (Incidentally, it's also the first day of summer. And it's winter now! Or vice-versa if you're in Australia.) Anyway, (yippee!) it will be longer than the 4th one! The British version, by Bloomsbury, will be 768 pages and cost £16.99 ($27.28 US). It will also be a third longer than its predecessor by word count, a chapter longer, and have smaller font.
Although the U.S. publisher, Scholastic, did not reveal lengths nor prices, they did let out some excerpts. The story begins like this:
The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large square houses of Privet Drive. ... The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four.Another quote revealed was this one:
Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. "It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything."
Now that will spark a lot of rumors. And for making us wait three years for this book, it had better be good. Oh but of course it will -- it's Harry Potter.
(If anyone has any more info, please email me. I'll give you credit.)
- On December 12, an American collector won a card with 93 words about Book V written by J.K. Rowling. He paid $45,314 which went to charity. The only words revealed by Sotheby's were "Ron ... broom ... sacked ... house-elf ... new ... teacher ... dies ... sorry. " Whether he will publicize the card or not is not yet known.
- Richard Harris, playing Dumbledore, recently died from Hodgkin's disease in a London hospital. He died peacefully at age 72. According to director Columbus, he's not the only one who won't appear in later films. "If I were a betting man I'd say they'll probably stop after three," Columbus said about 12-year-old Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), 12, and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), 13.
- Some rumors have been squashed. One such is that there will be an eighth book. (This rumor was started by Warner Brothers taking the numbers of films to eight, despite JKR saying repeatedly that there will only be seven. Don't they ever listen!) Another is that the titles of books six through seven are Harry Potter and the Alchemist's Cell, Harry Potter and the Chariots of Light and Harry Potter and the Pyramids of Furmat. What I don't understand is how there are three titles for two books. Allegedly, these titles were registered with UK Patent Office's Trademark Database in April of 2000. If true, was one supposed to be Book Five? We know the real name for it now, so I don't believe the others can be true. Also, JKR would never let us know without her permission, would she? Remember "Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament" and how that turned out?
- Chris Columbus has resigned from the role of director for the 3rd and following films. New director, Alfonso Cuaron, will direct The Prisoner of Azkaban, while Columbus will produce. Mexican Cuaron's latest film was Y Tu Mama Tambien. Some parents are raising through eyebrows wondering what their kids will see in Harry Potter with the same director as of that "steamy" movie. But Cuaron has also directed children's movies such as A Little Princess.
- According to a Reuters report, J.K. Rowling appears in court documents as Joanne Murray, her new married name. Let's hope she continues using Rowling as her pen name.
- Supposedly, there is fake Book 5 in China. Just by looking at the first paragraph, you can tell that the author is definitely not J.K. Rowling:
"Harry is wondering in his bath how long it will take to wash away the creamy cake from his face. To a grown-up, handsome young man, it is disgusting to have filthy dirt on his body. Lying in a luxurious bathtub and rubbing his face with his hands, he thinks about Dudley's face, which is as fat as Aunt Petunia's bottom.''
- The next movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, has a due date. It will be in theatres by November 15, 2002. This is a one day before the Sorceror's Stone release, on November 16, 2001.
- Director of HPSS has resigned from his job. Currently, Warner Brothers is looking for a new director to take his place.
- The Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone video and DVD came out on May 28. It was released, as a replay of what happened with Book Four, at midnight that Tuesday.
- There hasn't really been much HP news lately...the book is due June 2003...and no movie for months... J.K. Rowling has been married for nearly half a year, but she's not very public about her life. Supposedly, writer's block is to blame for the long wait for Book Five.
- The second movie should come out at around the same time as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, so it will probably be around about November-December. Let's hope it will be better than the first movie. Here's a review that really explains what made the movie worse than the book.
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