Daniel Radcliffe, who had earlier confessed to having an alcohol problem, has now admitted that went into work for “Harry Potter” scenes still drunk. “I can honestly say I never drank at work on ‘Harry Potter.’ I went into work still drunk, but I never drank at work. I can point to many scenes where I’m just gone. Dead behind the eyes,”

Radcliffe explained his drunken appearances with the description of his alcohol dependency, saying “I have a very addictive personality. It was a problem. People with problems like that are very adept at hiding it. It was bad. I don’t want to go into details, but I drank a lot and it was daily – I mean nightly.”

However, since then Radcliffe has conquered his drinking addiction, saying “You either have to change something or give into that shame.” Radcliffe has been sober since 2010.

On December 29,  Warner Brothers is removing Harry Potter DVDs and Blu-Ray Discs from store shelves.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2,” will be released on DVD Novemeber 11 along with a box-set of all eight films in the franchise.

The film will still be available in digital copies and video-on demand.

Source: Reuters

wireimage.com

Daniel Radcliffe takes on a horror movie as his first role after “Harry Potter,” and the trailer has finally been released.

“The Woman in Black” is based on a 1983 novel by Susan Hill that follows Arthur Kipps (played by Radcliffe), a young lawyer assigned to sort out a dead client’s affairs.  On his journey, Kipps discovers that a nearby town is haunted by the ghost of a scorned woman.

MTV news offers a pretty thorough (and humorous) analysis of the trailer, which is pretty typical for any horror movie.  It features creepy dolls, dreary weather and bloody writing (which is slightly reminiscent of the writing on Hogwarts’ walls in “The Chamber of Secrets”).

Radcliffe explained that he took on a new project so quickly after the decade long Potter endeavor so he didn’t fall off the map.

“If I had been taking some time off and not doing stuff, I think the temptation in terms of the media and the public, to a certain extent, is [that] if you don’t hear from a child star for a while, you can kind of condemn them to the been-and-gone pile,” Radcliffe said to MTV news last spring. “I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.”

View the trailer here:

wireimage.com

Harry Potter conjured up some romance aside from his movie love Ginny Weasley.

Daniel Radcliffe was spotted holding hands with an unnamed girl in New York City, according to people.com.

The star recently told Larry King that he is in a relationship and “very much in love,” but he left his love anonymous.

Emma Watson attends the "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2" world premiere after party at Old Billingsgate Market on July 7 in London. (WireImage)

Emma Watson, who just wrapped up a decade-long career as Hermione Granger, has decided to return to Brown University next year to complete her degree.

The “Harry Potter” star, who is now 21 years old, is studying at Oxford in England in the fall, but she told the Virginian-Pilot that she remains enrolled at Brown and will return to the Providence institute in 2012.

The last Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ took in about $169 million during its opening weekend, dethroning “The Dark Knight” for a move’s best opening weekend.

This review contains spoilers. If you haven’t yet seen this movie, read the book, or read spoilers anywhere else, then go ahead and skip it.

I was 11 years old when “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” first hit bookshelves in America. My mother brought them home from the library where she worked one day. My brother and I read them together. We were addicts from page one. It’s 14 years later, and I still pull out one of the seven novels when I have nothing else on tap to read, sprinting through the text that now feels like an old friend.

In many ways my fandom doesn’t influence the way I feel about the last installment of the Potter film franchise, and in many ways it does. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” happens to be my least favorite book, and most of what I dislike about the movie are simply faithful adaptations of things I disliked about the novel.

There’s always a lot of discussion whether the director of an adaptation of a popular book “got it right”- a phrase which truly makes no sense when you think about it. What is getting it right? Making sure everyone’s favorite part is included? Correct casting? Correct production design? The best most adaptations can hope for is that they manage to invite everyone to come see the movie while not inspiring murderous rage among the fans. Walking the tightrope between the two is difficult, and in something as virulently loved as this it’s well nigh impossible.

This movie perhaps had the hardest time of all. Encompassing the latter half of “Deathly Hallows”, it’s essentially a part of a part of a story, which also has the responsibility of bringing everything together into one grand finale- basically an extended curtain call. Director David Yates, who’s helmed the last 4 movies, is occasionally awkward or ill-paced in his execution, but his misty views of the United Kingdom and minimalistic camera work generates an oerwhelming sense of unease and loneliness. His movies deftly navigate Rowling’s roving text between fantasy, horror, prep school drama, and, in this case, an epic war story.

The film doesn’t stop for breath at the start before launching into what is really two massive action sequences. The first is a daring magical heist into Gringotts, a wizard bank run by a bunch of sarcastic goblins, for a Horcrux our magical trio needs to destroy (too long to to explain, just keep reading). The heist scene is truly wonderful, featuring a goblin’s mine ride, an abused, atrophied dragon, and pretty damn good explosion at the end. Helena Bonham Carter steals the beginning of the scene by performing a neat and hilarious trick by turning herself into the sociopath Bellatrix Lestrange- who is actually Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) imitating Bellatrix Lestrange.

The second sequence is the final battle at Hogwarts school. It’s less organized than the heist scene, but far more emotionally-charged. The siege on Hogwarts castle and ensuing violence evokes nothing less than the early days of World War II. We see the march of Nazi Germany into Paris, underground tunnels, pirate radio stations, and brave local townspeople sending supplies and information to the resistance. In the first firing of Death Eater wands, we see the blitz and the lonely, terrifying nights Londoners spent huddled in Tube stations, listening to the Devil knocking at the door. It’s no secret that Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) is a pretty easy stand-in for Hitler- a mad and ravenous murderer who likes his followers to have pure bloodlines and has plans to dominate the world. But Yates does well keeping it from seeming trite or disrespectful.

All of the past Potter characters, both living and dead, make an appearance or two, saying the line that basically sums up their character and then either dying or surviving in a valiant manner. The resolution of Severus Snape (Alan Rickman) is both satisfying and heartbreaking. Through the years Snape has been one of the most compelling, astonishing characters in the series, and Rickman has delivered each of his lines as if it’s the last he will ever speak. The end of his story in many ways felt like the end of an era.

But while the character actors make up the color and the sparkle of the series, it’s been watching the three main characters (and the actors who play them) grow from adorable, shiny-faced children, to gawky, shaggy adolescents, to polished adults. I don’t know what they will do after the series is over- Watson is considered by most to be the most talented of the three, able to convey complex emotions without speaking a word. But Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe, while a little less blessed in their acting ability, are possibly flexible enough to shed their robes and throw their wands to the wind.

The unhappy truth that the result of a seven year epic tale of good versus evil climaxes in what is basically an obscure technicality involving wand ownership. This is not the film’s fault of course, and writer Steve Kloves does his best to limit the amount of time spent on “wand law”, but it’s still an anti-climactic and kind of lazy way to end a story. And the one-on-one wand fights scenes are, I have to say, poorly translated to the screen and seem kind of lame. And the unfortunate Epilogue (featuring a dubiously-aged Harry, Ron and Hermione) would have been best left out. But despite the occasional awkwardness, or poor decisions, I have to say- Yates got it right.

So it’s over now. I realized when the lights went down, and the cape-clad people around me began to applaud, that Harry has been with me for more than half my life. It feels very much like what J.K. Rowling was trying to say when she wrote her masterwork: the pain, the joy, the fear of becoming an adult, of leaving the things that were precious to us behind, and turning towards who we are becoming. “Harry Potter” isn’t about facing down evil. It’s about facing ourselves.

With part two of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” opening in theaters nationwide on July 15, online searches of the brand have increased on Yahoo! by 256%.

Fans are searching for the other “Harry Potter” films as well as “Harry Potter” costumes. Popular character searches have increased 812% and Hogwarts searches are up 536% over the last 30 days.

People have also been searching the “Harry Potter” actors, which have surpassed searches for the actors of the “Twilight” films.

But what fans really want are answers. The most popular “Harry Potter” questions being searched are as follows:

• Who plays Voldemort?
•  Does Harry Potter die?
•  How to make a Harry Potter wand?
•  Who dies in Harry Potter?
• Where to find Harry Potter Horcrux list?
• Is Emma Watson single?
•  Does Hermione marry Ron?

J.K. Rowling has adamantly refused, for years, to allow her “Harry Potter” books to be sold for the Kindle, the Nook, or in any e-book form, until now.

Coupled with Thursday’s launch of Pottermore, Rowling announced that all of her books would be available for all major e-book platforms, including the Kindle, directly through the new website.

The “Harry Potter” series has sold 450 million copies worldwide, and more will come with this development.

A beta of Pottermore launched in July, and the full site, with e-books, is expected up in October.

Rowling owns the digital rights to her boos, not U.K. publisher Bloomsbury Publishing, or Scholastic Inc., which owns the U.S. print rights. She is taking the bold step toward self-e-publishing, instead of brokering out the rights and selling the books through Amazon or the Apple iBookstore.

J.K. Rowling, the first billionaire author, created a worldwide phenomenon when she created the world of Harry Potter, that went from books to the big screen and everything else in between. And anytime Rowling’s chooses to speak, Potterheads and assorted Muggles everywhere stop and listen to the woman who made them believe in magic.

In a brand new venture, Rowling’s announced via YouTube (see below) that she has a new, interactive website called Pottermore. The new site will offer a number of features such as e-books, and per Rowling, “additional information I’ve been hoarding for years.”

Though you can’t access the site as of yet, it will be a blend of social networking as well as have a game-like element to it. The site won’t go live until October, but some lucky folks will be allowed to pre-register before everyone else. How? Well the way it works is that there will be a challenge, “follow the owl,” that is to begin July 31.

The first million fans to finish shall be granted early entrance to the site. How amazing is that? All you have to do to get ready for this challenge is submit you email to the site. No wands required. Well as far as we know.

The latest trailer for this highly anticipated film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is now available.

The film stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman and will be out on July 15 in the U.S. while it will have its U.K. premiere a week earlier in Trafalgar Square.

“Harry Potter” actress Emma Watson is transferring from Brown University to another college in the fall.

A spokesman for the 21-year-old actress officially denied reports that Watson was “bullied” out of the Ivy League school. However, it was said that the star has chosen to pursue a different course not offered at Brown.

Last month, Watson wrote on her official website that she would be taking a break from her studies for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

Watson wrote: “As you know, I love Brown and I love studying pretty much more than anything but recently I’ve had so much to juggle that being a student and fulfilling my other commitments has become a little impossible. I’ve decided to take a bit of time off to completely finish my work on Harry Potter… I will still be working towards my degree… it’s just going to take me a semester or two longer than I thought.”

At long last…the wait is over! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 has arrived to the home media platform.

Watch it NOW, On Demand, For Download and on Blu-ray combo pack.

Synopsis

Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the secret to Voldemort’s immortality and destruction – the Horcruxes. On their own and on the run, the three friends must now rely on one another more than ever…but Dark Forces in their midst threaten to tear them apart. Meanwhile the wizarding world has become a dangerous place. The long-feared war has begun and the Dark Lord has seized control of the Ministry of Magic and even Hogwarts, terrorizing and arresting all who might oppose him. The Chosen One has become the hunted one as the Death Eaters search for Harry with orders to bring him to Voldemort…alive

And check out the official Harry Potter Podcast at http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/harry-potter-podcast/id432022882

And Blast is giving away a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Prize Pack, including:

iTunes download of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
T-shirt (adult size)
Keychain
• iPhone sticker skin

To enter, go the Blast Magazine Facebook page, and click “Like,” then comment on this post.

Good luck!

I know who dies at the end of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” And so do you.

J.K. Rowling’s first book about the boy wizard who saved the world (a lot) came out when I was twelve years old. I was the perfect age for it, but I also had a contrary streak as wide as Greenland. So while my classmates were falling in love with Harry, Hermione, and that ginger kid they hung out with, I was firmly against becoming a Potterite.

Years later I can admit my mistake. I consider it a sign of deep personal growth that I can embrace the fact that I was wrong to dismiss Harry Potter just because everyone else liked it. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.

Now that I’m older, wiser, more mature, and far less contrary, I can readily say that J.K. Rowling did a wonderful thing for the world when she introduced us all to Harry Potter.

This is why I recently decided to read all seven Harry Potter books and watch all of the movies.

With the seventh film just recently released in theaters, it seemed the perfect time to embrace the series I had so wrongly dismissed in my youth. Turns out Harry Potter is kind of awesome. Who knew? (Everybody except me, apparently).

My childhood best friend is a dyed-in-the-wool Potterite. When I told her about my new project, our conversation went something like this:

Me: So I’m finally reading Harry Potter.

Friend: (unintelligible noises of glee)

Me: I’m also watching all the movies.

Friend: What book are you on? Tell me quickly so I don’t spoil anything for you!

Me: Well, I’m on the second book and I just finished watching the fourth movie…

Friend: What! How can you watch the movies before reading the books? Aren’t you worried about spoilers?

Me: Relax. I already know what happens anyway.

Friend: But how can that be?

Me: It’s impossible to be alive today and not have Harry Potter spoiled for you. Everyone talks about it, because they assume that if you haven’t finished reading the latest book forty-eight hours after it has been published, you are either illiterate or living on Mars. I’ve known how the series ends for years.

Friend: Yeah right.

Me: No, really. (SPOILER) marries (SPOILER) and (SPOILER) marries (SPOILER), much to the chagrin of all the fan girls who thought that (SPOILER) really should’ve ended up with (SPOILER), despite the author’s obvious foreshadowing from book two.

Friend: Ok, that’s one thing you know. I bet you don’t know—

Me: (SPOILER) kills (SPOILER) at the end of The Half-Blood Prince.

Friend: Yeah, but you don’t know why—

Me: Because (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER). Also, (SPOILER) dies at the end of “Order of the Phoenix,” which was really a shame because (SPOILER). Oh, and Voldemort keeps coming back like the herpes of literary villains (which is not a spoiler at all).

Fiend: (stunned silence)

Our conversation continued like that for awhile, with my friend testing my knowledge of Harry Potter and me answering correctly despite never having read the books or seen the movies before. At the end, she had to concede that I was right:

We are living in a post-Potter world.

You know that (SPOILER) is a werewolf. You know that (SPOILER) eventually becomes Seeker of the (SPOILER) Quidditch team. You know that (SPOILER) is not really a (SPOILER), that (SPOILER) is really a bad guy (I mean, who didn’t see that one coming?), that (SPOILER) is really a good guy, and that (SPOILER) is not really as bad as (SPOILER) seems to think.

You know all this stuff, and if you honestly don’t believe you do, all you have to do is ask the person sitting next to you. They’ll tell you why (SPOILER) was expelled from Hogwarts, and their tone of voice will tell you that they think you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years.

Living in a post-Potter world means that people just talk about Harry Potter like it is current world news or last night’s episode of “American Idol.” They assume that if you don’t know that (SPOILER) (SPOILERS) then you must have suffered some kind of traumatizing blow to the head that caused you to forget the final pages of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

They assume that you too have read and worshiped the words of J.K. Rowling, that you know the plots of her books intimately, and that you therefore wouldn’t be opposed to some open discussion on why (SPOILER) appears to hate (SPOILER) so much.

The only people safe from Harry Potter spoilers are small children, and that’s only because the world assumes their parents haven’t finished reading The Sorcerer’s Stone to them yet.

Harry Potter has become such a staple of our collective culture that it’s impossible to ignore. You can’t be oblivious to Harry Potter. Even if you are innocent enough not to know that (SPOILER) is the (SPOILER) in “The Chamber of Secrets,” you at the very least know the following information:

a) Harry is a wizard.

b) Harry goes to wizard school.

c) The game of Quidditch makes no practical sense.

That’s assuming you’re deaf and have been meditating in Nepal since 1999.

As the population of the universe troops off to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on the big screen, is anyone really surprised? Is anyone sitting at the edge of their seat wondering, “What happens next?” I sincerely doubt it. If anything, they’re all waiting to see how the movie differs from the book in some minute way.

We live in a post-Potter world, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m not trying to say that Harry Potter is any less of a good story because we all know that (SPOILERY SPOILERY SPOILER). On the contrary: It is one of the story’s strengths that despite being spoiled for millions of first-time readers, Harry Potter continues to have great literary strength and entertainment value.

I knew about (SPOILER)’s secret before the pivotal scene in “The Prisoner of Azkaban.” That didn’t make it any less exciting for me when Harry, Hermione, and the ginger kid found out. And how cool was it when (SPOILER) made his grand exit from “The Order of the Phoenix” by getting carried off by (SPOILER)?

In an age when we consume entertainment in 140 characters or less and YouTube-video-sized chunks, Harry Potter remains the absurdly-long book series that people of all ages will stay up at night reading. Even in a post-Potter world, J.K. Rowling’s books are exciting, entertaining, and (dare I say it) of literary value. They are what a good book should be: Timeless. For this late-blooming Potterite in a post-Potter world, they cannot truly be spoiled.

So this weekend I’m going to go see “The Deathly Hallows” (before I’ve read the book) at the movie theater with my die-hard Potterite friends. And I’m going to enjoy it (Even though I already know that (SPOILER) can’t be (SPOILERED) by (SPOILER) because of (SPOILER)).

Oh yeah, and Hermione kills Hagrid to avenge the death of Snape.

To celebrate the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1,” the Fort Collins Museum and Discovery Science Center, located in Fort Collins, Colo., will host a series of magical events on Friday and Saturday.

All Harry Potter-related fun activities are included in the price of admission to the museum.

A special presentation by the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program, “The Owls of Harry Potter,” is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m.

Also, Harry Potter-themed StarLab Planetarium Shows will be presented on Friday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. The participants will find the stars and constellations that lend their names to Harry Potter characters.

The museum will present a special “Meet the Animals” program featuring a snake, a toad and a rat at 12 pm.

On Saturday, November 28, the Museum will additionally offer the Harry Potter StarLab Planetarium Shows at 1 and 2 p.m. During the event, participants can make “Constellation Tubes” of their favorite Harry Potter-related constellations.

Wizardology lessons will be offered 11am-2pm, featuring science experiments that resemble a Hogwart’s Spells Class.

And here is a reason why you want to go. On both days, the museum will serve you warm Butterbeer from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. You will also be able to vote for their favorite HP book and character.

Perhaps more than any other intellectual property, the Harry Potter series has defined this generation. Whether you’re a fan or not, there’s no denying that the works of J.K Rowling have had a lasting effect on the culture and personality of this country much like that of the original Star Wars trilogy over thirty years ago.

It’s a bit insulting then when things like this happen. Not only is the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 the uninspired, licensed dribble you expected – it’s a downright terrible experience. From game crippling bugs and laughable mechanics, to some of the most annoying sound bites you’ve played in quite some time, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is what’s wrong with the video game industry.

The reason the Harry Potter franchise works so well is because at its heart, it’s the coming of age story of three kids as they confront life, death, love and even their own mortality under the veil of the story of a wizard. The video game? Not so much. If there were to be a message here, it would have to be that if you’re annoying enough, all of your problems are sure to run away. The game features literally none of the heart, emotion or fanfare that has made the series so popular in the first place.

Following the book and movie very, very loosely, the first chapter of the final tale of Hogwarts finds Harry, Ron and Hermione tasked with getting rid of the evil Lord Voldemort, but to do this, they’re first going to have to destroy the rest of the horcruxes, or objects imprinted with the evil spirit of Voldermort. What exactly does that mean for you? A whole lot of nothing since the game does pretty much nothing in an effort to move the plot forward in favor of cheap sequence after cheap sequence.

So just how does Deathly Hallows play? It’s easiest to think of it as adventure game, mixed with the cover system of Gears of War – just really a really terrible one. Much like everything else here, the cover system is downright terrible, and you’ll often find yourself sticking to the wrong side of your proposed cover, or not at all. As fun as casting a ton of spells on hundreds of Death Eaters seems like it should be, it grows old after about the fourth or fifth second, as Harry’s constant yells of “STUPEFY….SPTUPEFY…” are yelled every few seconds. It’s made worse by the fact that pretty much every spell you do is a variation of said attack.

Hint, this guys bad -- but still not as bad as this game.

There’s a stealth element to Deathly Hallows, via the Invisibility Cloak. Again – a great idea in theory, but it fails miserably in practice. First, you’ll occasionally run into a bug that sends Harry to the left or right by about ten feet to the left or right, which really makes it hard to accomplish the whole sneaking through without touching anyone thing. Oh, and you have to stand still to charge it – what fun. The strangest part about the invisibility cloak is the fact that it never seems to play by a single set of rules. There are literally entire sections of the game, including the final boss battle that can be passed if you just stand in the right place at the right time.

On the Xbox 360 version of the game, there’s a bit of Kinect support, but it too is thoroughly disappointing. When we first got the game in, I thought it would be a good demonstration of what the new peripheral could do in combination with a new controller. It is not. The Kinect suite of the game is a mini game acting completely independent from the main content on the disc. Acting as an on rails shooter you’ll flick your wrist to cast spells on a series of enemies. All too quickly though you’ll realize that you’re not really aiming at anything, and the feature seems even thinner. Kinect could have been a huge part of Harry: Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but much like everything else in the game, that potential is wasted.

The game’s biggest crime? The fact that EA expects you to shell out $49.99 for this game, and then again when the second game comes out. Movies can do this, as a ticket to each half will run you $10 tops, but to ask consumers to pay $100 for one single experience is just plain ludacris.

The Blast Factor: The videogame adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 fails in almost every way imaginable. It’s not fun to play, it’s buggy and worst of all, it’s full price for half of an adventure. Harry Potter fan? You’ll be disappointed. Looking for a late way into the series, check out the books or movies instead, just avoid this game at all costs.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan — that is in the sense of the actual written books. I have always been a bit lukewarm to the movies, yet found ways to justify them as the beginning of this series was written for children, so they tried to market the movies the same way. I was 11 when the first book was released, and that was when my journey into the wizarding world began.

But the final book was released when I was 20, so it’s an understatement to say these books were a part of my life, they basically were an institution of my childhood and that of the bulk of our readers.

The films have given us some good representations of certain scenes and been celebrated in their own genre as successful, however I always felt they never captured the true essence of the story or delved far enough into each of the characters the way the books had done so wonderfully. That all changed after I watched “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.” It throws away the nuisance of explaining the plot to the audience, if you are not a Harry Potter fan, you will be completely lost, and, in a way, they owe that to the true fans.

I was sick of the explanations in the films of the over arching plot that had to be spelled out to the audience because the studio believed no one had an attention span past thirty seconds. Harry is the chosen one that an evil wizard Voldemort could not kill as a baby. Voldemort slowly has been regaining power since Harry defeated him and has the intent of killing Harry and taking control of the world. Get it? See, that wasn’t too hard. Well, remember that if you haven’t read the books or seen any of the other movies because there is none of that background in this film.

The movie opens on a serious note as everyone is preparing for what seems like their last days on Earth as the credits roll and that is probably exactly what they should be doing. The story has reached a culmination and there is no time for fanciful pleasantries anymore. It is dark and gritty, and I loved it. We can see these actors finally able to exude emotion and if you have followed the series, then you feel as if you have grown with them through their trials and tribulations. Particularly played well is the role of Hermione Granger by Emma Watson who has grown into her role and succeeds in playing her emotions in an understated way that adds a depth of reality to this story of fantasy.

The film follows Harry, Hermione, and Ron as they venture on their own to retrieve the remaining horcruxes and destroy them in hopes of killing Voldemort (No, I am not going to explain any of that and neither does the film). In the previous film they lost their great protector and mentor Albus Dumbledore, revered as the only wizard Voldemort feared, and now they realize just how serious their situation has become. So we have our three protagonists on a mission, but mostly that means hiding in the woods scared of being discovered with no idea of what to do. They are no longer in the safe confines of Hogwarts and are very much in the real world on their own, putting to test all of their skills and resolve.

They have no direction other than cryptic clues that Dumbledore left behind for them. This is when the film really succeeds. The characters begin to break down from the stress and we see their anger and fear being taken out on one another.

Daniel Radcliff deserves mention for his growth as an actor and how well he showcases the struggles that Harry in still grieving over the loss of Dumbledore, fearing for his own life, and feeling as though everyone around him is in constant danger directly because of him. Harry comes to admit that he has no idea what he is doing and has no answers as to what they should be searching for or where they should be going. Rupert Grint similarly has cast away all the silliness of previous versions of Ron Weasley and is now trying to find his place in the mess that has become of the world, while also fearing for his family’s safety and pining (not so secretly) for Hermione. Ron also becomes jealous of Hermione and Harry’s intensified friendship in trying times as he feels inadequate. It is a splendid build up of emotions that becomes a major catalysis for propelling the plot forward and its resolution is not a clean catharsis, but rather further complicates the situation among the friends.

Although some may find these scenes lacking action as the “slower” part of the film, they allow for strong character development and real conflict that has depth and acts as a good balance to the action packed wand duels that are also captivating in a different way. Visually the film is shot beautifully with a juxtaposition of wilderness and the city streets of London and the opulent Malfoy Mansion — the CGI effects fit seamlessly into each situation. On a side note, you can kind of guess where the 3D effects would have most likely been placed had that original idea been implemented. Warner Bros. has stated the final installment will be made entirely in 3D.

The theme of the series is one of friendship and love. This film furthers that idea and mixes in serious elements and adult themes because the story now has a life and death severity surrounding every aspect as these characters are very much adults. It is even directly mentioned that Harry has come of age several times. The film breaks at a great point since they are taking one book and making it into two films. It leaves you feeling fulfilled as you were a huge part of the journey thus far, yet on the edge of your seat waiting for the conclusion as all the while Harry and his friends have been making some form of progress in their quest, Voldemort has also been making some discoveries of his own. So we are left waiting for the final showdown with Voldemort seeming even more powerful than before and far better prepared than Harry and his friends.

Throughout all of this, the film was very true to the book and has a completely different mood that is much darker than any of the previous installments. Director David Yates has done a great job of making the urgency, confusion and fear all seem pressing in a very real way while still encompassing the likability and familiarity of the characters and the wizarding world that has captured the hearts and imaginations of a generation.

If you are a fan of either the books and/or the other films, this is nothing short of an obvious must-see. As a book-fan, I will even go as far to say “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1″ actually redeems the rest of the film series. It is a dark and at the same time beautiful triumph of filmmaking.

As you all know, we are counting down the days until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.”

“Hermione Granger,” Emma Watson was recently picked for the cover of the December issue of British Vogue.

MTV News reports that she admitted that she was 17 or 18, nearly a decade after hitting it big in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” when her father first sat her down to have the “money conversation.”

Until then, Watson had received a weekly allowance of about $75, but her dad let her in on the fact she was actually worth something like $32 million.

That also makes her the highest paid woman in Hollywood.

The sophomore at Brown University in Rhode Island also recently chopped her hair off, following the trend of other ivy League starlets. We don’t have a photo yet, but we’ve seen it, and she looks great.

J.K. Rowling told Oprah Winfrey in a taped interview airing Friday that she may someday write another novel in the popular “Harry Potter” series.

According to Associated Press, Rowling says the characters are still in her head and she “could definitely” write several new books about them. She says: “I’m not going to say I won’t.” For now, she feels she’s moved on to a new phase of her writing.

Not that she has completely put down her pen. Rowling plans to write more books, and feels there is no need to match or top her previous achievement.

According to CNN.com, “I did it. I’m really proud I did it,” she said. “But this is a new phase.”

More than 400 million copies of the books about the boy wizard have been sold and she went on to become richer than Queen Elizabeth II. Rowling says fame brought extreme pressures, including paparazzi and reporters searching her trash.

She says it was “like being a Beatle” and there was a time she “was barely hanging by a thread.”

SEATTLE — Any big Harry Potter fans are going to want to travel to the Northwest.

Global Experience Specialists along with Warner Brothers Consumer Products have released that the final destination in the US and the only west coast destination for "Harry Potter the Exhibition" will be in Seattle at the Pacific Science Center. This is a 10,000 sq. ft. exhibition, which features hundreds of artifacts and costumes from all of the Harry Potter films.

On hand earlier this week to talk about this epic exhibit and to answer questions was Matthew Lewis who plays Neville Longbottom in all of the Harry Potter films.

As an example of what would be on display in this exhibit, they brought out two of Lewis’s costumes, his Hogwarts uniform from the first movie (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) and the outfit he wears in the upcoming movie (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1) during the ride to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express.

"It’s hard to believe I was that small,” Lewis said.

Lewis also remarked that he’s spent nearly half his life in these types of costumes.

When Lewis was asked about his favorite parts of the exhibit he said that the exhibit was "mad." He couldn’t believe how many props and costumes they could take around with this exhibit.

As an aside he also told reporters about how the kids in the film were not allowed to play contact sports during filming, and how even though he wasn’t playing a contact sport he managed to still sprain his ankle playing badminton as a result he couldn’t shoot for a week.

Lewis went on to say those traits of Neville were more in the earlier films and that Neville has grown to be more courageous and "has got this amazing loyalty and big heart" which are traits he likes to believe he possesses, but he said "when push comes to shove I would probably run away."

Finally he said if there was one prop that he could keep from the exhibit he said he would want his uniform robe from the very first film.

This exhibit has had amazing reviews from Chicago to Boston to Ontario Canada, where the exhibit will be coming from last.

On display will be Harry Potter’s glasses, his school uniform, the Nimbus 2000, The Golden Snitch, The Sorcerer’s Stone and many other items.

Guests can enter a Quidditch area and toss a Quaffle, pull their own Mandrake in the Herbology vignette, tour a recreation of Hagrids Hut, encounter Buckbeak the Hippogriff and look into the many eyes of a giant Acromantula spider.

The exhibit will be in Seattle from October 23 to January 30, 2011. Tickets are $26 for adults, $24 for seniors (age 65 and over) and youth (6-15), and $17 for children (ages 3-5).

Police are investigating an alleged stabbing by a man at the “Paul” panel in Hall H at 5 p.m. Saturday evening. According to EW.com, one man got into an argument with another man and stabbed him in the face near the eye with a pen. They were disputing over a seat. Authorities were nearby and arrested the man, who will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, reported CBR News. The attacker was led away in handcuffs and the victim was taken to the hospital.

Continue to check blastmagazine.com for more updates on this developing story.

LOS ANGELES — EA remains the fan-pleasing factory of gaming titles to entice both new and hardcore gamers alike. At this year’s E3, there weren’t any huge surprises, other than Crysis2 not sucking. (because, admit it, we all thought C1 totally did.)

I had the chance to demo a few games, and was escorted to “family games” before I got a chance to get my hands on the beef.

Some of the family-oriented games, like Monopoly and Hasbro Family Game Night 3, are right on cue for ages 4-444, with bold graphics and customizable characters based on your Mii or XBLA avatar so any member of the family can own their pwnage. A newer version of the classic Risk was on show as well.

One rising star in the all-ages genre is a new game by EA Bright Lights, the team responsible for the newest title in the Harry Potter series, Spare Parts. Part WALL-E -meets-Spyro, it will be one that kids play and awaken the inner-gamer in mom and dad. (Yes, I do want to play it; no- it has nothing to do with me being a girl. Shut it!) It may become the secret guilty-pleasure for many gamers. Who doesn’t like Robots? EA dubs this a “cooperative action adventure”, trending toward the online co-op capabilities that is becoming the norm these days in the gaming scene.

The Need for Speed franchise made a comeback with a return to it’s roots- a classic cop-chasing-bad guy game, complete with Lamborghini cop cars in Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The cars are typically unrealistically hard to handle, but what do you expect from a memorizable game? In the realm of graphic quality I’ll hand it to them, however. The cars are rockin’, and the hot rod shown at E3 to catch our attention was one hot tamale.

When the boys finally let me come to the yard, I have to admit, I totally got schooled in the Medal of Honor demo. I was just too distracted by how fast and smoothly the game rendered, a sign of a great engine, and well thought out gameplay. I was happy to sit back and watch the diehards go at it, and contribute to the death of an insurgent or two. Electronic Arts los Angeles is handling the single-player action, but DICE stepped it up for the online co-op. You die fast and hard, thanks to what DICE calls “faster bullets.” Remind me to thank them for my lesson in humility.

Crysis 2 is a vast improvement on the original, but I have to shame the developers in picking NYC as it’s location of destruction. As much as I love the idea of NYC as the futuristic dystopian gamer’s paradise, it is, perhaps, too soon to see iconic New York City fall to the ground in a blaze of alien-gutted glory. The gameplay is rich, thrilling and maybe this will be the redeeming title for the still neophitic development team of Crytek who didn’t quite walk the walk with Crysis the first time around. The big news with Crysis 2 is the expectation of 3D capabilities. The gameplay is engaging and frenetic, adding to the overall atmosphere of doom and destruction; AI placement has been done well, and those aforementioned icons of NYC are easily recognizable with a nice depth quality.

All titles will be released between the fall and holiday seasons. Family titles will be available for about $39.99.

Other titles expected for release include sports giants like Madden NFL 2011, FIFA 2011, NCAA Football, and NHL/NHL Slapshot. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt 1 — which grew up with the apprentice sorcerer into something close to a third-person shooter — and the Sims3 round out the mid-range, with killer titles like Dead Space 2 and Bulletstorm rounding out the hardcore gamer genre, and are expected to be well received, leaving EA living up to its reputation as a powerhouse publisher.

Ooh, lookit!

Check out the first screens released for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 videogame is packed from start to finish with action and combat. Players will be on the run, fighting for survival on a desperate and dangerous quest to locate and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes, engaging with Death Eaters and Snatchers in epic battle sequences at every turn. To amplify the action, players will encounter ferocious creatures from the previous films in addition to the adversaries Harry faces in the seventh film. They will need to muster their most powerful magic against relentless assaults from all sides. There are no more lessons, no more training. This time the danger is real. It’s time for players to fight for their lives.

TT Games are hard at work at the next LEGO-themed game and they seem to be doing a damn good job at it. It’s the expansive and magically wonderful world of teenage wizardry we know as “LEGO: Harry Potter Years 1-4.”

Watch the trailer, embedded below, to get an earful from developers rambling about every last reason “Years 1-4″ will be the most engaging and fun LEGO title yet.

Sadly, this trailer is as close as we’re going to get to the product for a while, as the game’s arrival date has been pushed back from May to the very end of June.

Warner Bros and Traveller’s Tales today released a new a trailer for the upcoming LEGO: Harry Potter Years 1-4 begging the question….can I be 12 years-old again?

The game, which will be available on nearly every console under the sun when it release this May, is just the next step in total LEGO game domination, as the series has already branched out to, and succeeded well in the Star Wars, Batman and Indiana Jones series.

In the game ,Wizards and Witches can venture to iconic settings from the wizarding world including Hogwarts castle, Diagon Alley, the Forbidden Forest and the village of Hogsmeade.

Here’s the trailer. Call me crazy, but I love how these LEGO games exhibit such great humor, storytelling and art without the utterance of a single line of dialogue.

“The Wizarding World of Harry Potter” is Universal Orlando’s upcoming addition to their “Islands of Adventure.” This new island is set to open officially in Spring 2010 and will feature several themed attractions, shops and a restaurant. Two of the rides scheduled to open are “The Dragon Challenge” and the kid-friendly “Hippogriff.”

One exciting feature under development is “Hogwart’s castle,” which will include a state-of-the-art attraction: “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.” According to a statement, guests will be able to visit some of their favorite locations both within the castle and around the castle grounds.

A lot of excitement has been building around the imminent opening of the island. A short survey on Harry Potter message boards, shows that Harry Potter fans are willing to pay up to $150 for admission, and one person offered to pay any price. Another survey from Theme Park Insider determined that 58 percent of survey takers have plans to visit the park in 2010.

In a statement, author J.K. Rowling said “The plans I’ve seen look incredibly exciting, and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed.”

LEGO: Harry Potter Years 1-4, a game that will likely sell millions, got its second trailer today, and in it is more magic, wonder, and fantasy than ever imagined, except of course if you read the books/saw the movies.

The game will follow Harry, Ron and Hermione’s journey in their first four years at the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry and all the high-fantasy it entails.

I was only able to watch this trailer once as I’m a massive Potter fan and watching again just teases me too much to bear.

As if the world needed another reason to remain enthralled with Harry Potter, Warner Bros. today launched the first official Harry Potter App for iPhone and iPod Touch users to try their wand-waving hands at.

The App, dubbed Harry Potter Spells, runs for $4.99, and lets magic enthusiasts swing their iPhone back and forth, and in doing so, cast spells within the game.

The game lets you either passively conjure magic or actively and pugnaciously engage enemies in combat.

The game, according to its press release, starts the player off in the familiar Ollivander’s Wand Shop, where you’ll choose a wand (just hopefully not one with Phoenix feathers in it!).Then you’ll hop on the train to Hogwarts and the play out the oh so comical and amusing Sorting Hat routine. Hufflepuff!!!

And from there you’ll learn spells and put them to the test against formidable opponents.

As the resident Potter-nerd here, I’ll buy this App just to play out the scene embedded below. Be sure to check out the App’s official site as well, for more information.

Expecto Patronum!

Universal Studios announced “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter,” a new attraction at its Islands of Adventure, which promises to be a “completely immersive environment” for Harry Potter fans opening next spring.

It’s not a ride, but a section of the park that promises to take fans and put them in the HP universe, with shops and a restaurant.

Universal worked closely with author J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter team on the design of the attraction, even bringing in people from the films to get things going.

“Guests will be able to sip Butterbeer in Three Broomsticks, buy Extendable Ears at Zonko’s and experience a state-of-the-art attraction that brings the stories of Harry Potter to life in a way never before imagined,” Universal said in a statement.

“All of the action and adventures of Harry Potter’s world will come to life here at Universal Orlando Resort” said Tom Williams, chairman and CEO, Universal Parks and Resorts, in a statement. “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be unlike any other experience on earth and we can’t wait to see the looks on our guests’ faces as they enter this rich environment.”

The attraction opens in the front archway of Hogsmeade and goes right trough the Hogwarts castle, including the following attractions:

• At the entrance of Hogsmeade, billowing steam and an iconic whistle signal the arrival of the Hogwarts Express into Hogsmeade station
• Across the way is Zonko’s, a joke shop with a collection of tricks and jokes, including Extendable Ears, Boxing Telescopes and Sneakoscopes
• Honeydukes is next door and full of treats like Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans
• The Three Broomsticks and adjacent Hog’s Head pub will feature traditional British fare and drinks including Butterbeer and pumpkin juice
• Across from the Three Broomsticks is The Owlery, where owls roost and await their next delivery
• The Owl Post sends letters with a certified Hogsmeade postmark and sells official stamps from The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• Ollivanders wand shop is an incredible interactive experience where the wand chooses the wizard
• Completing Hogsmeade is Dervish and Banges, the magical instruments and equipment shop featuring Quidditch equipment, Triwizard apparel, Spectrespecs and Remembralls
• The first attraction, Dragon Challenge, features a twin high-speed roller coaster with many iconic elements from the Triwizard Tournament
• Next is Flight of the Hippogriff, a family coaster simulating a Hippogriff training flight over the grounds of Hogwarts castle
• Located in Hogwarts castle, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is a thrilling new state-of-the-art attraction that uses entirely new technology to bring the magic, characters and stories of Harry Potter to life in ways never before experienced
• Before exiting back into Hogsmeade, Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods is full of Ministry of Magic and magical creatures merchandise, Omnioculars, and even remote control Golden Snitches

Well, we’re excited. Are you? Share your thoughts in the comments section!

It’s been a while a since audience members have seen Jim Sturgess headline a film. The talented British actor caught the world’s attention a few years back as the character of Jude in the Golden Globe nominated feature, “Across the Universe” a Beatles inspired musical by director Julie Taymor, which showcased his vocal chops in taking on some of the most iconic songs in rock.

But a lot has happened between the days of singing “All You Need Is Love” to the gritty streets of Belfast where Sturgess returns as the lead in “Fifty Dead Men Walking” a political drama inspired by true events and based on the life of IRA informant Martin McGartland.

The film directed by Kari Skogland takes a look into the conflicts within Northern Ireland during the 1980s, illustrating the lengths the IRA and British Intelligence ventured in seizing control. Meanwhile Sturgess captivates audiences with his intense performance as the conflicted Martin McGartland.

The actor spoke with Blast about his experience making the film as well as insight into what motivated him to pursue the role.

“I was completely pulled into the story,” Sturgess said. “I wasn’t sure whether this guy was going to die or not. Then I found out this is based on a real person, and it made it that more compelling.” The man he portrays, Martin McGartland, continues to be a source of controversy — a fact of which he is well aware. “And the thing about the character, you know, for some he’s a hero, and to others he’s the lowest of the low. I mean, he’s this real person who isn’t out to save the planet or anything,” he said. “He’s not even sure if he’s doing the right thing or not.”

Sturgess said spending time in Belfast helped him prep for the role. “I was really fortunate to spend a lot of time in the city where it takes place, talk to ex-IRA members, and Special Crimes. It helped a lot in developing the role.”

The film’s major catalyst occurs when Martin is caught by the police for selling stolen items, which begs the question whether Sturgess himself ever went through his own youthful rebellion. “Well, I did some naughty things, didn’t pay attention in school sometimes, stuff like that,” he said, “but nothing enough to get recruited for the IRA.” He laughed at the thought of it, and it’s this sort of candid response where you can’t help but see how he can charm an audience.

Sturgess said his motives for taking a role are not necessarily based on big or small budgets. It’s all about good work. “I don’t think it matters how big or small (the budget,) as long as it’s a good script.”

When asked who he would love to work with in the future both again or for the very first time, he said, “That’s hard to answer, there’s so many people, I can’t really pick some. I’d love to work with Kari (Skogland) again. Then there are people like Tilda Swinton and Daniel Day-Lewis, people like that.”

Certainly, he can also add “Dead Men” co-star Ben Kingsley to the list. “At first when I met him, I was nervous — kind of felt like I was shaking in my boots, you know? It was really great to work with him. He’s the best,” Sturgess said.

Sturgess said he doesn’t pay much mind to buzz, reviews and awards gossip. “I can’t really think of it. You work hard, and try to do the best. If it happens, okay, but I don’t really think about it” he said.

But don’t let nonchalance fool you. The busy actor continues to work good and hard despite his current schedule, “It’s chaotic, but it’s a good kind of chaos” he said. Sturgess’ next major project is the horror film, “Heartless” which co-stars Harry Potter alumni Clƒ©mence Poƒ©sy (Fleur Delacour) and Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew).

A game like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is maddening to review. To get “inside reviewing” a bit here, I got my copy of the game last Monday, and I’ve been picking at it since then. I wrote about three different drafts, consulted other professional reviews and just generally agonized about how to tackle it.

The thing is, I’m not a Harry Potter fan. I haven’t read any of the books or seen any of the movies, which is hard to do, I’ve been told. Should this matter? I’ve never seen Goldeneye either, but it’s still my favorite Nintendo 64 game, and I never even liked football before falling in love with the game based on my experience with Tecmo Super Bowl as a seven-year-old in 1991.

Most of the other reviews I’ve read give the game an extra few points for appealing to fans of the book and movie series, except that I’m not entirely sure if this is true. My friend Danielle is one of those nuts who dresses up for premieres, and when her and I played this, she was bored by the end of the hour.

She’s only a casual gamer, but again, should this matter? Harry Potter seems like something that should be ideally suited for a casual gamer “" wander around Hogwarts and cast spells by shaking the Wii-mote like a wand! Fly around on a broom from time-to-time! Mix liquids in a cauldron to create spells and magic! Duel with other wizards and friends in a two-player mode!

Don’t get me wrong, these things don’t totally suck. I mean, they’re not great or anything. But the experience doesn’t suck. That is kind of a good way to describe the entire experience of The Half-Blood Prince, although “doesn’t suck!” makes for a rather poor ad campaign.

I’ve been told that the book series does take a rather dark turn around this installment, so the tone of the game fits the book and movie well. Hogwarts is dark, moody, and gothic, with a constant gloom hanging over your every movement. Urgency, not so much “" characters don’t shut up, and you can’t skip dialogue. Sigh.

If I seem a bit dispirited and somber myself, I blame the dreary tone of the game and an existential crisis on my part. The one question that was constantly on my mind while playing The Half-Blood Prince was, “Why bother making this crap?”

Now, the game isn’t crap; it is solidly average. The 21 reviews cataloged on GameStats are between 4.0 and 8.0. Take out the two highest scores and the lowest, and the remaining 18 professional reviews all fall between 4.9 and 7.2. The average critic score is 6.0. Since my score is a 5.0, I am united in the cartel labeling Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as average. It is a bit dull, but no major deficiencies or outstanding moments, which are the biggest problems.

As a member of the Harry Potter universe, the Wii version of The Half-Blood Prince reminds me of a paint-by-numbers coloring book. It follows the source material so faithfully that it makes no attempts to really excel past it. Hey, this is a video game, so you know what would be cool? If I could chose to join up with Voldemort or Severus Snape or deviate from the plot of the book and movie. Of course, you can’t do any of this, so the whole experience feels like an on-the-rails, no-risk ride. At least if everything about the game sucked, it would be interesting material for the Angry Video Game Nerd or Internet trolls, but there is a base level of competence throughout. So really, what’s the point?

If you are a die-hard fan of everything Harry Potter, then you’d probably rather see the movie multiple times than play a watered-down version of wizard dueling and potion-making, even if they do use Wii controls. If you’re not a fan of Harry Potter, then you probably have zero interest in playing this when there are so many better games out there competing for your time. Young kids might be able to handle this, but the dark tone and acres of text and dialogue don’t make it as engaging as it could be. And heck, if you have young kids, make them read the freakin’ books instead.

Blast Factor: I can’t really justify anyone spending $50 on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Just go see the movie four times, and save a 10-spot to buy the DVD when it comes out. Or, just rent it, or wait until it inevitably gets shipped to the $20 and less bargain bin. I can’t really fathom anybody who would be completely satisfied with this game, or who would completely hate this game. This is a satisfactory but ultimately unimaginative product that exists solely to cash-in on the Harry Potter trademark a bit more.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is available for the Nintendo Wii at a suggested retail price of $49.99

It’s a relief to see one of my favorite comedians, SNL veteran Jimmy Fallon, wake from the recent comedy-coma he’s been in ever since he got the heady promotion to hosting his own late-night show.

My favorite French Stewart impersonator’s jokes sadly turned awkward and stilted as soon as he hit the late-night circuit. ‚ He looked like a five-year-old going to church in his trim black suits, and most of his skits were contrived, albeit well-conceived, but in the end, Jimmy’s magic was gone.

But, ladies and gents, Jimmy Fallon just might be making a comeback. ‚ I laughed my way through this entire video that Jimmy made for his show in which he depicts Robert Pattinson and Daniel Radcliffe slamming one another with insults. ‚ Make sure to watch it to the end for some out-takes which may or may not “bother” you.

Hopefully, Jimmy, this is a sign of more good things to come.

Warner Bros. Pictures announced today that “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” shattered two box office records, breaking the record for a midnight opening with $22.2 million, defeating “The Dark Knight,” and the worldwide opening day record with $58.18 million domestic and $45.85 million international — $104 million — in just one day.

“We are so happy to share “ËœHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ with the fans and thrilled that they turned out in record numbers to see it,” said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner, in a statement.

“With many countries yet to open, these already outstanding box office numbers are another testament to the universal appeal of J.K. Rowling’s stories and the remarkable work of everyone behind the Harry Potter films,” said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, president of international distribution for Warner.

Here in Boston, a manager at the AMC Boston Common Loews proudly boasted that midnight on Wednesday was the first time in the theater’s history that all 19 screens were sold out in the same day for the same show. The theater ran midnight and 12:10 a.m. showings on all of its screens.

Ever heard of Jamie Waylett? Probably not, but you’ve most likely seen him many times before as Vincent Crabbe — one of Draco Malfoy’s half-witted minions in the Harry Potter movies.

Well, you may not be seeing him again. TMZ reported that Waylett will face up to 14 years in prison in a sentencing on Tuesday. Police found eight bags of marijuana in a car in which the movie bully was riding in April. After searching his mother’s home, police found 10 pot plants.

At least he won’t be sent to Azkaban.

In the category of “blockbuster,” the Harry Potter series has survived for nearly a decade. Since the start of the film series in 2000, it has repeatedly broken records. Yet where most novels lose their quality in the on-screen translation, the magic of the “boy who lived” has lived up to the hype by captivating audiences with an epic journey of magic, love, and adventure. It has been little more than a day since “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” hit theaters, and fans are already in a frenzy, making it the major leading topic on most social networks and search engines.

The origins of the franchise come from the brilliant mind of its creator, J.K. Rowling, whose novels hit shelves a decade and a half ago.

So perhaps it is fitting that as the world draws near the final installments of the series “" “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows” “" that Rowling has recently allowed the world a window into her life.

“A Year in the Life of J.K. Rowling” is a documentary set to air tonight at 8 on ABC. It’s hosted by news anchor Elizabeth Vargas.

Blast recently had the opportunity to speak with Vargas about the documentary.

BLAST: ABC will be showing the documentary “A Year in the Life of J.K. Rowling.” Most people with such high profile lives tend to be protective of their privacy. Why do you think she chose now to let people into her “world?”

ELIZABETH VARGAS: You know, it’s a good question because she is notoriously private. She rarely gives interviews at all, and when she does it’s almost always about her books as opposed to herself. And in this hour she talks very candidly about her writing process: where she was when she first came up with Harry and all the characters in Hogwarts; how difficult her life was, and how debilitating the depression she was suffering … she was very candid about it.

BLAST: What were your expectations in the interview?

EV: I was struck by something she had said … that when she was divorced, very poor, and had a daughter two or three years old, she said, “Every morning I would wake up terrified that something had happened to her. She was the only good thing in my life and everything had gone so horribly.” So I was struck by that. She really used her depression to even formulate one of the characters in the books. The Dementors are a physical manifestation of it. And Harry, Harry is Joanne (Rowling). Harry has the same birthday as (her). She felt orphaned, too, when her mother died of multiple sclerosis, and she was distanced from her dad too.

BLAST: With the current film in theaters, we know fans will be wondering if she will continue with the series, or what will be next for her. Harry Potter will be hard to top.

EV: She doesn’t really need to ever really write again with her commercial success. I think her biggest impact is getting a whole generation to read “" read these big heavy books and not just one of them but seven of them. She even states she was impressed by Harry Potter adult (fans) in groups who raise money for victims in Darfur, for example. She has said she’s working on smaller books and that there will be no more Harry Potter books. She even admitted recently that if she were to write another Harry Potter book it wouldn’t be about Harry per se “" it’ll be about another character.

BLAST: It always seems that writing is her passion, and that she has this rag to riches story. It makes you wonder how fame has been for her. One would imagine it’s a double edged sword.

EV: She actually wrote her first stories as a child. She actually grew up near a forest. She would wander and dream up all these stories. She’s gone from a single mother who has gone from having to pay her own rent to being a billionaire, so obviously she’s changed. I think people will find her highly relate-able. She’s not wearing flashy jewelry or clothing. She seems really down to earth. She seems like one of the moms I’d see at one of my sons’ schools.

BLAST: What was it like for you to look into her life? She’s always been this cathartic sort of writer.

EV: One of my favorite interviews I have ever done in my career “" I know I’ve gotten to interview a lot of powerful people from all over the world “" is an interview with John Berendt, who wrote “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil;” Sebastian Junger, who wrote “A Perfect Storm;” and Frank McCourt, who wrote “Angela’s Ashes.” I interviewed the three of them together for a half an hour because they all had bestsellers on the New York Times Best Seller list. And I find authors fascinating! They are such interesting people. And so to sit in front of a blank screen or a blank sheet of people and create something from nothing is amazing. And (Rowling) created one heck of a something, and to realize it did come from a large part of her life is something. I found it deeply powerful that she says, to this day, that she never forgets how hard her life was (before the success).

BLAST: It’ll definitely be interesting for audiences to get a glimpse into her life. As you’ve said this is a lot darker compared to how she portrays some of her storylines in her books.

EV: It’s definitely not just a rerun of clips from Harry Potter. I hope kids will find this interesting, including older kids who just know the books. I think parents will find it interesting because it’s really a story about a person who couldn’t get any lower (in their life), and then finds the story to write these books. I mean she’s incredibly philanthropic and very charitable. So she gives a lot of this back, largely because she remembers how it was (to be impoverished) and that many are in that same place.

“A Year in the Life of J.K. Rowling” airs July 16 at 8 p.m. on ABC.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MANY, MANY SPOILERS OF BOTH THE FILM AND NOVEL.

Dark brown clouds. In the background, the echoes fade of Bellatrix LeStrange yelling “I killed Sirius Black!” The flashes of cameras, the dulled sound of press questions, and Dumbledore puts his arm around the shoulders of a Harry Potter still bloodied and bruised from his battle with Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic. In just the first few seconds of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” David Yates has redeemed himself for everything he screwed up in “Order of the Phoenix.” And that’s just what “Half-Blood Prince” is: Yates’s redemption.

Though films are supposed to be reviewed singularly, it is hard to talk about the sixth film in the “Harry Potter” franchise without discussing its association with the previous films and novels in the series. After what I consider to be a brutal and unnecessary butchering of the “Order of the Phoenix” adaptation, “Half-Blood Prince” has moments of brilliance that touch on an understanding of the characters not even the novels fully master. It also misses out on one of the biggest chances at an epic action scene J.K. Rowling could possibly have written out for filmmakers.

But before what did and didn’t work for the film’s plot has been thoroughly analyzed, a moment must be taken to appreciate what wonderful actors the young “Harry Potter” stars have developed into. Most notable is Tom Felton, whose Draco Malfoy is malicious and tortured with so many intricate levels of his character expressed in only a grimace or a blank stare it is a wonder his true talent of making Malfoy a three-dimensional person rather than a flat, spoiled villain hasn’t been tapped into previously. Though “Half-Blood Prince” contains Malfoy’s highest level of involvement in a “Harry Potter” installment (meaning we will probably see far less of him in “Deathly Hallows I and II”), here is an actor who is going places.

Beyond Felton, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint continue to shine as Harry, Hermione and Ron. While some of their line-delivery is sometimes still as forced and awkward as it was in the first installments, there are moments when the threesome share a laugh or a knowing look that it is clear: more than just friends off-screen, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint are Harry, Hermione and Ron, and that friendship onscreen is the same as the one in the book. In “Half-Blood Prince” the threesome lives in their characters more than any other film in the series.

Newcomer to the series, Jim Broadbent, is wonderful as Professor Slughorn, the Hogwarts teacher whose propensity for favorites can be said to have caused Voldemort’s rise to power. Fortunately, Slughorn will return to the series in “Deathly Hallows Part II” when Harry and friends return to Hogwarts.

In early reviews of “HBP” critics disapproved of the mass amounts of “filler” before the last 30 minutes of “plot” claiming that the film at almost two and a half hours dragged for far too long. On the contrary, “HBP” is the first film since “Prisoner of Azkaban” to take the time to devote its time to the year at Hogwarts rather than just pick the action out of the novel and turn that into the film’s plot. There’s a reason “Harry Potter” isn’t called “Harry Potter vs. Voldemort: The Fight Rages On;” the series is about Harry’s life during his seven years at Hogwarts and, even in the wizarding world, life isn’t always action-packed. Spending as much time on the burgeoning relationships between the Hogwarts students as on the Draco Malfoy and Half-Blood Prince plotlines is one of the best choices Yates could have made for the film. While an “Order of the Phoenix” David Yates might have ditched the Lavender Brown (played by the wonderful Jessie Cave)-Ron Weasley-Hermione Granger “sub-plot” for a closer analysis of Tom Riddle, here Ron’s unfortunate love triangle becomes one of the main plots of the film.

Yates must also be congratulated for returning Quidditch to its proper place in “Harry Potter” filmography, albeit for only two scenes. Not only does he manage to flawlessly integrate Ron Weasley into the Gryffindor Quidditch team (yet another unfortunately axed “Order of the Phoenix” plotline) but he also manages, for the first time in any “Harry Potter” movie, to not make Quidditch seem like a joke.

Unfortunately, he could not resist the urge to unnecessarily cut important and epic scenes from his adaptation. Rowling wrote film adaptation brilliance in the terrifying showdown between Death Eaters and members of the Order of the Phoenix and the DA at the end of “HBP.” What would have taken five minutes of screen time to set up Yates chose to scrap for a fight-less ending. In choosing to have the Death Eaters enter and exit Hogwarts with no opposition, “HBP” raises too many questions that shouldn’t have gone unanswered and makes those opposing Voldemort’s army seem weak in comparison. Where were those protecting Hogwarts while the Death Eaters were exiting the castle? Why wouldn’t the Death Eaters try to attack students while they were in Hogwarts? Where were the students while all this is happening? And when Bellatrix torches Hagrid’s cabin before fleeing into the woods, where was Hagrid?

And after Snape’s grand admission that he himself is the Half-Blood Prince, where is the explanation as to why? For a plot point so important it is the title of the novel/film, it was unfortunately cast aside in the movie.

Also, nixing Dumbledore’s funeral for a nod to “The Empire Strikes Back” didn’t give the audience the time to mourn the great wizard’s passing like it did in the novel, nor to understand the unfortunate ripple effect of his death. With an ending that rushes headlong to its finish in a messy and needlessly disorganized fashion, “HBP” could have used a beautiful funeral to honor a character who becomes so important in “Deathly Hallows.”

What Yates did give back to “HBP” were moments that only were produced since, for the first time, the end of the “Harry Potter” story was known while the film was being made. SUPER DUPER DEATHLY HALLOWS SPOILER ALERT! Harry touches Voldemort’s ring that once was a Horcrux and Dumbledore realizes a piece of Voldemort’s soul might have been left behind in Harry “" something portrayed only in a look from the wonderful Michael Gambon. END SPOILER

In a scene unique to the film, Snape (played by a stunning Alan Rickman) shushes Harry before joining the Death Eaters in Dumbledore’s office and ultimately killing Dumbledore, a moment which will haunt Harry until he discovers the truth behind Snape’s actions.

Even the Death Eaters attacking and destroying the Weasley’s house in a scene completely made up for the film stays true to the theme of not just the novel, but the series (and the unfortunate truth that Bill and Fleur’s wedding will never make its way to the big screen).

In the end, “Half-Blood Prince” is a solid film that has progressed leaps and bounds since Yates first took a stab at adapting the series in “Order of the Phoenix.” He has clearly learned the necessity of staying true to the novel’s plot in addition to making the film entertaining. The film itself is a work of art, and is already beginning to generate Oscar buzz. Hopefully with both parts of “Deathly Hallows” Yates will master the formula so many directors have struggled with in the past and create the perfect “Harry Potter” movie.

With the anticipation leading up to the midnight release of the “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” movie, Blast can’t help but be a little nostalgic. After much deliberation and discussion with other avid Potter fans, we’ve collected the Top 10 moments leading up to, and including “HBP.”

It’s hard to compile a list of best moments while excluding “Deathly Hallows” but at least we know the best is yet to come. Beware, however, because there are definitely some major “Half Blood Prince” spoilers on the way.

10. Wizard Chess

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” took us into an intensely magical world, coexisting unknown next to our own. The game of life-sized wizard chess that Harry, Ron, and Hermione take on showed us how awesome, and how dangerous, this magic could be. We also get to see Ron take charge for the first time, proving that he has his own strengths alongside Hermione and Harry.

9. Ron, Fred, and George Rescue Harry from the Dursleys

Leave it to the Weasley twins to start off “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” with a bang. Always good for a laugh, the twins show that they’re also reliable when it comes down to it, and they’ve come to help their little brother Ron save Harry from the mistreatment he receives at the Dursley’s house via enchanted flying car. After pulling Harry into the car, they proceed to cause a flustered Uncle Vernon to fall out the window from holding onto Harry’s ankles. There’s something both satisfying and really hilarious about seeing the Dursleys get what they deserve.

8. Basilisk Battle *slight spoilers*

There are a ton of awesome things about this scene from “The Chamber of Secrets” most easily seen from the end of the series. First of all, those Basilisk fangs, or the knowledge of how they can be used, are going to be immensely useful to Harry later on. Secondly, Harry just unknowingly destroyed the first Horcrux — Tom Riddle’s (Voldemort’s) cursed journal. Not to mention that Fawkes came and saved the day bringing the Sorting Hat containing Gryffindor’s sword. Oh, the foreshadowing.

7. The Weasley Twins Leave Hogwarts

The twins: you’ve got to love them. Even though we didn’t get the satisfaction of seeing fireworks spelling “POO” floating into the sky outside Hogwarts, the movie version of “Order of the Phoenix” did not disappoint in regards to Fred and George’s epic send-off. Umbridge’s horror at the enchanted firework dragon chasing her out of the Great Hall and seeing that “W” traced into the night sky lightened the mood for a bit in a decidedly dark portion of the series.

6. Sirius Black Falls into the Veil

Ever since Potter fans met Sirius, they loved him. J.K Rowling herself once admitted she was a little concerned about the reception she would receive at killing off the much loved character. When Harry first discovered that Sirius was his godfather, it was impossible not to hope that Harry could finally have some sort of family; however, with Sirius on the run, Harry had to settle for long-distance communication with his godfather — not that it wasn’t valued. Everyone was crushed to lose him in “Order of the Phoenix.”

5. “EXPECTO PATRONUM”

Harry starts showing some serious skill here. Not only does he cast an extremely powerful spell, but he does it while watching himself and his godfather die. Not knowing that another version of himself is across the shore, Harry believes that his father has somehow saved him and Sirius from the mass of dementors, recognizing the stag-shaped Patronus. Of course, besides the enormity of the spell Harry casts, the scene in the movie “Prisoner of Azkaban” is absolutely and frighteningly awesome.

4. Rebirth of Voldemort

Oh, Snape! Voldemort’s return undoubtedly belongs somewhere in the Top 5 moments of “Harry Potter.” The movie lives up to the eerie descriptions written in “The Goblet of Fire” and seeing them come to life on screen was huge. Harry witnesses the return of his (and pretty much everyone else’s) enemy, made possible by his own blood. He then gets a good look at the identity of a few Death Eaters, confirming some long-standing suspicions, and fights the Dark Lord himself. Sure, he has a little bit of help, but his quick return to the Triwizard Tournament with the body of his fallen mate, Cedric, is more important than sticking around Tom Riddle Senior’s grave and fighting an impossible battle at the moment with You-Know-Who.

3. Sectumsempra: Harry shanks Draco *spoiler*

Unless you’re a self-proclaimed Slytherin, chances are you’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter have hated each other from the very beginning, and seeing them duel with no restrictions on screen in “Half Blood Prince” will be great (especially if you’re ready to see Malfoy put in his place). Of course, in the book, we know it gets a little out of control when Harry casts a spell he doesn’t understand, and cuts Draco wide open with some serious Dark Magic. He immediately regrets it, realizing he’s gotten in over his head, but the audience is still left with the thrill of knowing what Harry is capable of. This scene has some serious promise for the film.

2. Wizard Duel

Everyone has always understood that Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore must be an exceptional wizard to be the headmaster of Hogwarts. What no one had gotten to see up until this point in “Order of the Phoenix” is Dumbledore prove it. Of course the duel was awesome to read about, but seeing Dumbledore and Voldemort duke it out on screen was out of this world. After all, Dumbledore is the only one Voldemort has ever feared, and this scene revealed exactly why.

1. Snape Kills Dumbledore *extreme spoiler!*

For those who aren’t expecting it, and for those who are, this scene on film is sure to be the most important moments so far in the “Harry Potter” series. For those audience members who haven’t read the books, it will be a huge blow, and we’re sure it will still be an emotional moment for those who have. Even if you know why it’s happening, it doesn’t take away the tragedy of losing Dumbledore, the most trustworthy, knowledgeable, and powerful wizard Harry has on his side. From here on out, Harry is more or less on his own.

We can only hope that “The Half Blood Prince” lives up to our wildly high expectations. What moments from the six movies out so far do you believe should be on this list?

There are many dangerous things you can do in your life like going wand to wand with a wizard who wants to Avada Kadavra your ass. For the rest of us, our average everyday lives are typically much more mundane, so the most dangerous thing we do is bury our nose in a Harry Potter book we’ve read seven times over while walking through a crosswalk.

But, did you know that merely googling “Harry Potter” right now can be dangerous? In fact, with the release of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” imminent, googling Harry Potter is almost a surefire way to land yourself in trouble “" and we’re not even talking about finding Daniel Radcliffe’s nudie pics from Equus.

Sketchy criminals are making fake websites that promise a link where you can “watch Harry Potter for free” “" and in the midst of a recession, who doesn’t want to save $10? They then fill the blog post with lots of comments lauding the virtues of the page. Link to a page full of screenshots from the movie, and prompt the user to install a “streamviewer.” One more click, and Accio! Your computer is now full of malware, and you’re still going to have to pay $10 to see the movie.

Presented like this, most Internet users would swear they would never fall for something this obvious, but the truth is that they do, and that’s why these techniques are still being used. This is complicated by the fact that the criminals are using the dreaded search engine optimization techniques to push their sites up Google’s result listings, and submitting their sites to Digg and Reddit, and pushing the files onto P2P networks.

The best way to protect yourself is something we’ve suggested to you before, and we’ll suggest to you again. Get‚  decent malware and virus scanners, such as the ones offered by PC Tools, and use them. We searched for any number of Harry Potter related terms writing this article and we didn’t die, so obviously the simple act isn’t inherently dangerous. Just be careful and smart.

And then there’s also the whole not being a sketchball and trying to download the movie illegally thing too. We’ll be with you at midnight tonight to see “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

PARAMUS, N.J.‚ ”" Hot Topic gets to have all the fun when the big movies come out. When Robert Pattinson came to the Saugus store last year, girls went nuts, we went nuts and it was all just very nutty.

We had a chance to ask a few questions to another rising British heartthrob, Mr. Draco Malfoy, himself, Tom Felton. Felton has been around since “The Sorcerer’s Stone” as the young, rich bad guy and the perfect foil character to Harry Potter’s goodness.

The craziness had us wondering if someone would create a Twilight-crossover “Team Malfoy.” Someone did. See the gallery below. It’s nutty.

Of course, Felton is no bad guy in real life, and the fans understood that on Friday evening.

When he first came into Hot Topic with his girlfriend, (oh yeah, he has a girlfriend) Felton said he couldn’t believe all the Potter memorabilia. “I’ve never seen myself on a t-shirt, this is wicked!” he said. “Oh man, look, I have a Draco Malfoy doll! How cool is this? And there’s a Slytherin hoodie, I’ve got to have that!”

When asked what he thought about the 1,000 fans waiting to meet him, he said, “This is totally amazing. I’ve only been to New York once before, this is beyond anything I expected. I’ve not done a fan event before; this is a chance to show some appreciation to the fans. These films don’t happen without them.”

BLAST: This is the biggest film so far for your character “" we finally learn that there’s more to Draco than meets the eye. What was it like expanding your character in the sixth movie?

TOM FELTON: I love Draco, his complexity. The books are based on choices, and Draco doesn’t really have any.

BLAST: It’s been a good few years for young British actors “" have you been getting love letters from plenty of female admirers? Are you and the other actors friends outside of the movie?

TF: We’re definitely friends; you couldn’t spend nine years working with people and not get close.

I’ve heard that bad guys get all the girls, but so far I haven’t seen any proof of that.

BLAST: What are your hobbies “" what do you do when you’re not making movies?

TF: I love music, you can check my band out on YouTube.

BLAST: What’s been the most exciting part of the Harry Potter series so far?

TF: The bathroom fight scene. Dan (Ratcliffe) and I have been waiting years to kill each other, so filming that scene was great. We did our own stunts; it was a week of being rigged up in a bathroom filled with explosives, Dan and I were flipping around.

Blast would like to thank Holly Fussell of Edelman PR. John M. Guilfoil of the Blast staff contributed writing to this report from Boston.

Big news everyone: Emma Watson and Rupert Grint kissed!

No, this is not a confirmation of the untrue, much-gossiped romance between the actors, who are good friends in real life. But the New York Daily News has an interview where Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, themselves, discuss their on-screen kiss in one of the final two Harry Potter films.

The kiss scene, apparently, was only filmed two weeks ago.

“Rupert and I were quite nervous that it might look ingenuous as we were so desperate to get it over with. Rupert and I felt the pressure of this kiss, there’s so much interest,” Watson, 19, told the paper.

“It’s not something we were really looking forward to” 20-year-old Grint said. “It was quite a strange thing to have to think about doing.” The young stars recognize that this is the romantic moment the characters, and fans, have been waiting years for.

“This is ten years worth of tension and hormones and chemistry and everything one moment. We had to ace it” Watson said, “Kissing is awkward, kissing is always awkward.”

Read more

Nice legs, Emma.

We don’t much care about this story, but the real story here is Emma’s smart and candid response to a wardrobe malfunction that left her designer dress opened at the middle, giving fans and photogs a legs and undies glimpse of the 19-year-old star.

She appeared on “The Late Show” last night. She blushed when David Letterman asked about it, but she smiled and replied smartly.

“This was a small wardrobe malfunction that happens,” she said. “At least I’m wearing underwear.”

She was clearly embarrassed, saying she’s “still learning.”

We disagree. We think Watson’s learned plenty. (A) She WAS wearing underwear. (B) She DIDN’T do it on purpose. (C) She responded to it on national television.

Smart girl. There’s a corps of American female celebrities that could learn a thing or two from Miss Watson.

But still … nice legs.