Cinematical

Harry Potter roundup

Karina Longworth — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 16:31:13 EST

Filed under: Site Announcements, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

It had to happen sometime, and that time is now : our Harry Potter blitz is officially (and, for those of us who are non-fans, finally) over. Here's a look at all we cranked out:

Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Seven potential Harry Potter franchise killers
Seven Harry Potter rumors that officially are untrue
Seven Reasons Harry Potter is overrated
Seven Harry Potter spin-off possibilities
Seven Brits left to cast in Harry Potter
Defending Harry Potter - not that he needs it, really.
One final reason why Harry Potter is overrated
The Cinematical Podcast: Harry Potter Edition
Harry Potter: Braving the 12:01 showing
Steven Kloves back on board for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter beats crap out of Johnny Cash: Weekend Box Office
Wall Street Journal on challenges facing Harry Potter
Caption This: Harry Potter edition
Caption this winner revealed
Japanese Harry Potter paper art
Harry Potter breaks online ticketing records
Daniel Radcliffe branches out from Harry Potter
Harry Potter special edition: Tracking the HSX

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Harry Potter Caption This winner revealed

Karina Longworth — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 13:55:07 EST

Filed under: Site Announcements, Contests, Insert Caption, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

Congratulations to Evan, the winner of this week's caption contest and the lucky recipient of the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack. If you are Evan, please contact us with your address so's we can get you your prize. Thanks to all *70* of you who entered, and check back this time tomorrow - we're launching a huge new contest with massive prizes.

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Cinematical Seven: Brits left to cast in Harry Potter

Jette Kernion — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 21:12:27 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

The Harry Potter movies are slowly but surely depleting a vital resource from the film industry: venerable British actors and actresses. Look at the number of renowed actors from the UK portraying characters in the series: Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Miranda Richardson, John Hurt, John Cleese, Julie Walters, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Dawn French, Julie Christie ... the list is impressive and seemingly unending. Imelda Staunton has just been cast as Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Stephen Fry hasn't appeared in the movies yet, but he's been voicing the narrator in the video games.

I am worried that before the series is finished, the Harry Potter casting directors will have to recruit amateurs or, perish the thought, Americans. Can you imagine Renee Zellweger or Uma Thurman trying to mimic a British accent? Perish the thought.

After the jump, I've listed the top seven remaining well-known British charactor actors that I suspect may be sucked into future Harry Potter films, along with the possible roles they might play.

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Brits left to cast in Harry Potter

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Steven Kloves back on board for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Kim Voynar — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 19:04:55 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films, Newsstand, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

As James Rocchi mentioned last week in his post on the troubles facing the Harry Potter movie franchise, screenwriter Steven Kloves, who scripted the first four Harry Potter films, is not writing the screenplay for the next film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. That film is being scripted by Michael Goldenberg, a Sundance Institute alum and playwright who cowrote the most excellent script for 2003's vastly underrated Peter Pan. Kloves is back on board, however, for the sixth film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and, according to IMDB, is expected to start work on that script soon.

I'm curious to see how a different writer adapting the source material will affect the feel of the fifth movie, and then how they'll bring it back to Kloves feel for the sixth. Goldenberg already showcased his talent for working with fantasy with a dark edge in Peter Pan, so I'm sure he'll do well with Harry. Besides, J.K Rowling maintains tight control over the films, and I can't imagine she'd let anyone stray too far from the tone of her books.

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Harry Potter beats crap out of Johnny Cash: Weekend Box Office

Karina Longworth — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 17:00:05 EST

Filed under: Box Office, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

The post to follow can be summed up in one sentence: "Holy crap - that Harry Potter movie made over a hundred mil this weekend."

With only the mildest Thursday-night-at-midnight head start, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire blew away the box office competition this weekend, earning $101.4 million - roughly 4.5 times the gross of the number two film, James Mangold's Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. Its $22.4 million isn't exactly a disappointment - that's the kind of number that most frame-topping films have been raking in for the past few months - but the whole add-up certaily makes you wonder where that $100 million worth of ticket buyers are when there are no teen wizars flicks in the cinemas. Elsewhere in the top ten: the 50 Cent movie is dieing, Pride and Prejudice is thriving, and big stars like Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal and Catherin Zeta-Jones are watching their films tank. Jump with us for the exact numbers.

Continue reading Harry Potter beats crap out of Johnny Cash: Weekend Box Office

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Last chance to enter our Harry Potter caption contest

Karina Longworth — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:03:06 EST

Filed under: Site Announcements, Contests, Insert Caption, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

You know you want that Goblet of Fire soundtrack we're giving away ... so what are you waiting for? Head on over here and enter our latest caption contest. You have until 2pm EST this afternoon.

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Harry Potter: Braving the 12:01 showing

Tom Biro — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 10:01:03 EST

Filed under: Fandom, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

On Thursday evening, my local AMC Theatre was having a big showing for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, with seven of the 16 screens showing the film. Before I even purchased my tickets - about three hours before the showtime - two of the screens already registered sellouts online, but I was still a bit skeptical. As we know, it's still a Thursday night, most schools in the area don't have Friday off for any holiday or teacher conference, and something that gets out in the area of 3 a.m. is going to turn away some people. Boy, was I wrong.

The particular showing I was in was probably about 75% full, but I think four of the shows ended up registered as "sellouts" for the theatre. The mix of people varied in ages. I didn't see as many adults/parents as I would have expected, but there were quite a few people from the local university, and a ton of junior high and high school-aged kids there, and not just from our town. The dress-up was in full effect, even for the older people there. I saw a lot more prop glasses than at previous premieres for this series, and the scarves were everywhere - probably because of the 30 degree temperature drop in the 24-hour period before this film hit the scene.

Continue reading Harry Potter: Braving the 12:01 showing

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Cinematical Seven: Harry Potter spin-off possibilities

Keith McDuffee — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 14:01:14 EST

Filed under: Fandom, Cinematical Seven, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

As many Harry Potter fans have heard, the next book released in the series is reported to be the last. Harry and friends will wrap up what they've set out to do, and that'll be how things will end. Or is it? Is it possible that the series could thrive on in another form, perhaps as a spin-off of some kind?

Here are my picks, in order, of the most likely scenario for spinning off the Harry Potter franchise:

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Harry Potter spin-off possibilities

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Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

James Rocchi — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 10:54:02 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Theatrical Reviews, Family Films, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire, Comic/Superhero/Geek

One of the best lines in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is brief, but it does a lot to explain why these films are as good as they are - which, by the standards of kid's entertainment, is very good indeed. Long-standing friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and title star Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) are feuding, and Ron has asked third-party Hermione (Emma Watson) to convey some information to Harry, even though Ron and Harry are standing about 20 feet apart. Hermione explains how someone told Ron that Hogwarts gamekeeper Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) wants to see Harry, and Harry snaps back how Hermione can tell Ron that ... and Hermione explodes with tears, crying out her frustration at how foolish her dear friends are being and the hurt it's causing: "I'm not an owl!"

If you've read or seen any of Harry's earlier sagas, the line doesn't just make sense (in Harry's world, letters between wizards are delivered by enchanted owls); it actually moves you. It's a brief exchange that speaks to the carefully-crafted mythology and world screenwriter Steve Kloves has managed to flesh out even while paring down J.K. Rowling's increasingly-large books. It also shows how well the actors who've been with the series from the start are able to sell a piece of dialogue that mixes real feelings with this world of fantastic wizardry. The Potter saga works so well because it manages to mix the fantastic and the real, combining natural teen social anxiety with supernatural mortal peril, mixing the hurts of adolescence with the wounds left by curses and claws. Directed by Mike Newell, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire may not be anything new, nor is it as distinctive as Alfonso Curarón's take on the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban, but it's a remarkable piece of teen entertainment that has scares, laughs, fantastic visions and a real heart.

Continue reading Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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WSJ on challenges facing Harry Potter

Karina Longworth — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 14:31:33 EST

Filed under: Warner Brothers, Movie Marketing, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

A couple of days ago, James Rocchi detailed the seven biggest challenges facing the Harry Potter franchise. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal chimed in with a couple more. Being the Dow Jones-lapdogs that they are, WSJ reporter Kate Kelly points out the obvious - it's all about money - but the fiscal problems are all wrapped up in the bigger problem of demographics.

There's no denying that the franchise has milked huge pools of money for Warner Brothers. That's great, but each picture has made slightly less money than the last, whilst costing slightly more to produce. Research shows that the youngest demographic has already abandoned the franchise, and Goblet, with its rumored darkness, should only continue that trend. The Potter pics thus have to gain older viewers as they lose the kids. Warners marketing drone Dawn Taubin isn't worried about making that happen. "Each book is a year later; everybody in the book is a year older," she says. "And so I think that the audience ends up trending a little bit older as well."

But how are we defining "older"? Are they talking about losing 3 year olds and gaining twenty-somethings? Does that even seen possible? In my highly scientific research, I've come to the conclusion that there's sort of a wide demographic, from about college-age to young-parent age, that pretty much missed the boat on all this Harry hullabaloo. At 25, I've *never* cared about these movies or book, and there's not a wizard love triangle that's going to change that - at the same time, I know people well into their 50s who can't get enough of this stuff. How do the filmmakers (as James pointed out, they seem to change with every film) tackle the age problem, without bleeding the fans they already have?

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Caption This: Harry Potter edition

Karina Longworth — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 13:55:41 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Site Announcements, Warner Brothers, Family Films, Contests, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire, Comic/Superhero/Geek

You lucky, lucky Cinematical readers. Slap a caption on this image, and if it's the funniest one in the lot, a copy of the soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire will be yours. As we've mentioned before, the soundtrack includes three new songs by the Brit-pop supergroup hacked together for the film, including members of Pulp, Radiohead and Add N to (X). Get captioning - you only have until 2pm EST this Friday afternoon.

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Cinematical Seven: Quidditch Rule Changes

Tom Biro — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 12:03:02 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Cinematical Seven, Five Days of Fire, Remakes and Sequels

Never fear, Quidditch lovers. Even with the Triwizard Tournament pre-empting the sport's season at Hogwarts for Goblet of Fire, we should be privy to some great scenes from the World Cup event, featuring mascots and cheerleaders of all shapes and sizes. In celebration of what has to be one of the best things that's come out of the Harry Potter series (in my opinion, at least), we here at Cinematical would like to share some possible rule changes we would add to Quidditch, were we on the game's development committee. So without further ado...

Fake snitches: What could be more amusing than having our hero, heroine, or bad guy chasing after a Golden Snitch that wasn't even the winning one? The potential for Bludger-ing is compounded with this change, one that would take away the easy win for those who deftly chase the little bugger.
Moving goalposts: I mean, c'mon - there are three goalposts on each end, and they're 50 feet tall and just standing there. Make 'em spin or at least swing back and forth, even slowly. Let's see how magical you really are, flyboys and girls.
"King Me" - a la checkers or getting a queen in chess, we'd come up with a novel way to make it so, at least for a short time, there could be multiple seekers. And heck, with more than one snitch, you'd need them.
Penalty shots: Whacking someone with your club without hitting a Bludger first gives a free shot to the whackee. What's that you say, there are already penalty shots? Oh, yeah - we forgot. You have to use a blindfolded goaltender - they're magicians after all - if Luke Skywalker could do it, then some half-blood could too.
Bludger Reversi: For every five Quaffle-based goals a team scores, the next Bludger shot will immediately return to the person who smacked it - even if it's the goal scoring team.
"You're it": Adding a fourth type of ball to the game (making it five altogether) that no one has control over. It just sits down on the pitch, and proceeds to randomly go after a player for some amount of time, with similar effects to a Bludger. Interfering with the "it" ball results in a penalty shot for the other team.
Power Play: Not like the hockey rule with the same name, this is an extra 10 point bonus that a team receives if it can throw two Quaffles through the goal posts simultaneously.

What do you think? Any good ones in there, or can you one-up these with your own?

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Japanese Harry Potter paper art

Kim Voynar — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 09:03:15 EST

Filed under: Warner Brothers, Fandom, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

Even our sister site, thedesignweblog, is getting in on the Harry Potter action, posting today about this nifty paper craft model of Buckbeak, available only in Japan. It's made totally of paper, which is very cool when you consider the wings move when you turn the paper gear.

In addition to the Buckbeak model, Don-Guri.com sells models of the Knight Bus, which opens up to reveal tiny seats, and has a miniature Harry waiting by the lightpost. My fave, though, is this paper model Quidditch Game -- my kids would be totally drooling over if I showed it to them.

The catch is that you have to be able to read Japanese to place the order, because I can't find an English option on their site. But if I can find someone to help me order this stuff? My eight-year-old will be the envy of all her Harry Potter-adoring friends.

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Cinematical Seven: Celebrity Patronuses

Mark Beall — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 19:00:10 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, Cinematical Seven, Five Days of Fire, Remakes and Sequels

In the Potterverse, wizards that are powerful enough can cast a "patronus" spell, which summons an animal-formed avatar to protect them. These avatars often take a shape that is somewhat reflective of the wizard who summoned it. Harry, for instance, summons a powerful stag- the animal form that his animagus father had been capable of becoming. We here at Cinematical pondered the question: if celebrities could summon patronuses, what form would they take? We present for your consideration our top seven choices, in no particular order.

Ben Affleck - Aflac duck. I only say this because every stinking time that duck is on television, I want to see Ben Affleck guest star in his commercial. They are about at the same acting ability, after all.
Ozzy Osbourne - Bat. C'mon, you know it's already inside of him anyway. This choice is, of course, putting aside any arguments regarding only good wizards casting patronuses, because I don't think there's any doubt in anyone's mind that Ozzie would be a Death Eater. That is, if they'd take him.
Mary-Kate Olsen - Stick Bug. I tried to come up with the thinnest creature I could imagine. Unfortunately, that was Mary-Kate Olsen. So I moved to my second thinnest, the Stick Bug.
Harrison Ford - Wookie. He's owed a life debt, after all. Don't tell me that Harrison Ford is just an actor playing Han Solo, I don't believe you.
Keanu Reeves - Rock. You know it's not an animal. I know it's not an animal. But nobody has told Keanu, and doggone it, he believes.
Ted Kennedy - Pink Elephant. Because he's drunk a lot. Get it? Ted is special because most patronuses are silver/whiteish. But silver elephant just doesn't really turn into a good joke.
Tom Cruise - Xenu the Alien. You know, the supposed creator of the world or whatever according to scientologists, although apparently none of them actually like to admit to his existence, or speak his name.

There are a million possibilities out there, people. You know you want to add to our list. Comment!

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Harry Potter special to air on A&E

Kim Voynar — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 18:32:48 EST

Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Family Films, Movie Marketing, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

A Harry Potter special will air on A&E November 17 at 10PM. According to the A&E website, the show will feature clips from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, interviews with the stars, and an anthology of the development of the three main characters, Harry, Ron and Hermione, through the series. The show will air again several times, in case you miss it the first time around.

[via Mugglenet.com ]

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Cinematical Seven: Harry Potter rumors that officially are untrue

Kim Voynar — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 15:28:54 EST

Filed under: RumorMonger, Fandom, Cinematical Seven, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

If you're a Harry Potter fan, you've no doubt visited the official Harry Potter site maintained by the books' author, J.K. Rowling (or "Jo" to Harry Potter fans - hey, she says on her site!). If you've never been there, check it out. It's full of lots of interesting stuff about the boy wizard. One of my favorite places on the site is where she dispels rumors about the Harry Potter books and movies. A lot of them concern Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, not the Goblet of Fire movie coming out in four days, but here are some of my fave rumors from the site:

The Lestranges were really sent to kill Neville, not his parents. - Nope, but it is all tied in with the mysterious prophecy.
The last part of the prophecy ("neither shall live while the other survives") means Harry and Neville will have to kill each other. - No, it doesn't, but Neville is tied in with the prophecy in another way.
Dumbledore's old friend Nicolas Flamel will come to Hogwarts to teach potions. - That would be a neat trick, because he's dead.
Luna is really Snape's daughter. - Interesting though it would be if Snape found someone actually willing to reproduce with him, he most definitely did not produce a child with Luna's mother.
JK Rowling doesn't want people referring to Voldemort as Voldy. - She says that was all a big joke. But calling him Morty is strictly verboten (kidding).
Dumbledore is really Ron or Harry from the future. - Cool idea! But not true, according to Ms. Rowling, er, Jo. But she thinks it's keen that readers are so creative in their rumormongering.
JK Rowling is not really talking on her site, but has other folks writing for her. - According to the source herself, it's really, really her.

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Daniel Radcliffe branches out from Harry Potter

Kim Voynar — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 11:04:57 EST

Filed under: Casting, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

Daniel Radcliffe, known throughout the world as Harry Potter, is trying on a new character for size. Radcliffe begins filming in Australia this month on the film December Boys, a 1960s-era film about four orphans competing for the affections of the same family. Aussie news site The Sunday Mail has a great interview with Radcliffe where he discusses the film, for which he is working on perfecting an Aussie accent with a dialect coach. Radcliffe says in the interview that while he is attached to Harry Potter as a character, he wants to have a long career as an actor.

Radcliffe will film December Boys for six weeks, then will return to England to immediately start filming the next Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

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Why promote Potter?

Martha Fischer — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 10:03:06 EST

Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

Richard over at The Movie Blog asks an interesting question in a post today: why bother spending so much money promoting Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a movie that has a massive, built-in, incredibly enthusiastic audience? The series of books are blockbusters with very limited promotion, and there are countless websites devoted to Potter in print and on-screen - it's not as if the millions of fans of the franchise would skip the movie were it not being promoted constantly in the media. I mean, what are the ads/interviews/TV spots doing, making them want to see it MORE? They were already going to buy tickets, after all.

I'm sure the studio would say that the advertising juggernaut is aimed at creating new, possible older audiences - but how many people who will see this movie have never seen a Potter film or read a Potter book before? Very few, I'd imagine. What do you guys think? Is Warner Brothers wasting money trying to drum up an audience that's already there with money in hand?

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Magical Mugglecast of Goblet of Fire NYC premiere

Kim Voynar — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 08:02:55 EST

Filed under: Warner Brothers, Fandom, Tech Stuff, Movie Marketing, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire

Those folks over at Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron are some amazing fans. They went to New York City last weekend for the big Goblet of Fire premiere, and teamed up for a fantastic live podcast from Barnes and Noble at Union Square before a huge crowd of fans. In addition, they have a ton of pics (including the great shot of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint above) up from both the premiere and the podcast.

Highlights of the podcast include:

The crew discuss the film in detail (SPOILER ALERT)
GOF: Better than POA? "YEAH!!!"
Dumbledore: Too aggressive?
Rita Skeeter (played by Miranda Richardson): not returning in the fifth film?
Dan Radcliffe: Looking forward to filming the Book Six scenes with Ginny (Bonne Wright) - and she's looking forward to "the kiss"!
Bickering with the fans over the proper pronunciation of J.K. Rowling's name
J.K. Rowling wasn't at the premiere because her husband had appendicitis
Words from the real, live Emma Watson and Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory) via cellphone from the after party!
Does Mad-Eye Moody suck?
Ginny Weasley gets more face time in GOF!

Check it out! Great podcast of an exciting evening for Harry Potter fans in New York City.

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Cinematical Seven: The Trouble with Harry

James Rocchi — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 23:05:51 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, Family Films, Cinematical Seven, Harry Potter, Five Days of Fire, Comic/Superhero/Geek

"Dark and difficult times lie ahead, Harry ..."
- Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

As Potter-mania falls across the land, it seems like a good time to look forward at the franchise and ask ... is all well for Harry's magical movies? I've enjoyed the films and the books, but as I watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to review it for Cinematical this week, my mind couldn't help but turn to my inner crystal ball of film prognostication, and I'm wondering if troubled times lie ahead - not merely for Harry and his friends, but also for the films themselves. How could I think any such thing? Bear in mind I'm not, as the kids say, ''hatin' on' Harry Potter' (and I partially wanted to write that sentence so I could combine two phrases rarely seen in such proximity), but skepticism can creep into anyone's appreciation. There are more than a few things I can see as concerns to contemplate for the future of the franchise, and they all lie below, titled Rowling-style.

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: The Trouble with Harry

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