Get what you can through older clips like the one above, because it looks like Moaning Myrtle is getting more to moan about. Snitch Seeker, a Potter fan site, contacted Shirley Henderson's agency, and they confirmed: "I'm sorry to report that Moaning Myrtle has not made it into the latest film." That's right -- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will get none of the moaning cutie. In the realms of the plot, this means that Myrtle won't be able to console Draco Malfoy after Harry performs the Sectumsempra spell on the tow-headed wannabe baddie.

I'm beginning to wonder if the final two-parter announcement is not only to handle all that's packed inside the last installment, but to have enough room to give all the beloved characters their time on screen. At least, with two films, I would hope that they wouldn't have to cut anyone completely out. The only thing that sucks more than a character cut for time, is a character cut when the time is already doubled.

What say you, Potter fans? Is Myrtle an okay exclusion?

[via Ace Showbiz]

One of the best casting decisions in recent memory is Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter. The kid just looks like the spitting image of the literary icon, and he wears the scar and glasses like they're completely natural, like they've always been there. But can you imagine the Potter world without Radcliffe? Like, could you imagine William Moseley being the guy that gets to befriend Hermione and Ron, come onto Cho Chang,* chum up to Dumbledore, and take on Voldemort?

The actor recently talked with MTV, and mentions that he was up for the part of Harry, but that "I don't quite fit the bill, I think." Moseley certainly would've been a much different choice. Luckily, losing that role left him open to play a British child in a different epic, fantastical gig. He plays Peter Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise.

He admits that he wonders what it would have been like, but that "if I could have chosen one part for myself, I would have chosen Peter every single time." So from an actor's perspective, he's happy with Peter, but I wonder, who is your preferred hero?

*Edited thanks to Monster. I don't know why I keep calling her Chen....

Yes, I'm sorry to say it, but we officially won't be getting any Harry Potter next year. After Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince premieres on November 21of this year, we're going to have to wait almost two whole years for Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Coming Soon reports that the first part is set to hit theaters on November 19, 2010, with the second and final installment coming the next summer in 2011. It's nice that Potter fans won't have to wait a full year to see the Part 2, but it's still sad to think that so much time will pass before we can start wrapping up Harry Potter's life on-screen.

The end is still a few years off, but it still brings to mind the start of this cinematic whirlwind. When all this started, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Tom Felton were just wee little things. Check out that cute, bespeckled face above. It's hard to believe this is the nude boy who hurts horses in Equus. How times change. Just imagine how old they'll be and look by 2010!

It's been a busy week for Emma Watson. Not only did she turn 18 (a landmark which caused no small amount of cheering among the guys I know -- you pervs!), and not only did she inherit her Harry Potter fortune, but now she's landed her first real non-Potter role. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she is going to star in Napoleon and Betsy, a historical romance written and directed by Benjamin Ross. It is set to begin shooting in the fall to work around the scheduled 2009 start of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Watson will play Betsy, a young and headstrong noblewoman who is trapped on the island of St. Helena. There, she meets and falls in love with the exiled Napoleon. It's based loosely on a true story -- the real Betsy was all of thirteen, and wrote a book recalling how Napoleon enjoyed playing childish games with her and her siblings. Not quite Harlequin material. I can't help but think that a movie about a playful Napoleon might be more interesting than a bodice ripper. (Possibly, bodices will not be ripped.) The role originally belonged to Scarlett Johannson, who gave it up when the film headed in a younger direction. She is still set to produce the film.

As Napoleon was 46-years-old when exiled to St. Helena, they must really be aiming for the "creepy" level. Perhaps Hollywood will re-imagine him as a handsome twenty-something. I'm envisioning James McAvoy, at least for Watson's sake.

A Harry Potter fan broke down on the stand in court yesterday during the trial for the case brought against him and RDR Books by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling over a published version of a Harry Potter lexicon. According to this AP piece over on Yahoo about the trial, Steven Vander Ark, a devoted (some might say slightly obsessed) fan of the Harry Potter series, got turned onto all-things-Harry while working as a children's librarian at a Christian school; since then, the now 50-year-old fan has devoted countless hours to building and maintaining the online Harry Potter Lexicon, one of the most popular web sites for fans of the series.

Of course, we've all been following this story for a while now. Rowling never took issue with the website, which included lists compiling all the characters, creatures and spells from the massive and hugely successful series. The trouble started when RDR contacted Vander Ark about doing a print version of the Lexicon. Vander Ark was smart enough to get a clause in his contract that specified the publisher would be responsible for legal expenses if they got sued for copyright infringement -- bet he's glad now he thought ahead about that.

Quick, name of all of Matt Damon's fictional brothers -- in order -- from Good Will Hunting!

How good are you at movie quizzes? Have you ever stumbled across a quiz and thought, "This is way too lame -- I could've come up with a much cooler quiz than this?" Are there still a plethora of undiscovered topics out there? And speaking of the word 'plethora,' what movie is this line from: "Jefe, would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?" Okay, I'll stop now. But check it -- Moviefone just launched this really cool feature where you can create your own movie quizzes and share them with other like-minded individuals. Don't feel like creating a quiz? Well, then go exploring around -- there's already a ton of quizzes created by other folks for you can partake in.

Right now, I'm seeing quizzes on the Star Wars Trilogy, on Tom Hanks movies, on celebrity voices, on Harry Potter films, on Will Ferrell, on Pixar Movies, on hidden things in movies ... and the list goes on. There's also a leader board which you can aspire to land on one day. So head on over to Moviefone, create a quiz, take a quiz, what have you, then come back and let us know your favorites. (Also, feel free to pimp your own quiz in the comments section and we'll all run over and take it.)

UPDATE: We've added a clearer version of the image above.

You'll have to excuse the blur in the photo above; it's a scanned version of a photo that's popped up in the new issue of Nick Magazine, and has surfaced over at a Brazilian Harry Potter fansite called Oculemencia. Here, we get our first look at Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) as they sit around in the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione seems to be reading a paper of some kind, and Ron is just hanging out, staring at the two as if to say, "Can we just, like, go see Horton Hears a Who or something?"

This photo will now be added to the first one that was released back in December. It also follows the recent news that the final Harry Potter flick, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be split into two films. David Yates is expected to direct. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will arrive in theaters on November 21.

[Thanks to Enock]

Collider recently caught up with blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer during a press junket for National Treasure 2, when the subject of the big screen version of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia came up. Bruckheimer tells Collider that Persia is set to begin shooting this June. Unfortunately it all hinges on whether the writer's strike has been resolved, since Bruckheimer admits that the script is far from complete, saying, "we have a screenplay, we're just starting to develop the look of it" -- which roughly translates to "my assistant has made some notes while playing the game," I'm guessing. The original plot of the game centered on Prince Shahraman, who is tricked into unleashing a plague on his land and gains the power to control time. Of course, there is also the usual video game goal of rescuing a princess.

Back in November, Chris had reported that Harry Potter director Mike Newell had been offered the job. Well, it seems that Newell is officially on board since Bruckheimer told the site, "We hired a very interesting director, Mike Newell, who did one of the Harry Potter's and also did Donnie Brasco and he's a very inventive, ingenious director and I think he's going to bring something really special to it." The film is expected to work in some of the plot elements of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

The third person action game released by Ubisoft back in 2003 was a huge fan favorite. Combined with the outright suckiness of most video game flicks, there is a lot for Newell to overcome if he wants to make sure that audiences are happy with the final product. Two more sequels to the game were released in '04 and '05, so there is plenty of opportunity for additional films. Considering Bruckheimer's fondness for franchises, there is a real possibility we will be seeing more of the Persian Prince in the years to come.

There's less than a year now until we get the next installment of the Harry Potter series and finally nip at the end of all this wizardry. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled to come out on November 21, 2008 -- the week before Thanksgiving. So with less than 12 months to go, it's time to start getting that swarm of tantalizing pictures. First up isn't so tantalizing however. In fact, there's a decent chance you wouldn't recognize it as a new one -- it's right there, to the right. You can click on the image to make it bigger.

Harry looks like, well, himself, and I have to agree with Empire, who put the picture up -- Daniel Radcliffe looks a little bit younger. Perhaps it's the fact that he's fully-clothed, and not showing off his man-boy pecs, or that he isn't smoking and hugging horses. It could also be the airbrushing. Is that really necessary? You don't want to remove signs of age from a kid. He shouldn't have to struggle with that until he's at least...25?

But there you have it. Hopefully the next one will be much more exciting, because well, there's a whole lot of stuff coming up in this installment. Even darker than the previous stories, this tale has the clan back at Hogwarts while Voldemort and the Deatheaters gain strength. Dumbledore uses some fancy magic to prepare Harry for the days ahead, while Harry also gets an earful of Ron and Hermione's arguments. Draco, meanwhile, has the chance to become a tried-and-true bad guy, rather than just a wimpering bully, and Snape now teaches the Defense of the Dark Arts class. And if you've read the series, or happened to have seen that spoiler t-shirt, you know that there's also one heck of a twist on the way.

ComingSoon.net has the latest poster for the big-screen version of The Spiderwick Chronicles, and I'm afraid it is just another installment of one-sheets that I think looks pretty 'blah.' Sure, they all have the same look and feel, but since they aren't exactly the most eye-catching designs in the first place, this is not necessarily a good thing. Directed by Mark Waters, Spiderwick is based on the best-selling fantasy series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. This is the third poster release for the film, and there was also a teaser trailer released in July. I'll admit that after watching the teaser, I couldn't help but think the whole thing seemed an awful lot like Pan's Labyrinth -- but without all of the trauma.

Set in the US, the story revolves around three siblings who stumble across a "field guide to faeries" that opens up a parallel world. While the trio are discovering all kinds of benevolent little creatures, they come across some slightly less-friendly ones as well, and the latest poster even works in a little menace by adding 'Beware' to the heading. The family flick stars Sarah Bolger as Mallory Grace and Freddie Highmore as both Jared and Simon Grace. Rounding out the cast is David Strathairn as Arthur Spiderwick and Mary Louise Parker as Helen Grace.

There were over 12 books published as part of the series, including supplementary books, so there is a lot of material if Nickelodeon decides to make a franchise out of the film. Now that The Golden Compass' future is a little less sure, maybe Spiderwick can take the place of the "heir to Harry Potter" for children's fantasy films. The Spiderwick Chronicles opens on February 15th, 2008.

I love reading about who was supposed to be in roles, especially those roles where you can't imagine any other actor doing it justice. Sometimes the casting changes are a positive change, and sometimes they're just teamed with actor's wrong choices. This story is one of the latter. While talking to MTV, Tim Roth discussed how he was tapped to play Professor Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, the role that became famous because of Alan Rickman. Why didn't he take the role? He wanted to be in Planet of the Apes. Ouch. Bad choice!

Roth said: "I was going to do both films. We rigged it so that I could fly back and forth. They figured out the schedule, but it just got to be overwhelming in my mind. my kids really liked the books. They were really into me doing it, but the idea of being an ape with Tim was too good." I wonder what his kids think about this decision, or if he regrets it at all, but isn't admitting it. If he had taken the role, he'd be closer to Snape's age in the books, which was late-30s. Instead, they went the Interview with the Vampire route (the super-old Armand) and got Rickman, who is currently 61.

Roth says he would have made his Snape "a very different guy." For sure! Can you imagine Roth as Snape? Would he have done an ever better job, or was the scheduling conflict a great gift to the series?

Oh yes, that's little Danny Radcliffe. It's kind of hard to imagine him as a little kid now, between the darkness and turmoil he's gone through as Harry Potter, and the fact that he showed all of his naked, birthday-suit goods to audiences on the theatrical stage. Still, he wasn't always a teen hero, or ballsy young actor. There was a time when he was just a young boy, one who could only dream of future fame; one who had no idea that he'd one day be one of Britain's richest teens.

Courtesy of Before They Were Famous, the above clip has Radcliffe as part of the audience in BBC Saturday's children's show, Live & Kicking. Ignore the year, which looks like "1988" in the actual clip -- Radcliffe wasn't born yet, and the show wasn't on air until 1993. Whoops! Still, that's Daniel in all his young glory. The actor is definitely one of those people who will probably look the same their whole life.

One of the most popular Harry Potter websites, the Harry Potter Lexicon, has gotten on the bad side of series author JK Rowling over plans to publish the site as a book. Website ars technica reports that Rowling and Warner Brothers have teamed up to sue the publisher of the Harry Potter Lexicon, RDR Books. Steve Vander Ark, the lead publisher of the online Lexicon, wants to publish in book form a compilation of all the materials from the website, but Rowling, who has in the past praised the website and been on friendly terms with Vander Ark, apparently is none-too-pleased about a print version of the material.

Rowling's side of the argument revolves around the point that while she was fine with the Lexicon's online version, because it is freely available and no one is making money off it, a print version crosses the line because there's money involved now. Rowling posted the following on her website on November 9:

At a reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Friday night at Carnegie Hall, author J.K. Rowling revealed what many fans have suspected all along: Albus Dumbledore is gay. The outing of Dumbledore came during a question and answer period following the reading, when a young fan asked if Dumbledore ever found true love. "Dumbledore is gay," Rowling responded. Gasps, prolonged applause. So now it's official, Potter fans, Dumbledore is out of the closet.

Rowling, who has since the publication of the final book in her enormously popular series, revealed to fans bits and pieces of the back stories that aren't in any of the books, further elaborated that Dumbledore was smitten by his former friend and later rival Grindelwald, who figures heavily into the last book, and that his love for Grindelwald blinded him for a while to the Grindelwald's true nature. Rowling called Dumbledore's love for Grindelwald, "his great tragedy" before noting with a laugh, "Oh, my god, the fan fiction!"

Rowling revealed that while working on the planned sixth Harry Potter film, she noticed a reference in the script to a girl Dumbledore once loved, and passed a note to the director, David Yates, revealing to him the truth about Dumbledore's sexuality. Fans have long suspected Dumbledore was gay -- he's had no significant relationship with a woman, and his past has always been clouded in mystery.

Rowling noted that some Christian groups already don't like the Harry Potter series because the books allegedly promote witchcraft. Dumbledore being gay, as she noted will give them one more thing to not like about it. Not that Rowling -- or most Harry Potter fans -- seems to care.

It may sound like a non-concept, but I've been waiting for a big, comedic spoof movie that all takes place in the realm of a food fight. It could be placed in a school cafeteria, a fancy restaurant full of old fogies, or anywhere in-between. I imagine this desire comes from the delectable food fight in the crappily-lovable '80s flick, Two of a Kind. (You know, that Olivia Newton John/John Travolta flick that wasn't a musical.) Considering the fact that enjoyable flicks have been made about missing cars, parties, and everything in-between, I'm sure the jokes could be found. However, since that dream is still far from reality, I'll have to settle for a little bit of The Candy Shop War, and hope that they at least have one good scene of candy-throwing and messiness -- melting chocolate, whipped cream -- the works!

The Hollywood Reporter tells us that New Regency Productions has picked up the rights to Brandon Mull's novel, The Candy Shop War. The book centers on "four kids who learn that their town's candy shop owner is a wicked magician in search of an ancient talisman rumored to be the source of eternal youth." Eternal life might be cool, but youth? That just sounds like a bad Claudia scenario. Anyhow, the plan is to have this film appeal to both tykes and adults, in a push to be the replacement for the soon-to-wrap Harry Potter series. So far, no producer has been been picked. But here's a crazy thought: instead of trying to cash in on the Potter fanbase with similar themes, why not come up with something fresh? New ideas have a better chance than a million similar stories trying to all be the same thing.