When I saw the name of Warner Brothers' new website for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I was concerned. I worried that JoinDumbledoresArmy might be some sneaky plan by the Bush administration to draft our youngsters into fighting overseas. But after closer inspection, the site appears legit. It allows you to enroll alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione to fight the Dark Arts and also to send messages to Dumbledore's Army that will appear on the website. The messages that have been left so far range from the heroic -- ("We must band together against the Dark Lord," says Larry R.) to the cryptic --("I'm of Brazil, yeah!!! LOL," says Eder F.) to the profound -- ("EEEEEEEEEEEE!" says Katie A.)

Once you enroll in the Army, you can download wallpapers, skins, banners, images, and buddy icons. I must admit, I did not enroll -- I fear a 26 year-old man signing up for "Dumbledore's Army" would surely put me on some sort of pedophile watch list -- but I did play the site's game: "Dark Arts Defense." The object of the game is to master spells. I won my school's spell-ing bee three years in a row, but alas, those skills did not translate. You have a wand, they give you symbols and you're supposed to trace them out in the air to defeat your opponent. There's a training course, but I got cocky and skipped right over it, which was a mistake. I must say, the game was a lot of fun, but playing it was quite a blow to my self-esteem. The current high score: 318,071. My score: 6.

Today it was announced that Warner Brothers and Electronic Arts are developing a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game that takes advantage of all the newly-made console goodies that have come with the likes of Wii and the PS 3. As Harry grows up, so does his video world. The Goblet of Fire game bumped the Potter franchise up to "E 10+," so I wouldn't be surprised if the return of Voldemort bumps the new game up to a big ole "T for Teen." Since they plan to closely follow the book and film, I imagine that bodes well for adults who want a more mature gaming adventure.

Fans will get the chance to "ooh" and "ahh" over the scenes of the film, which will become the backdrop for the game. The press release also states that the game will follow the "thrilling adventures outlined in the rich narrative of the book." I would imagine this means they're taking the Matrix approach to gaming with this next release -- a game that fills in the blanks of the film. This might be just the key to appease fans who are upset with inevitable, disregarded pieces of the plot.

I, for one, might pick it up just to play a little Sirius Black, who is one of the available characters aside from Professor Dumbledore, and obviously, Harry himself. Dan ny Trejo has fought on the streets of New York, so it's high time for Gary .

[via Coming Soon]

OK, movie marketing has officially gone retarded. I completely understand why movie nuts get all excited for the newest posters, trailers and plot synopses, but we've moved into an age in which we get press releases about promotional clips for cryin' out loud! ("Tune in next week for a piece of EPK material!!") It's almost as if the selling of the movie is more important than the quality of the... oh wait, did I say almost? My bad.

So what's the lastest bit of marketing madness that's spun me into such a dorky dither? Well, Warner Bros. just released a trailer clip for Harry Potter and the Organ of the Codex (or something like that), but it's not even a full trailer! It's only 10 seconds long! It's a teaser FOR a trailer! Pretty soon we'll get movie titles that are announced one syllable per month. What's next, is Quicktime going to charge me 50 cents to watch the full trailer once it's released? (Note to WB: If you go through with the pay-per-trailer scenario, you owe me $3.2 million.)

The new clip swept by so quickly, all I had time to think about was "Wow, Harry looks older" before I caught a glimpse of Alan Rickman and that girl who plays Hermoine -- who, mind you, is (definitely) still too young to be considered aesthetically attractive. (In print, anyway.)

Harry Potter and the Opal of France opens July 13. Start planning your costumes now.

[Special note: This rant represents my court-appointed Harry Potter post for the month of November. Erik said it was mandatory, which I believe is the direct opposite of voluntary.]

UPDATE: The first official full-length trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will debut this Monday at 3PM EST, and can only be viewed on HappyFeetmovie.com -- even though the film Happy Feet has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Coming Soon has also nabbed ten new photos from the pic. Enjoy!

[via AICN]

We are now within one year of the next cinematic installment of the Harry Potter franchise (based on the popular book series of the same name, if you were somehow unaware of the fact), and you know what that means, don't you? Correct! It means it is time for the Potter information to start finding a way onto the Internet, and today's little update comes to you via a particularly fanatical Daniel Radcliffe fan website. Now some of you crazed Dan-Fans probably already know this if you keep a watchful eye on the site, but Radcliffe the webmaster has just shared several new images from the set of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the pictures section of his the page. None of them are particularly amazing, but they're all spoiler-free for those of you who are concerned with such things. There's also a handful of older pictures there, in case you are the square sort of person who doesn't check daily. Don't worry, though: I'm sure this is just the tip of the set-report iceberg.

As we draw nearer the return of Harry Potter to the silver screen, the additional cast is slowly shaking into place. The key players, of course, are all returning (the list of those recalled grows longer and longer with each flick), and new cast members continue to be added to fill out the always growing Potter cast of characters. For the most part, I've been rather satisfied -- and often impressed -- with the casting decisions made by the various Potter teams, and I hope to see the trend continue for the fifth film.

The latest character from the Potterverse to be cast is Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, now confirmed to be played by Helena Bonham Carter. Carter's name -- which has been associated with the role since May -- immediately brings to mind two films for me; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (as Charlie Bucket's mom) and Big Fish (as Jenny). I liked Carter in both of these roles, and she actually did just a little bit of being a witch in Fish, but not so much the Death Eater sort of witch. I'm going to go on record now and declare this an excellent casting decision. I can't wait to see Death Eaters in action.

On a side note, the studio also announced the musical composer. It will be Nicholas Hooper, who has a history of working with director David Yates.

After four films, it has practically become a game -- name the new Harry Potter director! In what has come to be amusing referred to as the "revolving door of directors," the incredibly popular Potter franchise has featured a new helmsman with every flick after the initial two. Sure the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) changes in style are occasionally notable, but the series itself continues to maintain powerful box office force despite the constant changing of the directorial guard. And with each successive successful film, the title becomes more and more of a prize for hopeful directors to win. It also simultaneously becomes more and more challenging; nobody wants to be the guy who screws up Harry Potter (if that is even possible).

It has already been whispered that ex-Python Terry Gilliam has been approached about directing one of the remaining two (David Yates has already been attached to part five), and now a new name enters the rumor fray -- and like Gilliam, it is a biggie. M. Night Shyamalan recently said he was approached way back at the start to direct film one, but was too busy with Unbreakable at the time. What he calls the "dance" continues today, apparently, as interest is still strong in bringing Shyamalan to the Potter family. I haven't decided what I think about this yet, so comment away and help me make up my mind.

Hold onto your broomsticks, Harry Potter fans. IMDB reports that Gary Oldman may not be returning in the role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The movie has already begun filming and Oldman, who played Sirius in the last two films, reportedly has yet to be signed for a reprise in Order of the Phoenix. The character of Sirius plays a crucial role in the storyline, so presumably someone will have to play the part. I can't imagine Warner would cast someone else in the role, so hopefully whatever issues are preventing that from happening will be resolved fairly quickly. Mugglenet, which is probably a more reliable source than IMDB on all things Potter, says they talked to Warner Bros, and that Warner confirmed negotiations are still underway with both Oldman and David Thewlis, who plays Professor Lupin.