What do you do when your best-grossing movie franchise is near its end? You try to prolong it, of course. This may be what Warner Bros. has decided to do with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the adaptation of the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series. According to The Mail on Sunday, "crew working on the sixth Potter film, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, have been told J.K. Rowling's seventh book, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, will be released in two halves." But the decision -- if true -- is claimed not to be about squeezing more money out of the boy wizard. Instead the studio would split the final book over two films because the book of Deathly Hallows is way too long to appropriately condense it into one feature-length release. Of course, the book of Order of the Phoenix was even longer and they made that one into a single movie.

The move to extend Harry Potter 7 so that it's Harry Potter 7 and Harry Potter 8 seems to make sense for both financial and artistic reasons, and it also seems appropriate after the confirmation that The Hobbit would too be spread out over two films. Considering none of the other attempted fantasy franchises have been received very well, the idea that both the Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings franchises would be extended appears to be a good one for both Hollywood and the fans. Who cares if Warner Bros. does want to do this for the money? You hardcore Potter lovers know you'd rather have another movie to watch, especially one that allows more of your favorite scenes from Deathly Hallows to make it in. Apparently Rowling agrees that the adaptation of her book needs to be at least longer than 4 hours -- and anybody thinking they can keep the kids seated for a single, 5-hour movie would have to be crazy. And speaking of crazy, that's exactly what The Mail on Sunday is for thinking Steven Spielberg could be the "big-name director" expected to helm the two-part Deathly Hallows and for thinking that Warner Bros. could seriously be hoping for an Oscar-worthy finale.

Well you didn't expect that much time to pass before folks started having a bit of fun with this whole Dumbledore is gay thing. As you may recall, late last week J.K. Rowling outed the character during a reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, sparking much debate on this blog and across these great internets. So, you might be wondering, what's left to discuss? How about a list of some other memorable childhood characters who, quite possibly, wouldn't surprise us in their coming out of the closet. Yes, both Vulture and Radar went there, providing readers with two different lists full of fictional characters who could -- dun dun dun -- be ... gay!

Over on Vulture, they target such beloved characters as Fozzie Bear from The Muppet Show, Schroeder from Peanuts, The Flash (is it because he's flaming?), Spock from Star Trek, and -- here's the shocker -- Lando Calrissian from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. (I think the cape is what does him in, but that's me.) Radar, on the other hand, has Willy Wonka (a fine choice, if I may say so myself) on their list, as well as Happy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Samwise Gangee from Lord of the Rings (Sam's not gay, he's just ... emotional), The Grinch from How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Mr. Tumnus from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Check out both lists and let us know what you think -- is this taking it a bit too far? Or, are there characters they're missing?

While we've entered the afternoon here on the East Coast, it's still fairly early on the West Coast, and so at least it's morning somewhere in the country. I'm sure most of you are well aware by now that J.K. Rowling officially "outed" the character of Dumbledore during a reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Friday evening at Carnegie Hall. When a fan asked whether Dumbledore finds "true love," Rowling responded: "Dumbledore is gay." Furthermore, she revealed that Dumbledore (who is headmaster of Hogwarts) was at one point in love with his rival, Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards.

Reaction to this news so far has been mixed. Some fans couldn't care less when it came to Dumbledore's sexual preference, as the news doesn't change anything in the books. Others, like some of our commenters, would've liked Rowling to keep this information to herself. One reader, Jessica, had this to say: "Bringing his character from a great role model to a power hungry maniac, but now she says he was gay and in love with his rival?? Why make the series into a soap opera? If I had known before, I never would have read them and allowed my daughter to read them as well." Another reader, Dan, chimed in with this: "I think it was totally unnecessary to make this an issue one way or another in the Harry Potter series. I mean, come on, imagine if Disney said Cinderalla was really bi-sexual and secretly in love with Anastasia. Nothing seems to be off bounds today. How sad."

So, what do you think: Should Rowling have outed the character publicly like that? Should she have kept it to herself and, instead, let the fans draw their own conclusions? And, in your opinion, does this help or hurt the series as a whole?

Deadline Hollywood is reporting an exclusive scoop -- Universal Studios has set a plan to build a Harry Potter theme park inside the grounds of Universal Studios Florida. According to Nikki Finke, this story dates all the way back to 2005, when it was reported that Disney was debating whether or not to create a Harry Potter theme park in Singapore. The company was apparently engaged in "protracted negotiations' with J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. to secure rights to the project. That plan morphed into the current one, with Universal stepping into the picture and going into negotiations with Warner Bros to build the Universal Studios facilities. According to Finke, the deal is now "set in principle, but terms are still being finalized." Which could mean anything, of course.

Finke also notes that until now, the closest thing to a Harry Potter theme park that's been built is the Alnwick Castle, location of Hogwarts School, so it's somewhat of an untested idea. To date, the Harry Potter books have sold more than 325 million copies and have been translated into over 60 languages. The fifth of seven Harry Potter films, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is due for release this July, with the remaining two films coming soon. We recently brought you the news that negotiations with the three leads for the final films have been sewn up, after some dispute as to whether Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger, would be returning to finish out the series. With plans for the film series finalized and the theme park plans supposedly afoot, it looks like J.K. Rowling won't have to get a day job anytime soon. Stay tuned to Cinematical for all the latest.

Yes, the time has finally come for all you hardcore Harry Potter fans -- and, it looks like you will have a whole eight days to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix up on the big screen before diving head first into the the final book in the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was announced today that the seventh Potter book will hit bookstores at midnight on July 21, and will sell at a suggested retail price of $34.99, which is five bucks more than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince went for.

What does that extra five bucks get you? Well, there's a good chance the book will either match or exceed the 600-page mark and, heck, this is the last Harry Potter book ever -- I think it's worth five more dollars. However, those of you tight on money will be happy to know that Amazon has already said they will be selling the book for $18.89, and you can reserve your copy through them right now if you'd like. Of course, now that we know when the book will arrive -- allowing you fanatics to begin counting down the seconds -- this means we have exactly 171 days before finally finding out how J.K. Rowling decided to put an end to her beloved character. We all know she has stated that two characters will die in the final installment -- will Harry be one of them? Oh, I'm just overflowing with anticipation (not really), as you probably are as well.

Midnight. July 21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Be prepared ... be very prepared.

The time has come, and J.K. Rowling has finally announced the title to the seventh and final Harry Potter book -- how excited are you right now? I can almost taste your excitement from here (kind of has a chicken-esque flavor, but whatever). However, Rowling doesn't just come out and tell you the title of the book -- oh no, you must play a game of hangman (foreshadowing anything, are we?) in order to discover the name.

Since I'm somewhat of a fun guy, I'm not going to reveal the title to you here. I mean, what fun is that when Rowling and her group of merry programmers have taken the time to create this game for you to play. In order to begin your journey, you must first visit Rowling's official website and click on the eraser on her desk. From there, you must follow these directions (courtesy of HPANA):

1. Click doorway in mirror to see Christmas tree.
2. Click on the top half of the door to get the wreath.
3. Click on the top of the mirror to get the garland.
4. Click on the spider web right next to the door to make them go away.
5. Click the 4th chime in the window and get the key for the door.
6. Drag key to unlock the door.
7. Door opens to show a desk with a package.
8. Click the bow on the package and it will open.
9. Click the inside of the package and a game of Hangman is shown where you can play a game to guess the name of the seventh book.
10. You can keep playing till you get it right and when you do a check mark will appear.

Good luck my fellow Potter fanatics!

[via Coming Soon]

After all the rumors of the sixth Harry Potter film being directed by someone with track record, or even a returning Chris Columbus, SlashFilm is reporting that Michael Hoffman is in final talks to become the director of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. For who that don't know him by name (which is probably the majority of you out there), he is the guy who directed Kevin Kline in The Emperor's Club and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He also made some other films that weren't that interesting, at least the imaginative sort of way that is needed for the Potter series.

This is some pretty disappointing news. I don't care if Hoffman is a former Rhodes Scholar or that he's directed Shakespeare (with Calista Flockhart, mind you) -- he just doesn't seem appropriate. Let's recap the rumored contenders to see what might have been better, shall we? In March, Alfonso Cuaron said he could be interested in doing another Potter. In May, there was an idea that Terry Gilliam might get the gig. In July, there was mention of M. Night Shyamalan, which would be interesting to see, but horrible to accept. I even heard somewhere that Columbus might be back. As for the current IMDb listing, David Yates is credited to stick around after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The thing is, it might not matter too much who the director of #6 is since some of the original players may be gone by the time someone is hired. And who could blame them when Warners is pulling out names like Michael Hoffman? I imagine being one of the Potter kids is like having a new stepfather every other year. And the latest one is into faeries.

Dobby, the house elf who got no respect (and now that I think about it, he does look like Rodney Dangerfield) in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets continues to be dissed by the powers that be behind the Potter films. The good-hearted but troublemaking imp has appeared in all of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels since his first appearance in Chamber of Secrets, but has not appeared in the film adaptations of the subsequent books. Now, according to actor Toby Jones who gave voice to the character, it's been revealed that Dobby will not be appearing in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the David Yates directed sequel that's due in 2007.

"I know that the filmmakers have a problem with each new film because the books are getting longer - there's so much to include in them," Jones has said. True enough. The longest book in the series is Order of the Phoenix with a page count of 870. I suspect when the as yet untitled seventh and final book in the series is released it will be thick enough to choke a hippogriff, and with stories this rich in detail some elements just won't survive the translation to the screen. Harry's abusive Uncle Vernon Dursley and his family were missing from the film version of Goblet of Fire, as was Molly Weasley, matriarch of the ginger-haired Weasley clan. Like Dobby, all of these characters lent nuance to the story, but while the hardcore Potter fans may be willing to sit through a twelve-hour movie, the average filmgoer will not.

While MTV News is pointing out the fact that Dobby's absence from the new film will require another character to perform certain crucial actions to propel the story, this is hardly a new issue. In the book version of Goblet of Fire, Dobby was the one to give Harry the gilly weed that allowed him to breath underwater during the Tri-Wizard Tournament. The filmmakers found a way around Dobby's absence from the film, and I'm sure they can do it again.

Jones appears to be taking it all in stride. "The thing I feel very, very proud of is the fact that I get mail just about every week of the year from all parts of the world -- very nice mail thanking me for that way I voiced the character and saying how accurately I did it," Jones commented. "So it's a great addition to my life and a very unexpected one. I had no idea that the character would have that much impact."

If you just can't bear the idea of another Potter film without a house elf, fear not -- Kreacher, servant of Sirius Black's family will be appearing in Order of the Phoenix.

[via VH1.com]

I suppose you can call him the American version of J.K. Rowling, as R.L. Stine has already pushed out the very popular children's book series Goosebumps, as well as Fear Street and The Nightmare Hour. Now, 20th Century Fox has decided to pick up the film rights to Stine's latest series, The Rotten School.

With eight titles (damn, does this dude write fast or what?) currently available at your local book store, The Rotten School is gaining popularity and could be a huge franchise for Fox, if they decide to go that route. Story focuses on a character named Bernie Bridges and follows him on a ton of zany adventures as he constantly looks to disrupt everyday activity at his boarding school by scheming against teachers and rival students. Right now, there's no cast or director attached. The ninth book in the series is due out this November and, by the time I'm done writing this, I'm sure a tenth book will be finished as well.

Those of you who are die hard Harry Potter fans may want to close your eyes for this story, as it has to do with the death of your beloved hero. As J.K. Rowling finishes up the final book in her blockbuster series, all focus appears to be centered around one very important question: Will Harry Potter die?

Rowling has admitted that two characters will die in the seventh book, though one does get a reprieve. Hmm, is Harry one of those two characters? While folks like Stephen King and John Irving are against the death of the world's most famous boy wizard, Harry Potter himself is all for a kick-ass climactic death scene. That's right, Daniel Radcliffe wants Harry gone ... for good. According to the actor, "It may be the only way the evil Voldemort could be killed is if Harry dies, because there is a strong connection between them." Seems plausible. Then again, there was a strong connection between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader ...

[via Movie Blog]

J.K. Rowling is killing two characters off at the end of the seventh, and final, Harry Potter book. I know this news more directly relates to literature than movies, but it will certainly affect the film franchise, and since I stopped reading the series after #5 (I nearly even gave up on the films, but I finally just saw Goblet of Fire and was surprised to find it is the first great Harry Potter movie), and the fact that the books have been discussed here before, I find it appropriate.

Because I didn't read the sixth book, I couldn't tell you with logic who the two might be, although just about everyone thinks one of them will be Harry. Even Rowling hints at this: "I've never wanted to kill him off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books and that's where I want to go." Does that mean she did want to kill him at the end? She also told Britain's Channel 4 on Monday that she understands the desire to kill off the main characters in the end so that nobody else can resurrect them after she's done.

Then again, she says of her most recent draft of the final chapter, "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say that two die that I didn't intend to die." So that could mean that Harry is not one of these two. Perhaps he's the one who got a reprieve? The thing is, if you think about her comments, there is no certainty that only two will die. Heck, she could have killed off every character but the saved one.

The best way that I can relate to this is, what if George Lucas had killed off everyone at the end of Return of the Jedi, except Chewbacca? Okay, I'm sure many would have enjoyed seeing the Ewok village go up in flames.

• Bee Season - Richard Gere as a rough-boy sailor in An Officer and a Gentleman? OK. Richard Gere as a singing and dancing attorney in Chicago? Convincing enough. Richard Gere as a Jewish husband (of Juliette Binoche) and father exploring the mysteries of God through the flawless spelling of his daughter? Oy. Many parts of this existential drama about the ways in which a brilliant 11-year-old (Flora Cross) affects her family are sketchy, as no one of the characters is well-drawn enough for us to care about them too much. Genius was captured far better in films like Little Man Tate and Searching For Bobby Fischer.
 

Seeing as Cinematical celebrated its very first birthday recently, I couldn't help but jump at the chance to incorporate the whole what-to-do into this week's Trailer Park. Normally, birthdays are a time for celebration. In Cinematical's case, we're celebrating the fact that, not only have we survived one whole year on the internet, but we've also managed to become the best source of movie anything one can find for, um, free. And I'm not just saying that because I write for them. Seriously, I'm not. What are you staring at? Don't you believe me?

However, birthdays also mean we're getting older. And getting older means we're that much closer to throwing in the towel. So, in order to hide the fact that we're so afraid of the future, we throw parties, sing songs, buy cards, bake cakes, light candles and make wishes. We create rules: In order for your birthday wish to come true, you must blow out all of the candles in one breath and not tell anyone else what you wished for. We want to feel like, no matter how old we are, we're still very capable of following our dreams. And that's a good thing.

In some way, shape or form, the following movies all have to do with birthdays. Whether we're on a quest for love, a journey to find ourselves or a mission to help someone else, these films proved life is about experience and not some crummy Hallmark card. Oh joy, Cinematical is getting older on this week's Trailer Park...

• Breaking News - Hong Kong action director Johnny To delivers this watchable Woo-alike about a police force that loses the support of the public when a robbery goes bad and is covered by a local news program. The set pieces are pretty tight, even if the drama and the statement To tries to make about the power and responsibility of the media doesn't fully come through.
• Free Enterprise: Special Edition - A self-effacing turn akin to Marlon Brando's in The Freshman and Pauly Shore's in Pauly Shore Is Dead is William Shatner, sending up the cult of personality that has followed him since the original Star Trek series ended its five year mission two years early in 1969. When fanboys Rafer Wiegel and Eric McCormack meet their boyhood idol, he is far from the super-cool man for all seasons they have long worshiped. He's bent on staging a one-man musical version of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, a great running joke that culminates in the brilliant payoff that is the Shatner/The Rated R rap duet, "No Tears For Caesar". Writer-director Robert Meyer Burnett has created a love letter, not just to Trek, but to anyone who has ever loved anything with fanatical passion, and this long-overdue 2-disc treatment gives it the respect it was not afforded when it was first released in 1999. Check out the Pop-Up Video style trivia track, which annotates the geekery, new special effects, the making-of feature Where No Man Has Gone Before, and the unaired TV pilot, Café Fantastique, which features the real fans who inspired this smart, hardy-har-har trek. A sequel, My Big Fat Geek Wedding, has been listed on the IMDB for nearly 3 years now, and Mindfire Entertainment's website features a rudimentary mention of it, though no firm details are available as yet.
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Special Edition - Death, and the gloomy heft that comes with it, visits Hogwarts in the fourth and most satisfying installment in the ongoing series so far. When an evil thought vanquished literally rears its ugly head again, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermoine (Emma Watson) team up to expose it. Like the overwhelmingly dark Revenge Of The Sith, this is the first to bear the PG-13 rating (for "sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images"), though its decidedly down ending makes it feel more like The Empire Strikes Back. It is not unreasonable to expect studio Warner Brothers to keep their three leads on through Harry Potter and the As-Yet-Unwritten-and-Untitled Year 7 Story. This, of course, is despite the fact that they will be in their early 20's by then, but let us not forget that at least one of the 90210 kids was practically eligible for Social Security by the end of that run. Even at 157 minutes, the book has still been truncated, but it is doubly encouraging to know that kids will know what is missing and will sit still for that long in order to be able to go on smartly about it. The second disc is chock-full-o' extra goodies, and is available in full- and widescreen editions. A single disc version is also available.