Want to see Daniel Radcliffe and Bonnie Wright in their late thirties? I’ve been sort of hoping that the epilogue at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows wouldn’t be included in the movie, just because it’s unnecessary to the plot and the heavy makeup and/or recasting would be distracting. They’ve gone the makeup route, but I’ve got to say it looks better than expected:
A ton of unfinished footage from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — both parts — was screened at the recent ShoWest festival/convention. It hasn’t seemed to leak anywhere online (not yet, anyway), but CinemaBlend was on hand to tell you what was shown:
The first scene of the extended trailer was Harry and Voldemort’s confrontation in the woods outside Hogwarts. Harry, bloodied and visibly terrified, approaches a cold Voldemort (flanked by Bellatrix Lestrange); Voldemort taunts Harry, “The boy who lived, come to die.”
The footage shown came from all sections of The Deathly Hallows, so it’s impossible to tell where they will split up the two movies. We saw little bits of everything, from the seven Harry Potters escaping from the Dursleys house (totally surreal) to the attack at Bill and Fleur’s wedding to the escape from Gringotts on the pale dragon and even Hogwarts on fire. With unfinished effects it’s hard to really say how it all looks, though some of the most effective moments were the simplest– Ron and Harry’s fight in the tent, Harry visiting his parents’ graves, running away from the Snatchers in the woods, Harry defiantly telling Voldemort that he stays alive “because I have something worth fighting for.”
Trends come and go, and lately it might seem like the Harry Potter phenomenon has been usurped by the latest craze: The Twilight Saga. And yet, if you look at the numbers, it doesn’t add up: Harry still wins.
The Twilight Saga: New Moon opened this past December to a record-breaking $143 million opening in North America. But fifteen weeks later, it has managed to climb to $296 million — a few notches less than Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’s $302 million total. By the time New Moon finally leaves theaters when the DVD and Blu-Ray come out on March 20th, it will have reached around $297-298 million.
Now naturally, Twilight should be applauded for capturing the hearts and imaginations of women around the world, and a gross just shy of $300 million is a wild success by any measure.
But the aging Harry Potter franchise still managed to beat it. (Worldwide grosses are even more pronounced: Harry Potter made $934 million versus New Moon’s $706 million.) Now we’ll just have to see how The Twilight Saga: Eclipse performs versus Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Part I in this coming year.
They don’t show a heck of a lot, but still, these are indeed official production photos from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The first one seems to take place in 12 Grimmauld Place, while the second could be a lot of things. Right now my guess is it’s right before Harry, Ron, and Hermione infiltrate the Ministry of Magic. Check ‘em out:
While browsing YouTube I managed to find all the deleted scenes on the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince DVD. You can check them out below.
The first half or so are mostly conversations between Harry and Hermione about how and why Draco is disappearing from the castle grounds. After that we get a disturbing story from Dumbledore, the extended pre-climax sequence I posted earlier, and some extended moments between Harry and his friends at the end.
One of the deleted scenes on the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just leaked online. Check it out:
It’s easy to tell why they cut it, especially in the late stages of editing when they’re trying to trim the length of the movie down. But even though nothing really happens, it works great at establishing the mood, and would’ve been very cool as part of the lead-up to the violent climax.
You can see this and other scenes when the movie goes on sale on December 8th.
On September 29th, its seventy-seventh day in release, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince broke the $300 million mark here in the U.S.
It’s only the second Potter film after the first, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, to do so.
Overall, grosses for the Potter movies have been climbing since Prisoner of Azkaban:
Sorcerer’s Stone: $318 million
Chamber of Secrets: $262 million
Prisoner of Azkaban: $249 million
Goblet of Fire: $290 million
Order of the Phoenix: $292 million
Half-Blood Prince: $300+ million
But the budgets have also gotten bigger. For some reason, IMDb lists Half-Blood Prince’s budget at $250 million and Order of the Phoenix’s at only $150 million. Wonder what caused the spike?
Of course, when these movies are making $800+ million worldwide, it doesn’t matter a whole lot.
This week, Warner Bros. and Universal officially announced that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter — part of Universal Orlando Resort’s Islands of Adventure theme park — would open in the spring of 2010. This first video is your basic “get excited!” preview, featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson talking it up:
This next video is actually much cooler — it basically takes you on a 3D tour through the entire park:
Buried inside their press release is also a full rundown of what to expect from the park:
– 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
It looks awesome, no doubt. But the only thing that really concerns me is the utter lack of rides. Shops all over the place, but for rides, all we get are two roller coasters that were actually already there and are simply being re-branded to fit with the theme of the park.
Well, there’s also the “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey” attraction, which they’re being deliberately vague about. It’d better be good considering that’s the only part of the park where you actually get to see the inside of Hogwarts.
Harry and Hermione walk through Hogwarts hall (26 seconds)
Harry and Hermione discuss Marauder’s Map (1 minute)
Harry, Ron, and Hermione discuss the Vanishing Cabinet (1 minute, 4 seconds)
Harry and Dumbledore arrive at cave entrance (38 seconds)
Harry and Dumbledore leave cave (19 seconds)
Clouds gather over Hogwarts as Flitwick conducts choir (1 minute, 39 seconds)
Harry joins Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in the Common Room (40 seconds)
Harry and Hermione discuss Ron at Astronomy Tower (42 seconds)
So in other words, a lot of Harry and Hermione, with an extended Harry/Dumbledore cave sequence.
Interesting. The finished film already had a lot of Harry-and-Hermione-being-good-friends scenes, which I thought was a nice touch that had been under-explored in earlier movies. I’m surprised that there was even more.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince made $2.5 million at the U.S. box office this weekend after seven weeks in theaters. Its total gross is now $294.3 million — which, as of Friday, is higher than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’s $292 million gross.
That makes Half-Blood Prince the second-highest-grossing Potter film ever, behind only Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’s $317.6. It’s still possible for it to break the $300 million mark, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Plot and Cast Info
Young wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are facing new challenges and dangers in the wake of Lord Voldemort's return.
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, Helena Bonham Carter
Directed by: David Yates
Produced by: David Heyman, David Barron
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
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