Harry Potter News

Harry Potter In The Hollywood News

Originally scheduled to open last summer, but in light of the huge success of The Dark Knight, Warner Brothers decided to delay the release of the latest Harry Potter flick. The newest movie in the franchise, Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, is scheduled for release on July 15. Filmmakers, and Warner Bros. of course, are hoping for another huge summer success with the Potter boy. Time will tell.

So far it’s been an up and down roller coaster ride as far as the box office goes. No one movie has held the top spot for more than 2 weeks. While some movies have hung in the top ten list for a number of weeks, we’ve yet to see the big numbers like The Dark Knight pulled in last year. Of course the latest Transformers flick has predictions of surpassing the record box office numbers of the Caped Crusader from last year. We’ll soon know as the Transformers sequel hits the big screen today.

In the meantime, I do have some Harry Potter news…

• Harry Potter Star May Drop Acting Career
• Author Accused of Plagiarism

Watson May Stop Acting

Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, may give up acting. In a recent interview with Teen Vogue, the 19 year old said “There’s not a burning passion in me that I have to act and I don’t care what I do.” She went on to say, “Until something comes along that I feel as strongly about as I did Hermione like, I felt that it was life or death, I don’t want to act again.”

In other Harry Potter news…

Harry Potter Author Accused of Plagiarism

J.K. Rowling is in hot water for allegedly stealing material from a 1987 booklet for the fourth book in her Harry Potter series. The estate of late children’s author Adrian Jacobs, who died penniless 12 years ago, claims Rowling stole plot elements from, and copied “substantial parts” of Jacobs’ booklet, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard – No 1 Livid Land. The lawsuit claims the material is part of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was released in the year 2000.

The estate claims Jacobs sent the manuscript to a literary agent who eventually worked with Rowling, is taking legal action claiming copyright infringement. As for similarities, the suit says the wizards’ competition and other plot elements from Goblet of Fire, and the idea for the Hogwarts Express, the train on which Harry Potter and his friends travel on, are stolen from Jacobs material.

Of course the publishing house for the Potter franchise is denying the allegations saying Rowling had never heard of Jacobs or his book until 2004. The lawsuit is seeking $812 million.

Yours in entertainment news!
Dr. Rus