In this week’s episode we reviewed Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince….sure took long enough for this movie to come out! We were joined by our friend and special guest Greg in Toronto who had some great insights into the movie. We talked about our overall impressions, the acting, the theme of the movie, the rating and many other very interesting subjects!

We also gushed about Azkatraz 2009, the Harry Potter conference we attended last week in San Francisco, CA. If you like what you heard and are interested in Infinitus 2010, check out the Infinitus website and get on their mailing list ASAP!

We also briefly discussed the move of the Harry Potter Exhibition to Boston, come October 25, 2009. The exhibition will be held at the Museum of Science in Boston.

Listen to Greg’s guest spot on the live Hogs Head PubCast from Azkatraz. They talked about Harry Potter as Legitimate Lit.

Also, check out the newest article about our Hitler Video that Greg was quoted in.

Make sure to let us know what you thought of the Half Blood Prince!

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

The Museum of Science and Industry is excited to announce that it will play host to the newest Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at the Omnimax®, Chicago’s only five-story, domed theater. The Museum is the only large-format theater in Chicago to show the film on its world premiere date, and one of only three in the nation.

To kick off the film’s run at the Museum, there will be four midnight screenings of the film, beginning at 12:01 on Wednesday, July 15 (Tuesday night), with the final screening on 12:01 on Sunday, July 19 (Saturday night). The film will also be shown multiple times daily through Sunday, Sept. 27, to coincide with the run of Harry Potter™: The Exhibition.

For more information, visit the Museum’s Web site at www.msichicago.org or call (773) 684-1414

WHEN:Thursday, July 9, 2009
WHERE:
Ziegfeld Theatre
Crew Arrivals: 4:45 pm
141 West 54th Street
New York, NY 10019
Celebrity Arrivals: 6:00 pm
Screening: 7:00 pm

Celebrities in attendance will be: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Bonnie Wright, Tom Felton, director David Yates and producers David Heyman and David Barron.

Enjoy and make sure to let us know what you think of it!

Tell us what you think of the posters!

(Hat tip: A.S. of MN)

Also, check out the links we mentioned on this week’s episode:

• Candy Bar Lab : A blog exclusively about candy bars. They track down candy bars from around the world and write thoughtful, in-depth reviews with pictures.
• collativelearning.com: An incredible film review website. Make sure to check it out, it is brilliant!!

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download it directly as an mp3

The movies will be playing at different times throughout the 5 days and tickets can be purchased now!

I will be in NY then to see several HP Actors in a certain play….I might have to check this out!!

(hat tip to Fandom Fashionista)

As we discussed on the show, please check out our friend Amber’s Young Adult Literature Podcast at: http://yalitreview.libsyn.com/ also make sure to check out our favorite web show: Jake and Amir.

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

You can listen to the episode using the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

Take a look and tell us what you think!!

In this episode, we discuss the delay, assorted other goings-on, along with a tangential discussion on the recurring occurrences of eyes in Deathly Hallows (first spotted by John Granger – sorry I can’t find the exact link), and what this might (or mightn’t) mean.

Stay tuned for details on our Beedle the Bard contest, we will be putting out rules in the coming days.

This podcast is brought to you by Audible.com. Download a free audiobook of your choice today at http://audiblepodcast.com/hp.

You can listen to the podcast using the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

Please feel free to share and favorite this video.

*The above video was created by us. It should not be misconstrued as mocking the horrific tragedies that befell millions under Hitler’s regime.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting about the fan reaction to the news that the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Movie will be delayed by eight months. They interviewed WB President and Chief Operating Officer, David Horn about the situation and he elaborated on the press release from yesterday. He quashed rumors that the delay is due to production difficulties:

“There is no production delay or production consideration. . . . It feels like we have an opportunity in the summer,” Horn said.

He added that he had seen the film, which is in the final production stages, and that it would “absolutely have been ready” by November. He characterized the shift as a proactive business move, not a retreat. “The question we asked is, what is best for this movie.”

He then continued to explain the following:

Warner currently is riding high with “The Dark Knight,” the Batman film that also stars Bale. The grim super-hero movie has taken in $452 million in the U.S. since its July 18 release, making it the second-highest grossing film ever.

To some degree, that success motivated Warner to shift “Half-Blood Prince,” Horn said. The film will now hit theaters the same midsummer weekend that “Dark Knight” was released this year. Horn said the young, core Potter audience would be out of school and give the film a longer theatrical life.

Horn finished the interview by letting everyone know that “We would never do anything to hurt one of the movies or the series. We love our fans.” And money.

Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer of Warner Brothers said this about the move:

“Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films–changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

We will get you more info as it comes in. This is big news that will sure to disappoint many Potter fans.

UPDATE: One good thing to come out of this: I received this email from the HPEF, the minds behind Harry Potter conventions such as Prophecy, Portus and the upcoming, Azkatraz 2009:

We are in touch with movie theaters within walking distance of the Parc55, the official Azkatraz hotel, and we will definitely be having HBP viewing parties from Friday on.

The IMAX near the hotel – it’s about 3 or 4 blocks away – will not know if they will have the film in IMAX or on regular-sized screens until February or March, but we have reserved an entire theater for the showing at 00:00:01 on July 17, 2009! We are also working to schedule at least one additional showing over the weekend, and perhaps one on Tuesday as well, depending on attendee interest.

Tickets will be available when our registration system goes live in the beginning of next month, and we will have more info about cosplaying, music, and other movie-showing events at Azkatraz shortly.

Be sure to keep checking our website (http://www.hp2009.org) for all the latest updates!!

NICE!

(Hat Tip: AG, friend of DL)

You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

AOL’s version is now up and it is beautiful in HD!! Wow.

Enjoy and tell us what you think!

Here’s a smaller version of the trailer:

UPDATE: We have put up screen shots of the teaser trailer on our Flickr page. Enjoy!

Screenshot of Young Tom Riddle

Screenshot of Dumbledore (not Moses or Gandalf)

As we reported last week, AOL will be releasing the Half Blood Prince Trailer tonight at 9 PM EST.

We will make sure to post a link as soon as we can.

What do you hope to see in this trailer?

ps. while you’re waiting for the real thing, enjoy our version of the Half Blood Prince Trailer made at Portus 2008.

However, today we got a tip from the Spanish HP site, BlogHogwarts.com that the satellite feed of the trailer will be available on aol.com. Here is the report:

I inform you that we contacted Warner Bros. Mexico today, and they
have confirmed to us that the teaser trailer of the upcoming movie
‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ will be exclusively aired in
the AOL website for the USA, next Tuesday 29th. It’s not confirmed yet
if the AOL websites for other countries will have the trailer also,
but they say that this is the first time that a website is going to
set up his satellite signal to transmit the trailer directly =

We will keep you posted with any further developments.

I think we can all agree that the HPProgs/Hogshead collaborative trailer is MUCH better than this one. Can’t we?

Thanks to Travis for joining us!

What do you think? Could this be the new Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince movie poster? (Hat tip to Bill)

WATFORD, England — It’s official: Eight will be the magic number for the “Harry Potter” film franchise.

After months of rumors, Warner Bros. and the producers of the massively successful movies will announce Thursday that they plan to split “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final “Potter” novel, into two blockbuster films — one to be released in November 2010 and the second in May 2011.

The films will be titled, simply, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” according to producer David Heyman. Director David Yates, who returned for his second tour of Potter duty with “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and is quite popular with the cast, will direct both “Deathly Hallows” films, which will be filmed concurrently. Screenwriter Steve Kloves also returns and, by completion of the franchise, will have written seven of the eight films. 

This announcement will bring a flurry of opinions and emotions from hard core Harry Potter fans. I personally think it is a great idea and am hopeful that this means that they will stay as close to the original story line as possible. Plus, this means that there will be continued excitement until at least May 2011 for all of us Potter fans!  (hat tip to Nathalie for pointing us to this!) 

We’ll update with any new information, so stay tuned.

Mark you calendars: the first ever HPProgs call-in show is set to kick off at 11PM EST this Saturday, December 15.  Call in and talk to us about whatever you like!  It’s going to be awesome.  In case you’re too shy (or chicken) to verbally engage us, we’re pretty sure you can listen live.  The call in number is 646.595.4635, check out the call-in page for more details.

Looking for the perfect holiday present for a Harry Potter fan?  Why stuff their stockings with a Harry Potter t-shirt from the HPProgs T-shirt store.  It’ll guaruntee a Happy Christmas.

In the news:

• Jim Dale was nominated for a Grammy.  “Oh Hareeeeeeee!”
• JK Rowling is Barbara Walter’s Most Fascinating Person of 2007.  Let’s hope she wins the Triple Crown.
• The trio actors will be featured on Biography’s “Potter Kids” documentary.  Not to be confused with the “Cosby Kids”.
• Several HP actors have been nominated for Theatregoer’s Choice Awards.  Well done.  Well done.
• Tim Roth as Snape?  Say it aint so!!!!
• Dan says HBP movie is set to be the funniest of the Potter series.  Yeah, I always found the scene where Dumbledore  died funny.  Didn’t you?
• Happy Birthday Charlie Weasley.  Did you have a party for Charlie?  I did.  In my mind (quote from HP Progs listener David E.).
• JK Rowling has updated her site with some good new info.

You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

You can now Pre Order Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix! Just in time for the holidays, and it goes great with an HPProgs original Always T-shirt!!)

No news for this episode, we’ll be back with a regular episode later this week.

You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download an mp3 directly.

In the news:

• The movie is out!
• The book is coming out in NINE days!
• The Baltimore Sun wrote an article about last night’s premiere and interviewed a few local prognosticators.

You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.

Thirteen minutes with some never-before-seen footage.

Plus, we announce the winner of our Logo Contest!

And in the news:

• David Yates will direct Half Blood Prince.
• Yates is looking for actors to play Lavender Brown and a teenage Tom Riddle
• You can rent the suite in the Balmoral Hotel that JKR finished Deathly Hallows in!
• Select myspace users are going to the OoTP movie TODAY!!
• W.O.M.B.A.T. results still up.
• Official website for the OoTP Soundtrack is live.
• Scholastic asks: Will Voldemort be defeated?
• Scholastic to host “Harry Potter Place” in NYC.
• Is Harry Potter addictive? Help a Pennsylvania professor figure this out.

You can listen to the podcast with the player below, or download it directly as an mp3.