 "Photo: www.rottentomatoes.com")
The literary and cinematic stars are in alignment for Harry Potter fans this summer, with the release of the movie adaptation of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and release of what author J.K. Rowling says is the final book in the series "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows," both due out in July.
The movie will be realeased July.11, 2007. J.K. Rowling's last book in the series is due to be released one week after the new film's opening.
The well-crafted movie adaptations boosted the profile of the already-popular books to new heights, creating the now-perfect storm of Harry Potter mania. What will Potter fans do with Harry when the series ends?
They will have two more movie adaptations to look forward to, after the release of this summer's book five movie. The movie series has accumulated an impressive cast of supporting actors, from Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Robbie Coltrane and Michael Gambon to Gary Oldman, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter and Jason Issacs, to name a few.
This time the director is David Yates, who is set to also direct the next Harry Potter film but whose previous work was mostly in television. Both directors Mira Nair ("The Namesake," "Monsoon Wedding") and Jean-Pierre Jeunet ("Amelie," "City of Lost Children") were asked to direct this film but declined.
The movie series has gone through several directors, and Yates is only one of two directors to helm more than one, but the cast has been more stable so far. The characters age a year for each book, but since the films have been taking longer than a year to make, there has been speculation about a change in cast.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson are back again for this next film, and the series' studio, Warner Brothers, has announced that all three principle actors will return for the next two films, completing the series.
But all good things come to an end, as the saying goes.
There is of course a plethora of Web sites devoted to all things Harry Potter, and the number of fans is legion. One popular website is the Leaky Caldron (www.the-leaky-cauldron.org), devoted to both the books and movies and including a count down to the release of the last book.
Doubtless, each fan has their favorite site. Depending on how Rowling ends the series, and security is tight on that, the series might be continued in some fashion by fans.
The back story on Harry seems pretty complete but the prequel is always a possibility, plus spin-offs on other characters in Harry's world. Where author J. K. Rowling goes next after her spectacular success is also unknown at this time. Speculation alone can fuel web content for awhile.
Be the first to comment on this article!