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Tag: harry potter

  • Warner Bros. Wants You to Think of HBO Before Max Again

    Warner Bros. Wants You to Think of HBO Before Max Again

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    Eagle-eyed observers might have noticed the change with today’s announcement that Lanterns, a drama series based on DC’s Green Lanterns characters, is officially getting an eight-episode series order at HBO. That’s right: HBO at the forefront, instead of being labeled as a “Max Original” for the oft-renamed HBO streaming service.

    Warner Bros. was designating DC shows as “Max Originals” rather than “HBO Originals” as late as last week, when the latest trailer for The Penguin dropped. But there’s been a shift in the branding, according to a report in Variety that HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys is “moving most of Max’s upcoming big-budget, tentpole Warner Bros. IP projects to under the HBO umbrella.”

    This shift covers shows releasing in 2025 and beyond—so 2024 releases The Penguin and Dune: Prophecy are both expected to still be labeled as Max shows; “the process of licensing [The Penguin] internationally has already started,” Bloys explained. But once the calendar turns over, look for Lanterns, Stephen King-inspired It prequel series Welcome to Derry, and the Harry Potter series that WB is insistent upon making to fall under that HBO Originals banner.

    This switch undoes the previous intention to keep all shows based on WB properties under the Max Originals label, and it came about when Bloys and other execs realized the WB shows weren’t all that different from HBO’s own creations. “As we started producing those shows, we were using the same methods, the same kind of thinking, as how we would approach HBO shows,” he told Variety, noting that there’s even crossover between talent, such as Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof now working on Lanterns. “The idea of the delineation kind of started to feel unnecessary … Let’s just call them what they are: HBO shows.”

    What does that mean for viewers? Not a lot. It means that if you see an HBO Original being marketed, it will get the perceived prestige of being on the HBO linear channel; all HBO shows will still stream on Max. Max-only series will still exist, but they’ll be “more in the broadcast/traditional TV vein” and will have more scaled-down budgets compared to the HBO shows. When asked why the company doesn’t just make every show an HBO show, which would be the least confusing way forward, Bloys said, “I do think it is helpful to have a brand that doesn’t put the expectations or the intention of an HBO show. If it’s not designed to do that, it shouldn’t have to.”

    Make of that what you will. The Penguin, perhaps the last of the DC Max Originals, arrives September 8.


    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Cheryl Eddy

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  • What Happened Between Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Movie Events? Timeline Explained

    What Happened Between Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts Movie Events? Timeline Explained

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    The Wizarding World’s history is magical but not always peaceful. There were periods of great difficulty, such as the Harry Potter film series and its prequel, Fantastic Beasts. Fans witness epic battles between good and evil as two dark wizards attempt to seize power. These series are not the defining moments of the Wizarding World’s history, but an important part of it. Each era had its own important moments that could have reshaped the world that fans love.

    In between Newt Scamander’s globe-trotting adventures and Harry Potter’s time as a student at Hogwarts, there were a number of other major events that occurred. Major wars took place within the British Wizarding community, battles were waged between secret societies, and, of course, many characters enjoyed lighthearted adventures that embodied the thrilling magical world the characters lived in. While the franchise does tend to revolve around Harry Potter and Newt Scamander, they are not the sole focus of this world.

    What happened after the events of Fantastic Beasts series?

    After the Fantastic Beasts film series, Albus Dumbledore faced Gellert Grindelwald in a terrifying duel on November 2nd, 1945. Despite his longstanding affection for Grindelwald, Dumbledore confronted him, ending the Global Wizarding War. Grindelwald was imprisoned in Nurmengard, a prison he had built himself, and would remain there until his death at the hands of Lord Voldemort. This event marked the beginning of the end of the Wizarding World and the beginning of the end of the Global Wizarding War.

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    Harry Potter and The Prisoners of Azkaban

    Dumbledore’s victory over Grindelwald solidified his position as the world’s greatest wizard, securing his vaunted skills and the world’s most powerful wand. He later became the Headmaster of Hogwarts, a position he would maintain for his entire life.

    Not much is known about the world’s history after that. Based on the little information that is provided, it can be assumed that the Wizarding World enjoyed twenty-five years of peace, as there were no major conflicts until Voldemort made his first grab for power.

    However, it can be speculated that the most significant events during this time was the education of a young Tom Riddle and his eventual transformation into the Dark Lord Voldemort. Beyond that, little else can be said regarding the major events between Grindelwald’s fall and Voldemort’s rise, something the people of this universe are probably grateful for.

    Lord Voldemort’s rise 

    Lord Voldemort spent his years at Hogwarts and preliminary murders during the Global Wizarding War, preparing to travel the world and immerse himself in the dark arts. He built connections at Borgin and Burkes, learned more about the dark arts, and eventually befriended Hepzibah Smith, a collector of rare artifacts. He murdered Smith to acquire the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff and the Locket of Salazar Slytherin, but he vanished from the public eye for years.

    Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter (IMDb)

    While there are no exact details about what Voldemort did during these lost years, it is known that the Dark Lord traveled across Europe and Asia, acquiring more and more knowledge about dark magic and gaining several followers from the less-than-reputable parts of Wizarding society.

    During this time his experiments resulted in physical and mental transformations that, while they did make him stronger, ultimately turned him into a monster, finally reflecting what was inside him. The gang of companions he had at school had now become an organization that followed him known as the Death Eaters.

    His rise to power was stalled by his former teacher, Dumbledore. During this time, he had risen to positions of authority in the International Confederation of Wizards and the Wizengamot. Dumbledore used these positions to enact legislation that would reduce the threat of dark magic to Wizarding society in England as a whole, delaying Voldemort by years.

    Voldemort applied for the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor position at Hogwarts, aiming to recruit students and explore Hogwarts for the Sword of Godric Gryffindor. However, Dumbledore refused, and Voldemort placed an unknown jinx on the position to prevent anyone from holding onto it for more than a year.

    The Wizarding War and the fall of Lord Voldemort

    Voldemort initiates his first open attacks on the Wizarding World, using his followers to attack muggles and the Ministry of Magic. He plans to exhaust them and topple the government to establish a new world order. As his actions escalate, he attacks witches and wizards deemed “blood traitors” and “mudbloods,” and has Death Eaters take high-level positions within the Ministry to destabilize it.

    Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (IMDb)

    With the Ministry not being effective at combating Voldemort, Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix, a small group that could take the fight directly to the Death Eaters. During this time, James and Lily Potter defied Voldemort’s offer to join his side, earning them his ire and they were shortly married after the event, eventually having their son, Harry Potter.

    During the First Wizarding War, Dumbledore met with Sybil Trelawney, who aimed to impress him and become the Divination teacher at Hogwarts. Despite unsuccessful attempts, Trelawney entered a magical trance and prophesied the birth of a wizard who would rival and defeat Lord Voldemort.

    Severus Snape, a Death Eater, overheard the Dark Lord’s plan to kill Harry Potter and defected to Dumbledore’s side to protect Lily and her family. Dumbledore agreed, but was betrayed by Peter Pettigrew, leading to Voldemort’s murder of James and Lily.

    Despite his efforts, Voldemort failed to kill Harry, causing his curse to rebound and breaking his power. The First Wizarding War ended, allowing the Wizarding World over a decade of peace, but Voldemort would eventually return to cause more chaos.

    ALSO READ: Daniel Radcliffe Shares Whether He Will Cameo in Harry Potter TV Reboot; Read

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  • Daniel Radcliffe says that J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric makes him ‘really sad’

    Daniel Radcliffe says that J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric makes him ‘really sad’

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    Daniel Radcliffe has responded to J.K. Rowling’s expectation of an “apology” for his advocacy on behalf of trans youth.

    On Tuesday, The Atlantic published a lengthy profile of the former Harry Potter actor, in which he went deep on a number of topics, including his long history of support for LGBTQ+ people.

    Daniel has long been an outspoken advocate for the rights of trans youth, even as Rowling has directly called him out. In a recent post on X, Rowling responded to a fan who said that they were waiting on a “very public apology” from Radcliffe and his co-star Emma Watson, calling the two actors “celebs who cozied up to a movement intent on eroding women’’ hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors.”

    In response to that specific incident, Daniel merely told The Atlantic, “I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ+ people, and have no further comment than that.”

    Elsewhere in the profile, though, Daniel spoke to the general tenor of his relationship with the author — or lack thereof. He revealed that he has had no direct contact with Rowling since June 2020, when she first published the lengthy blog post in which she repeated well-worn anti-trans tropes, including the specious idea that trans activism clears the way for men to impersonate women in order to assault “natal” women in bathrooms and changing rooms.

    (Never mind that almost half of all trans people have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives and are four times more likely than cis people to be victims of violent crime, including rape and sexual assault.) “It makes me really sad, ultimately, because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic,” Daniel said.

    He added that he and his co-stars, including Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, were often subjects of mockery by the British press for showing support for trans people.

    “There’s a version of ‘Are these three kids ungrateful brats?’ that people have always wanted to write, and they were finally able to. So, good for them, I guess,” he said. The actor added that while “nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without” Rowling, “that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.”

    Daniel also said that his work with the LGBTQ+ suicide prevention organization The Trevor Project made him feel as though not speaking out “would have seemed like, I don’t know, immense cowardice.”

    “I wanted to try and help people that had been negatively affected by the comments,” the actor said. “And to say that if those are Jo’s views, then they are not the views of everybody associated with the Potter franchise.”

    Elsewhere in the profile, Daniel touched on his history with The Trevor Project, which he’s been working with for 12 years. When he was first introduced to the organisation in 2009, the actor said he saw an opportunity to help: “If there was any value in a famous straight young actor who was from this film series that could be useful in the fight against people killing themselves, then I was just very keen to be a part of that.”

    Lastly, that work helped him realise that Harry Potter is a low-key gay icon. “A lot of people found some solace in those books and films who were dealing with feeling closeted or rejected by their family or living with a secret,” he said. (After all, Potter did literally live in a closet cupboard under the stairs.)

    A version of this article was originally published on Them.

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    James Factora

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  • Miriam Margolyes Says She Worries About ‘Harry Potter’ Fans Because “They Should Be Over That By Now”

    Miriam Margolyes Says She Worries About ‘Harry Potter’ Fans Because “They Should Be Over That By Now”

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    Harry Potter actress Miriam Margolyes has some thoughts about the people who are still superfans of the famous film franchise.

    During an interview with New Zealand’s 1News network, Margolyes was asked how Harry Potter and Blackadder fans approach her differently when they see her in public. She explained that fans of the British sitcom that starred Rowan Atkinson usually ask her to say “Wicked child.” But instead of answering the question about Harry Potter, she decided to share how she feels about the fandom.

    “I worry about Harry Potter fans because they should be over that by now,” Margolyes said. “It was 25 years ago, and it’s for children,” clarifying, “I think it’s for children.

    The actress portrayed Professor Pomona Sprout in the film franchise. Her character taught herbology and was the head of the Hufflepuff House. While speaking with the host, Margolyes seemed confused about the fact that those who grew up with the books and movies are still so engrossed in the Wizarding World, despite being adults at this point.

    “They get stuck in it,” she explained. “I do Cameos, and people say, ‘We’re having a Harry Potter-themed wedding, and I think, ‘Gosh, what’s their first night of fun going to be?’ I can’t even think about it. No.”

    She did note, “Harry Potter is wonderful. I’m very grateful to it” but doubled down on her original thought, which is that “it’s over.”

    It could be argued that Harry Potter is, in fact, not over, considering Max is currently developing a seven-season series based on the books by controversial author J.K. Rowling, who has received criticism for her anti-trans comments over the years.

    Margolyes previously made headlines in September 2023 for accusing her Little Shop of Horrors co-star Steve Martin of “horrid” behavior on set. In the film, there’s a scene in which Martin’s Orin Scrivello hits Margolyes’ dental nurse. In her memoir, she claimed he actually hit her repeatedly while they shot the scene.

    Martin denied her accusations in a statement at the time and noted that he was surprised that she even wrote that because there was never any physical contact between them.

    “My memory is that we had a good communication as professional actors,” the statement read. “But when it is implied that I harmed her or was in some way careless about doing the stunts, I have to object. I remember taking EXTREME caution regarding the fake punch — the same caution I would use with any similar scene.”

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    Christy Pina

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  • Reading While On A Marijuana High

    Reading While On A Marijuana High

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    Marijuana can enhance a variety of things or bring things down and chill you out. While used for fun or medical reasons, sometimes you just want to cozy yourself up and have a great experience. From Boston to Mountlake Terrace, people consume and immerse themselves in a movie.  Others hike, workout, code, and more.  And for a some, the lose themselves in a good book.  Here are tips on reading while on a marijuana high.

    Similar to doing any other activity while high, what you really need to do in order to succeed is practice. Marijuana can add a lot of layers to reading, making the experience more enjoyable or even helping reconnect with it if you’ve been having a hard time focused on full books.

    Just like listening to music and reading, getting high and reading can help craft a better  mood. Once you hit the right stride you’ll disover you’re more relaxed and engaged with the story.

    Choose the right book

    Photo by Wikimedia user BrokenSphere

    RELATED: Here’s What You Can Do With Extra Weed

    If you’re just starting out pairing weed and books, you don’t want to kick it off with dense literary novels. Try something that feels easy to for you, going back to something you used to read when you were young or a genre that’s simple and compulsive, like romance or horror. Good ideas are the Harry Potter books or something by Stephen King. A graphic novel can also make for a really good starting place.

    Let go of the “right way to read”

    5 Online Bookclubs To Join Now That You're Spending More Time At Home
    Photo by Thought Catalog from Pexels

    Reading lends itself to very ritualistic behaviors. Some people prefer to read paper books and can only read when they’re surrounded by total silence. While there’s no judgment, you’ll have more success if you’re able to read while in a variety of situations. Train yourself to read in different places, even if it’s only for 5 or 10 minutes at a time. When high, try your best to read and enjoy yourself, avoiding stress if your mind can’t hold on to all of the words that are on the page.

    Pay attention to the strain

    RELATED: Forgo The Wake And Bake — And 4 Other Cannabis Productivity Hacks

    The strain you’re smoking will have an impact on your reading experience as a whole. Try to avoid sleepy strains, since they’ll make a relaxing activity even more relaxing and you’ll fall asleep, which is great but doesn’t really serve the purpose of this article. Choose a strain that’s cerebral yet contained, something that will help you feel creative but also grounded. Ask your budtender for a light indica or a sativa that doesn’t produce too much anxiety.

    Watch your dosage

    book, read, old

    When starting on your weed reading journey, watch your dosage, taking a couple of puffs to see how your body takes to this new experience. You can always smoke later if you need more, but it helps to start off slow. Happy reading!

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    Sarah Johns

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  • Proof Copy Of Harry Potter Book, Bought For Pennies In 1997, Sells For More Than $13,000 – KXL

    Proof Copy Of Harry Potter Book, Bought For Pennies In 1997, Sells For More Than $13,000 – KXL

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    LONDON (AP) — A proof copy of the first Harry Potter novel that was bought for pennies in a second-hand bookshop almost 30 years ago has sold at auction for 11,000 pounds, or $13,900.

    British auctioneers Hanson’s said Monday that the first-edition copy of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” which states “uncorrected proof copy” on the cover, was bought in 1997 from a shop in south London with two other books for a total of 40 pence ($0.50.)

    The seller, who was not named, picked up the book about the famous boy wizard as a “throw-in” with other titles and didn’t read it or pay much attention to it for years.

    The book was sold to a private U.K. buyer on Wednesday for a hammer price of 11,000 pounds.

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    Grant McHill

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  • All Mainline Harry Potter Games, Ranked from Mudblood to the Chosen One

    All Mainline Harry Potter Games, Ranked from Mudblood to the Chosen One

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    Over the years, as the Harry Potter IP grew in popularity, the franchise has had its run in all forms of content, including video games. The most recent title Hogwarts Legacy has been a major success since its launch, but the games haven’t always been such smash hits.

    There have been game releases for at least every movie released, with some being more enjoyable than others. The games have branched into almost every aspect of the wizarding world, so here are all of the Harry Potter games, ranked.

    10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One

    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    While a different take on the series than the other games had been, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One was a darker, more action-based game than what players have experienced. The problem came partially because the series is not necessarily suited to being a third-person shooter, but the theme of this game is nothing but Harry blasting away at everything that moves.

    There are certainly some fascinating mechanics introduced like using Polyjuice Potion and the Invisibility Cloak for stealth sections, but the game’s missions don’t follow what happened in the movie or the book. It might be interesting if the game was used as a way to fill in some of the gaps in the movie, but instead, the developers just created some arbitrary missions with characters from the movie to assail with spells.

    The game just doesn’t play like a Harry Potter game, other than the fact that the characters shout words like “Horcrux” and Voldemort now and again. Luckily the music is still just as great as it was for the previous few games, but the feeling of exploration and magic was essentially lost. It just makes you want to go back to Hogwarts, but I guess if Harry could talk to us he would be saying the same thing.

    9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two

    deathly hallows part two over the shoulder combat
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    Following in the footsteps of its predecessor, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is equally as uninspired as Part One had turned out to be. The main mechanic of the game is just aiming and blasting, which even still doesn’t carry much emotion because the game does a great deal of auto-locking for you. You just aim your cursor where you want magic to potentially go, and blast as rapidly as you possibly can.

    While the story follows the same general tale as the movie, there isn’t much that isn’t wildly distorted and abridged. Cutscenes simply toss information at you, and there’s not much creativity in how they deliver the plot points. You do get to play some part of the game as other characters than Harry, but a lot of it becomes more filler than actual story content.

    As far as the rest of the games go, Deathly Hallows Part 2 feels like one of the less polished titles, but that’s likely got a lot to do with how the book was split up into two different movies. There was plenty in the books that could’ve been tapped into, similar to how Peeves was never in the movies but they incorporated him into the earlier games. Whether it was a time issue or just questionable writing, watching the movie will provide a better experience than trying to play through it.

    8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    order of the phoenix wizard's chess
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    The fifth game in the series seemed to be the point at which the games started to fall off a little bit. While there were some technological improvements like more accurate facial scans for the characters and a new physics system, these new elements are not the most well-refined. The story got a bit distorted with how they bring the player between plot points, and overall the gameplay experience was a bit lacking. It’s nice that some of the actual film cast like Rupert Grint voiced their characters in the game, making for some pleasant continuity.

    The physics system was rather jittery, causing objects and people’s arms to flap wildly depending on how they wound up oriented. The spellcasting was a little hard to handle, with each spell being bound more to gestures than to a given button press. Luckily, the castle is still free to be explored, with plenty of secrets and collectibles hidden around to add some extra depth to the game and the way the world feels.

    What could be considered a saving grace for the game was the minigames, which added some fun ways to spend a little extra time other than following the story or exploring the castle. You could play Wizard’s Chess, Gobstones, or exploding snap, which could distract from but not make up for some of the rest of the game’s flaws. Still, something must be said for a game trying to incorporate new elements where there hadn’t been room for them prior.

    7. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

    goblet of fire dragon chase
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    When it comes to which of the main Harry Potter games I put the most hours into, the answer is without question Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This has less to do with how much I enjoyed the game but with both the game’s length and difficulty compared to the prior three. It wasn’t hard in a way that’s unbeatable by any means, but there are some odd features like having card slots for each character that made it a bit tough to get fully into the game.

    The fourth entry remained in third-person but pulled the camera back a bit to accommodate more on the screen at once. There was more to explore in the environment, but you could also play with two other people as the main three, which was a technical step up from the other games. In the first three games, to cast spells you only had to press a single button and the game would choose the spell for you, but the fourth game put the spell choice in the players’ hands.

    Playing the game required more focus and attention than the other titles had previously, with the players having to make more complicated decisions, solve larger puzzles, and explore more expansive locations in the world. The enemies were harder to beat than ever before, but the feeling of doing so wasn’t as rewarding as you would hope. Unfortunately, the overall gameplay was a bit clunky, the spellcasting wasn’t satisfying and some points were so dry that I just wanted the game to end.

    6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

    prisoner of azkaban dementor fight
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    Further continuing with the evolution of the games to that point, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was a much more involved title than the first two, incorporating a form of fast travel, more challenges and more collectibles. The games often tend to stray from the details of the actual books and movies in some regards, but interestingly, they will incorporate characters and details from the books that weren’t brought up in the films.

    An example of this is Peeves the Poltergeist, who doesn’t make any appearances in the films but plays a large role in the books and games. He generally has to do with the collectibles or fast travel systems, so it’s one of those extra features added in to flesh the games out a little bit better. The third game incorporates all three of the main characters as being playable to a small extent, but multiplayer capabilities still weren’t in a place where you could play with your friends.

    The Prisoner of Azkaban game incorporated some fun new Hippogriff flying minigames, and it also massively improved upon the other games from a technical and graphical perspective. The characters are a bit more lively, the voice actors have more enthusiasm and the music makes the experience feel much more well-rounded and thrilling.

    5. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

    half-blood prince quidditch flying gameplay
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    After the relative disappointment of the Order of the Phoenix game, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was a surprisingly good time. After a while of playing it, there came a point where it felt a bit repetitive, between the dueling and minigames, but the first few times you did them, they were enjoyable and creative.

    I played this one on the Wii, and it must’ve been just the right time to do so because it did for a moment capture that feeling of waving a wand. That feeling didn’t always carry through for the rest of the game, but the potion-making minigames were some of the most memorable by far with that control scheme. The Quidditch sections are also a blast, making the game feel thrilling and fast-paced — more than some of the combat.

    Another highlight is the music in the game, never giving you a moment to feel like you’re playing anything other than a Harry Potter game. Some of the setpieces are clever and fall right into place with the world, even if they’re not a one-to-one recreation of the films that they’re based on. As always though, it’s nice to have some of the main actors lend their voice to the project, but some of the ones that are fill-ins do leave something to be desired.

    4. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone

    harry potter and the sorcerers tone argus filch library
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    Released in 2001, it’s a bit hard to look back at the first Harry Potter game in the franchise and not see its age immediately. The graphics are blocky, the animations are dated and the sound quality isn’t the most enjoyable, but when you look at the overall gameplay, there’s plenty to be pleased with. You get to learn many different spells, explore a surprisingly in-depth Hogwarts, and even fly on a broomstick.

    Looking back at the game flooded me with memories of seeing cutscenes, but more than anything I was struck by the three or so different variations of saying each spell, and boy do they get grating after a while. I can’t imagine how parents must’ve felt listening to screams of “Flipendo!” and “Alohamora!” at all hours of the day, but at least they could sleep well knowing that they got their kids a game that’ll entertain them for hours.

    Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is simple yet rewarding, and while made for kids, it’s a great first step into the realm of gaming given that it came out directly alongside the movie. There was no guarantee it would do well at all, but the game was reasonably well-received and sold enough copies to justify making a game for every single other film release, and plenty more.

    3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

    chamber of secrets basilisk fight
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    Serving as a technical upgrade from the first game, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets smoothed up some of the textures and refined other quality-of-life matters like sound quality and voice acting. There are more collectibles than the first game, and the overall gameplay experience is more refined than the Sorcerer’s Stone.

    Certain aspects of the game became more evolved from the Socerer’s Stone game, like the spellcasting QTEs changing from drawing a symbol to pressing arrows along the path of a symbol. This is likely to quell some of the frustrations the first game instilled, but it also gives the impression that the games are maturing along with the characters.

    Because it looked so much better than the first game in the series, Electronic Arts wound up remastering the first game in 2003, with more assets and technical features that were introduced in the second game. Playing through Chamber of Secrets is probably where I developed my compulsion to break and interact with every single item in whatever game I’m playing because I grew so used to earning countless Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans.

    2. Hogwarts Legacy

    Where to Find All Infamous Foes in Hogwarts Legacy
    Image Source: Avalanche Software

    The newest installment in the Harry Potter series of games does what hasn’t been done before, being that it has nothing to do with Harry or the standard cast of characters. The game takes place long before the events of the books and films, meaning that you get to explore the world of Hogwarts without having the pressure of saving the world on your back. Sure, you’ve got some big priorities alongside your classwork, but they pale in comparison to being the Boy Who Lived.

    Getting to explore the grounds and the castle is everything that I’ve always wanted to do as a fan, but the previous games were limited. Obviously, in 2003 it simply wasn’t possible for games to be what Hogwarts Legacy is today, but luckily I was able to hold out until 2023 — or rather the year after — to get the experience I always wanted. The map is vast and inclusive, and being able to ride mounts or brooms makes getting around a breeze. That and the floo powder.

    Having the freedom of being a student makes the whole world feel like it’s something you can be a part of. You aren’t a first-year, meaning that you have some idea what you’re doing, but you still have so much to explore and so many people to talk to, uncovering some of the secrets of the environment. Even for someone who’s not a Harry Potter fan, there can be a lot to love just exploring the world with fresh eyes.

    1. Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

    harry potter quidditch world cup
    Image Source: Electronic Arts

    When it comes down to all of the Harry Potter games, the one that I’ve sunk the most hours into is the one that feels the most replayable: Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. The main tie to the franchise is that you start in Hogwarts, but once you’ve conquered the school you’ll have the whole world to take on. Weirdly, it plays like a sports game while managing to master the magic of the universe and allow you.

    For a game released in 2003, there’s a lot to unpack. The PC controls are certainly not the most intuitive, but a controller can help to steady your broomstick as you soar through the different positions on the Quidditch pitch. You’ll play as a Chaser, Seeker, Beater and Keeper, and each has challenges for you to overcome. Each position is diverse and different, and it gives you a good level of variety that drives the replayability of the game.

    Although I played the game at a time before E-Sports rose to popularity, even as a child I found myself drilling the challenges until I got them right. I would play game after game until I beat every team in the school and on the world stage, even though I wasn’t earning achievements for doing so. The game feels dynamic and alive, and after downloading a copy in 2024 to see how it feels, it still holds up over 20 years later which gives it the top spot on the list.

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    Nick Rivera

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  • I Finally Watched The Last Airbender, and It Wasn’t Worth It

    I Finally Watched The Last Airbender, and It Wasn’t Worth It

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    Adaptations can be tricky, particularly when the source material is animated. More often than not, they’re reviled upon reveal, because they often feel like they’re going through the motions or twisting the original thing into something it’s not. It can be a dismal prospect to see something you grew up with lose its identity, and things get even worse when you can’t really let it go.

    Last weekend, I watched The Last Airbender, M. Night Shyamalan’s 2010 adaptation of Nickelodeon’s Avatar series. I’d made an active choice to avoid the movie back then, largely because the cast was whitewashed as hell. And beyond catching the last 15 minutes on TV forever ago, I hadn’t ever seen the full thing. Now that I’ve done so, after years of hearing it described as the worst thing ever… it’s just a mediocre adaptation. There’s nothing remarkable about it being bad, other than how it sucking was definitive for an entire generation of kids. To be honest, I was a little disappointed it wasn’t actively worse, but then I started to think about why the movie and its badness stuck around in audiences’ minds for so long.

    In the mid and late-2000s, studios were trying to anything that could possibly strike with the same impact as Harry Potter movies. At the time, films based on kids books like Eragon and The Spiderwick Chronicles did okay or fizzled out, and while Dragonball Evolution hurt anime’s Hollywood aspirations for a decade, the medium wasn’t quite a juggernaut yet. The original Avatar show arrived at the right time in 2005: it looked enough like anime to stand out, but came without having any of the negative baggage attached to anime back then. And what made it feel even more special back then was how it was actively aging up with its audience, something cartoons weren’t really doing at the time.

    Image: Paramount

    Avatar was a show for 11-year-olds, and it was formative in the way good shows often are when they hit you at the right moment. The Last Airbender movie was very clearly aimed at fans of the show, which had wrapped in 2008. Two years was just long enough for some wistfulness for the original show to kick in… which made it all the more heartbreaking that the movie just blows. Whatever small bright spots it has, like Dev Patel and Aasif Mandvi being the only ones trying to give performances as Zuko and Zhao, are quickly overwhelmed by a film that makes it clear from the jump it’s going to be a stinker.

    Condensing a 20-episode series into a film was never going to be easy, and it’d be foolish to think the movie was going to get as much in as possible. But it’s still pretty startling to see this movie adapt a handful episodes and leave it at that—something made worse by how half-hearted the effort feels. The “best” of the bunch is really only the assault on the Northern Water Tribe toward the very end, and that’s really only because the movie does a decent job at giving Aang’s waterbending big tidal wave a sense of scale. (But even that doesn’t hit the same as the giant water kaiju in the finale of the show.)

    In that sense, I can get why series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino would align with Netflix to take another live-action stab at their own work. (After a split from Netflix due to “creative differences,” they headed to Nickelodeon to head up Avatar Studios, where they’re developing an Avatar animated film, among other projects.) As for the general public, it feels weird to still give the 2010 film oxygen; at its best, Netflix’s upcoming live-action take on the material—an eight-episode series made without Konietzko and DiMartino, and arriving on the streamer February 22—can really only make us go “well, it’s better than the last one.” But the larger Avatar series pretty much recovered from it around the third season of Legend of Korra, and it’s not like this is ever going to get a reexamination like the Star Wars prequels or several pre-MCU Marvel movies from Fox.

    The Last Airbender’s biggest fault was how much it didn’t really do right by the source material or even have its own novel spin on things to distract from what it lacked. As an adaptation, it commits the cardinal sin of existing for its own sake and not being additive in any real way. Overall, it’s just dull and annoying—but not enough to hold a 14-year grudge.


    Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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    Justin Carter

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  • Can Firewhiskey And Klingon Bloodwine Keep You Warm

    Can Firewhiskey And Klingon Bloodwine Keep You Warm

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    Can these two classic fiction cocktail keep you warm this winter?

    With this weather, you might be stuck inside looking for something fun and different.  For all the Harry Potter and Star Trek fans, here are two recipes which may bring a warm to your heart and soul. So, can Firewhiskey and Klingon Bloodwine keep you warm?

    To be honest, drinking alcohol to warm up is an old myth. The truth is, if you’re outside in the cold for a long period of time and you’re not careful, a few draughts of alcohol isn’t too wise.The feeling of warmth is an illusion. Alcohol, on its own, doesn’t warm you up. What it does is cause your blood vessels to dilate, sending more blood than normal to your skin, giving you the feeling of warmth while actually making you lose heat much faster.  So if you indulge, don’t do it out in the freezing temperatures.

    RELATED: Science Says Medical Marijuana Improves Quality Of Life

    Firewhisky is an alcoholic drink consumed by wizards and witches in the Harry Potter universe. While the underage were not allowed to purchase it, it was occasionally consumed.. It was known to cause a burning sensation when drunk, and for filling one’s body with courage.  The lore is it was crafted after Fireball liquor.

     

    Bloodwine is a popular alcoholic drink among Klingons, best served warm. As with many Klingon foods and beverages, it was not for the faint of heart. Bloodwine is a very known to be highly intoxicating, making it a bit of a hit to non-Klingons. Klingon captains and generals were fond of carrying several barrels of their favorite vintages to celebrate victories. Bloodwine is traditionally consumed by warriors being inducted into the Order of the Bat’leth. Bloodwine was used in a symbolic gesture following the Invasion of Cardassia in 2375.

    FIREWHISKEY

    Liquor and an open flame – what more can you ask for on a cold day stuck inside????  Make magic with this delightful cocktail.

    Ingredients

    • 1 oz whiskey
    • 1/2 oz cinnamon schnapps
    • Splash of 151 rum

    Create

    1.) Add 1 ounce of whiskey, 1/2 an ounce of Cinnamon Schnapps and some ice to a beverage shaker

    2.) Shake to chill

    3.) Pour into a highball glass

    4.) Splash some 151 on the top

    5.) With your wand or a lighter, light your Firewhiskey

    6.) Drink, preferably after putting out the flames

    RELATED: The Most Popular Marijuana Flavors

    Klingon Bloodwine

    This concoction will light a fire in your soul and help you envision going to a bold new place.   Live long and prosper!

    Ingredients

    • 1 oz gold tequila
    • 1 oz spiced rum
    • dash of grenadine
    • 2 dashes of tabasco
    • Cranberry juice to top it off

    CREATE

    • In a shaker, add dashes of tabasco and grenadine.
    • Add the rum and tequila, then top off the drink with cranberry juice until full.
    • Add ice, shake twice, serve in a red wine glass or martini glass

    Can Firewhiskey and Klingon Bloodwine keep you warm, it will definitely make you feel on fire!

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    Anthony Washington

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  • Queen Camilla Reveals Her Hidden 'Harry Potter' Weakness

    Queen Camilla Reveals Her Hidden 'Harry Potter' Weakness

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    Queen Camilla has a good number of personal skills and charms. She reportedly enjoys gardening and swimming in the sea, and loves to read. But about that reading—the passion is there, but the ability to do individual character voices in Harry Potter? Not so much.

    In a clip from the first episode of The Queen’s Reading Room Podcast released Monday, the monarch said that she enjoys reading the beloved seven-part book series to her grandchildren, “more than anything else,” but that when it comes to grunting out Hagrid’s lines declaring his passion for Blast-Ended Skrewts or Professor McGonagall’s morsels of Transfiguration wisdom, someone else in the house wears the crown.

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    “I can’t mimic voices for love or money, I’m completely hopeless at it,” she said. “I was a really bad actor at school, and I’ve never been able to master the art of mimicry. But my husband [King Charles], he does it brilliantly. He can do all the voices.”

    However, this latest tidbit is well out of spoiler territory (though we’d pay all the Galleons in Gringotts to hear Charles toss out his best “nitwit, oddment, blubber, tweak!”): Camilla revealed Charles’ voice acting skills in the 2018 documentary Prince, Son, and Heir: Charles at 70.

    “He reads Harry Potter and he can do all the different voices,” she said, “and I think children really appreciate that.”

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    Kase Wickman

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  • Gay Call Of Duty 'Ship' Makes Fanfic Site’s Top Ten

    Gay Call Of Duty 'Ship' Makes Fanfic Site’s Top Ten

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    Some of you may be surprised that a gay Call of Duty ship is in the top ten of fanfiction site Archive Of Our Own’s annual, unofficial roundup, but I’m not. Not long after the 2022 release of Modern Warfare II, a bevy of TikToks bimbofied Call of Duty character Simon “Ghost” Riley, who is only ever shown in-game wearing a full face mask with a skull emblazoned on it. The baby girl-ification of the decidedly masculine character led to a massive increase in Archive Of Our Own (AO3) stories shipping Ghost with fellow hard-boiled military man, John “Soap” MacTavish.

    According to the roundup, which ranks the pairing tags with the “greatest gain in total fanworks” posted to AO3, the two potential lovebirds are the sixth-most popular ship on the site, and the second-most popular from the world of gaming, falling behind only Genshin Impact’s Kaveh and Alhaitham. The next gaming ship on the list? Baldur’s Gate 3’s vampire hottie Astarion and the player-character Tav. Check out the entire list below.

    As you can see, Good Omens’ angel and devil duo Aziraphale and Crowley top the list, likely thanks to the performances from Michael Sheen and David Tennant in the Amazon Prime series based off of the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett book of the same name (they were 30th last year). In second place, we’ve got a tried-and-true ship: Harry Potter’s Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, followed by Dazai Osamu and Nakahara Chuuya from the Bungou Stray Dogs manga. In fourth place, the holdovers of 2022 stand strong: Stranger Things’ Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington, though they’re down from their first-place ranking in 2022. The newest addition to the AO3 rankings is Genshin’s fifth-place spot, which is rather impressive, and then there’s our Call of Duty Task Force 141 boys, who jumped up a whopping 75 spots this year—and I think I know why.

    Call of Duty’s Ghost and Soap, in love

    Late last year, Ghost became such an iconic character for shippers and ThirstTok fans that even wildly popular influencer Brittany Broski (you may know her as Kombucha Girl, though she has long since grown beyond that moniker for me and millions of others) was openly pining for him on the social media platform. In September of this year, Broski bought herself a Cameo (a personalized celebrity video you can purchase for yourself or a really funny birthday present) from former Ghost voice actor Jeff Leach, who offers videos of himself wearing full Ghost cosplay for $99. The subsequent clip of her watching her personalized Cameo almost sent me into orbit.

    Though it may initially seem like there’s several degrees of separation between the inherently masculine and bombastically bro-y Call of Duty series and very graphic, gay fanfic, AO3’s 2023 roundup is here to dispel your disbelief. I did a cursory glance to see what kind of content was on offer and found comics depicting Ghost as an actual ghost who provides emotional support for a very-much-alive Soap, a story where you’re a new recruit to Task Force 141 and the masked man piques your sexual interest, and one where Soap’s aunt brings home a new SAS boyfriend for Christmas who turns his attentions to her nephew instead. The Ghost content is either deliciously raunch or adorably sweet, but almost all of it is very, very gay.

    The layered, complicated connections between the military and LGBTQIA+ people has a long and messy history, but clearly something about Ghost and Soap is clicking with fanfic writers across the world. Are there any other additions to this year’s list that surprise you?

    Correction 01/02/2024 at 4:00 p.m. EST: It’s Michael Sheen in Good Omens, not Martin.

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    Alyssa Mercante

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  • I didn’t go to school but read HARRY POTTER books 20 times, says Alex Batty

    I didn’t go to school but read HARRY POTTER books 20 times, says Alex Batty

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    MISSING Alex Batty had so few friends while being dragged around Europe he read each Harry Potter book at least 20 times.

    Now 17, he spent six years on the run with mum Melanie, 43, and grandad David, 64 — and never got the chance to go to school.

    6

    Missing Alex Batty read each Harry Potter book at least 20 timesCredit: Louis Wood
    Alex (left) in one of their hippy communities with Melanie and David

    6

    Alex (left) in one of their hippy communities with Melanie and DavidCredit: The Sun
    Alex as a youngster before he went missing

    6

    Alex as a youngster before he went missingCredit: PA

    Alex who spent time with only one other kid his age, told how JK Rowling’s seven magic novels were his salvation.

    He said: “I had a Harry Potter box set. I’m obsessed with it and must have read each of the books at least 20 times.

    “I carried it everywhere even though it was massive and took up so much space.

    “They’re amazing books. My main pastime was reading because most of the places we were we couldn’t get wifi. I tried to get as many as I could but it was bloody difficult.”

    Alex, who left Britain with his mum and grandad in 2017 for what he believed was a week in Spain, also tried to teach himself maths and computer science whenever he could.

    However he spent most of his teenage years working “five hours a day, five days a week” in return for food and lodging.

    Getting educated was one of the major reasons why he walked out on his mum nearly two weeks ago from a rented house near Chalabre in France.

    He told The Sun: “During all my time away I never attended school for a single day.

    “The only qualifications I have are my SATs test results from primary school when I lived back in Oldham.

    “That’s one of the worst things that’s happened to me throughout all this — not having a proper education.”

    Alex did not have his own phone but had access to a PlayStation which his mum bought him during lockdown.

    Last year he sailed through the entrance exam to a computer coding school in Perpignan but was unable to enrol because he had no ID papers.

    Now back in the UK with his beloved gran Susan, Alex plans to gain as many qualifications as he can so he can study computer science at university.

    Alex disappeared with his mum Melanie and grandad David

    6

    Alex disappeared with his mum Melanie and grandad DavidCredit: FACEBOOK/UNPIXS
    Alex’s mum Melanie, then approx 22, with her mum Susan

    6

    Alex’s mum Melanie, then approx 22, with her mum Susan
    Alex said: 'I had a Harry Potter box set. I’m obsessed with it and must have read each of the books at least 20 times'

    6

    Alex said: ‘I had a Harry Potter box set. I’m obsessed with it and must have read each of the books at least 20 times’

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    Richard Moriarty

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  • Harry Potter first edition found in bargain bin sells for $69,000 at auction

    Harry Potter first edition found in bargain bin sells for $69,000 at auction

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    A first edition copy of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” printed in 1997, sold for more than £55,000 — about $69,000 — on Monday, according to Hansons Auctioneers.

    The 58-year-old seller bought the hardcover copy for £10 — between $12 and $13 — after she spotted it in a bargain bucket in a shop in the Scottish Highlands 26 years ago. Just 500 copies were printed in the first run of hardbacks, with 300 going to schools and libraries and 200 going out to bookshops, Hansons’ books expert Jim Spencer said.

    “This was a genuine, honest first issue and a fantastically well-preserved example,” said Spencer. “It was fresh to market and it deserved to go full steam like the Hogwarts Express.”

    The unidentified seller learned about Harry Potter after reading one of J. K. Rowling’s first interviews, according to the auction house. 

    “I bought the Harry Potter book before anyone really knew much about it, or the author,” she said in a Hansons Auctioneers news release. “I found it during a family caravan trip touring ’round the highlands of Scotland.”

    She even got a couple of pounds — about $2 — knocked off the price because the book had no dust jacket. The mom said her children enjoyed the book as a bedtime story throughout their vacation. 

    Years ago, her children read something online about identifying first editions. They told her they thought they had one.

    “But I said the edition was worthless due to it having no dust jacket. Some time later I learned the book was never released with a dust jacket,” the mom said. “At that point, we stored the book away. It lived like the young Harry Potter did, in the cupboard under the stairs.”

    She forgot it there for a while before contacting Spencer at Hansons.

    “My children are grown up now and I thought it was time for someone else to have the pleasure of owning a rare piece of literary history,” the mom said.

    It was sold for £55,104 to a private UK online buyer. Other first edition copies of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” have sold at auction for between £17,500 and £69,000, plus buyer’s premium, depending on their condition.

    “Most examples are quite badly worn, especially ex-library copies,” Hanson said. “They’ve often been shared among friends and carried around in school rucksacks, which in some ways is lovely, capturing the buzz of Harry Potter when it first gained popularity. However, more traditional collectors are incredibly fussy about condition, which helped this book fulfill its potential.”

    The book, which was re-titled “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” for American audiences, was published by Scholastic in the U.S. in 1998, with an initial printing of 50,000 copies. 

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  • Best Thanksgiving Movie Guide To Watch With Parents

    Best Thanksgiving Movie Guide To Watch With Parents

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    While it is great to spend time with family and friends during the holiday.  Sometimes, after the big meal and before the dessert, conversation lags.  Could be everyone is full, or run our of safe or fun topics, or everyone is just slightly sleepy.  So why not all plop down and watch something fun?  Here is the best Thanksgiving movie guide to watch with parents.

    Die Hard

    What more can you say? This classic is the perfect way to tie together Thanksgiving and Christmas.

    The Safe Choices

    • Moana: An animated film that’s comfortable and reassuring in its familiarity, but does enough differently to delight you.
    • Rogue One: The best war movie this year, and darkest Star Wars entry since The Empire Strikes Back
    • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: You’re straggling if you haven’t seen this yet, but it’s a pleasant return to Rowling’s Wizarding World

    The Space Explorers

    • Arrival: A film of the year, serious Oscar contender, and a reminder once again how incredible Amy Adams is
    • Passengers: While it’s receiving a bashing critically—it isn’t as bad as its Rotten Tomatoes score indicates—but also has old friends Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt doing J Law and Pratt things

    The Serious Movie Fans

    • Silence: Martin Scorsese’s 3-hour epic based on Shūsaku Endō’s 1966 novel that really goes for it with its epic subject matter and performances
    • La La Land: Reviving old-school musicals with endearing performances by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Be prepared for singing and dancing.
    • Jackie: The history biopic that should have “Natalie Portman really wants an Oscar” as its tagline. If high-minded actor vehicles are your thing, this is your movie.
    • Paterson: Adam Driver stars as bus driver named Paterson living in Paterson, New Jersey. A classic Jim Jarmusch people just hanging out movie. It’s great, according to our wonderful photo editor.

    The Denzel Washington Movie

    • Fences: Tour-de-force performances by Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, which is exactly what you want.

    The Funnies

    • Office Christmas Party: Its actors seem tired and not really interested in the movie, but it has enough bits to please.
    • Why Him? James Franco and Bryan Cranston battling it out for the love of a daughter. In a bizarro world, this is a Breaking Bad spin-off. Instead it’s a formulaic laughie.

     

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    Brendan Bures

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  • The ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise Is “Taking a Pause”

    The ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise Is “Taking a Pause”

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    J.K. Rowling‘s Fantastic Beasts franchise is officially on ice. During the podcast Inside Total Film, franchise director David Yates said that the Harry Potter spin-off has been “parked” for the time being.

    Yates has directed every film set in the Harry Potter universe since 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. On the podcast, Yates sang the praised the most recent offering in the three-film franchise—2022’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore—but confirmed that there are no current plans to move forward with the series. “We’re all so proud of [The Secrets of Dumbledore], and when it went out into the world, we just needed to sort of stop and pause and take it easy,” he said.

    Filming Fantastic Beasts 3 was particularly difficult due to the pandemic, said Yates. And now, the series is taking an indefinite hiatus. “With Beasts, it’s all just parked,” he said. “We made those three movies, we made the last one through a pandemic, and it was enormous fun, but it was tough. We were actually filming when there wasn’t a vaccine. Thank goodness no one got sick, but we did have the most detailed protocols in place.”

    The franchise has suffered bad reviews and controversy due, in part, to two of its stars: Johnny Depp and Ezra Miller.  Depp, who played Grindelwald in the first two Fantastic Beast films, was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen in the third film after he was publicly accused by ex-wife Amber Heard of domestic abuse. (Depp has denied the claims, and won a defamation case against Heard in December 2022.) Miller, who starred in all three films as Aurelius Dumbledore, was arrested multiple times in 2022 and pled guilty to unlawful trespassing. (Miller has since sought treatment for “complex mental health issues.”) On top of that, Harry Potter scribe Rowling, who wrote the first two Fantastic Beasts films and has a co-writing credit on the third, has been widely criticized for her transphobic remarks

    According to Yates, Rowling wanted the franchise to have five films, an idea he was never totally on board with. “The idea that there were going to be five [Fantastic Beasts] films was a total surprise to most of us,” the director said. “Jo just mentioned it spontaneously, at a press screening once. We were presenting some clips of FB1 [Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them]. We’d all signed up for FB1, very enthusiastically. And Jo, bless her, came on … and Jo said, ‘Oh, by the way, there’s five of them.’ And we all looked at each other because no one had told us there were going to be five. We’d sort of committed to this one. So that was the first we’d heard of it.”

    Yates said he hasn’t spoken with Rowling, franchise producer David Heyman, or Warner Bros about the franchise recently. “We’re just taking a pause,” he said. “And it’s quite nice.” But while there are no immediate plans to return to the franchise, Yates is cautiously optimistic that there will be more Fantastic Beasts films in the future. “I’m sure at some point we may well be back,” he said. “Who can tell?”

    While Fantastic Beasts may be on pause, the Harry Potter cinematic universe is still expanding. Warner Bros. discovery confirmed in September that a Max Original television series based on all seven Harry Potter books written by Rowling is coming to the streaming platform in the coming years. “This new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years,” said HBO and Max head honcho Casey Bloys. The television series is expected to hit the streaming platform in 2025 or 2026, and will allegedly run for “ten consecutive years.” So, while Fantastic Beasts may be no more, there’s plenty of Harry Potter content in store in the not too distant future.

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    Chris Murphy

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  • Daniel Radcliffe Partners Up With ‘Harry Potter’ Stunt Double Who Was Paralyzed After ‘Deathly Hallows’ Accident for Doc

    Daniel Radcliffe Partners Up With ‘Harry Potter’ Stunt Double Who Was Paralyzed After ‘Deathly Hallows’ Accident for Doc

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    Daniel Radcliffe is partnering up with David Holmes, his longtime stunt double in the Harry Potter films, to create a documentary based on his life.

    Holmes was brought onto the film franchise ahead of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and, over the course of 10 years, he and Radcliffe formed an “inextricable bond.” However, in the penultimate film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Holmes had a tragic accident on set that left him paralyzed after a spinal injury.

    “As Daniel and his closest stunt colleagues rally to support David and his family in their moment of need, it is David’s extraordinary spirit of resilience that becomes their greatest source of strength and inspiration,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement about the documentary, which is directed by Dan Hartley (Lad: A Yorkshire Story).

    The statement continued, “Featuring candid personal footage shot over the last decade, behind-the-scenes material from Holmes’ stunt work, scenes of his current life and intimate interviews with David, Daniel Radcliffe, friends, family and former crew, the film also reflects universal themes of living with adversity, growing up, forging identities in an uncertain world and the bonds that bind us together and lift us up.”

    David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived marks the most recent collaboration between the stunt double and the actor. The pair launched a podcast in 2020 called Cunning Stunts, in which they speak to notable stunt performers in the industry and break down some of the biggest action scenes in films.

    The project is produced by HBO Documentary Films in association with Sky Studios and Lightbox/Ripple Productions. Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, Vanessa Davies and Amy Stares serve as producers, with Radcliffe, Holmes, Hartley, Sue Latimer and Sarah Spahovic executive producing. HBO’s EP includes Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Tina Nguyen, and Poppy Dixon EPs for Sky Studios.

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  • Actor Michael Gambon, who played Harry Potter’s Dumbledore, dies at 82

    Actor Michael Gambon, who played Harry Potter’s Dumbledore, dies at 82

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    Actor Michael Gambon dies at 82


    Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in “Harry Potter” franchise, dies at 82

    00:35

    British-Irish actor Michael Gambon, who played the wizard Albus Dumbledore in the six later “Harry Potter” movies, has died at the age of 82, his agency confirmed to CBS News on Thursday.

    In a statement issued on behalf of his wife Lady Anne Gambon and his son Fergus, publicist Clair Dobbs said the family was “devastated to announce the loss,” and added that the “beloved husband and father” had died peacefully in a hospital with his wife and son by his side following a bout of pneumonia.

    Memorial Service Takes Place For Theatre Great Sir Peter Hall OBE
    Actor Sir Michael Gambon is seen in London, Sept. 11, 2018. 

    Jack Taylor/Getty


    Gambon was awarded four U.K. television BAFTAs during his decades-long acting career, which saw him take staring roles across television, movies, radio and on the stage.

    It was his role as the head of the Hogwarts school for witches and wizards in the Harry Potter franchise, however, that made him a familiar face to more recent generations. He succeeded actor Richard Harris in the role, who died in 2002 after portraying Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter movies.

    He once acknowledged not having read any of J. K. Rowling’s best-selling books, arguing that it was safer to follow the script rather than be too influenced by the Harry Potter stories in print. That didn’t prevent him from embodying the spirit of Professor Dumbledore, the powerful wizard who fought against evil to protect his students.

    Although the Potter role raised Gambon’s international profile and introduced him to a new generation of fans, he had long been recognized as one of Britain’s leading actors. His work spanned TV, theater and radio, and he starred in dozens of films from “Gosford Park” to “The King’s Speech” and the animated family movie “Paddington.”

    Gambon was knighted for services to drama in 1998, becoming Sir Michael Gambon.

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  • Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in

    Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in

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    Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in “Harry Potter” franchise, dies at 82 – CBS News


    Watch CBS News



    Acclaimed British actor Michael Gambon, known to millions for playing the character of Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” films, has died at the age of 82 after contracting pneumonia.

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  • Michael Gambon, best known as Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter films passes away at 82

    Michael Gambon, best known as Professor Dumbledore in Harry Potter films passes away at 82

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    Michael Gambon, a renowned actor remembered by many for his portrayal of Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts in six out of eight Harry Potter films, has passed away at the age of 82 on Thursday.

    Michael Gambon Professor Dumbledore Harry Potter


    According to a statement released by his family through his publicist, Michael Gambon passed away following “a bout of pneumonia.”

    “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon. Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside,” his family said.

    Michael Gambon Professor Dumbledore Harry Potter


    Throughout a career spanning over five decades, Michael Gambon remained unmistakable thanks to the distinctive, deep, and deliberate cadence of his voice. He assumed the iconic role of Dumbledore, following the passing of his predecessor, Richard Harris, in 2002, endearing himself to fans and leaving an indelible mark on the character.

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  • Michael Gambon, Dumbledore actor in ‘Harry Potter,’ dies at 82 – National | Globalnews.ca

    Michael Gambon, Dumbledore actor in ‘Harry Potter,’ dies at 82 – National | Globalnews.ca

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    Michael Gambon, the prestigious stage and film actor best known for playing the wise wizard Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter, has died. He was 82.

    In a statement released Thursday, Gambon’s wife, Lady Anne Gambon, and his son, Fergus, said the actor died “peacefully.”

    “We are devastated to announce the loss of Sir Michael Gambon,” the statement reads. “Beloved husband and father, Michael died peacefully in hospital with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside, following a bout of pneumonia.”

    The family has asked for privacy during this “painful time,” and thanked Gambon’s admirers for their loving messages.

    Gambon was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1940. He moved to London as a child and went on to apprentice as a toolmaker before attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

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    Before donning a long, white beard to play Dumbledore for the first time in 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Gambon already had an esteemed stage, TV and film career.

    Gambon was tapped to take over the role of the Hogwarts’ headmaster in 2004 following the death of Richard Harris in October 2002. Harris played Dumbledore in the first two films in the Harry Potter franchise.


    Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore in ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,’.


    Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection

    Gambon was also well known for his role as Philip Marlow, the mystery writing sleuth with psoriasis from the 1980s British serial drama The Singing Detective. Though Gambon was already a growing titan in the theatre world — and starred in many of the Birmingham Repertory Company’s Shakespearean plays — The Singing Detective launched him to new levels of fame in the U.K.

    Throughout his lifetime, Gambon was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won four BAFTA Awards, two Olivier Awards and a SAG Award for outstanding cast performance in The King’s Speech. 

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    He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1990.

    Already, tributes to Gambon have flooded social media from his friends, colleagues and dedicated fans.

    James Phelps, who played Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, said Gambon once helped him rehearse lines for an orchestral reading of Peter and the Wolf while the pair was working on the Harry Potter film set. Phelps said though Gambon should have been taking downtime from his “intense” clock tower death scene, he instead took the time to help Phelps.

    “He was, on and off the camera, a legend,” Phelps wrote.

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    Gambon’s other memorable roles include William McCordle in Gosford Park, Albert in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Lt. General Leland Zevo in Toys and Baltus Van Tassel in Sleepy Hollow. 

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    Sarah Do Couto

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