MuggleNet | A Look Back at 2008

January 5th - Warner Brothers announces that all of their films, including the Harry Potter series, will only be produced in Blu-Ray. This announcement immediately ended the HD-DVD/Blu-Ray war, because WB's commitment to Blu-Ray gave Sony's new high def DVD format the majority of movie distributor supporters.

January 13th - Rumors from within the Half-Blood Prince set begin to swirl over the possibility of Deathly Hallows being split into two films.

February 10th - Jim Dale wins a Grammy Award for his reading of the Deathly Hallows audiobook.

February 11th - The Deathly Hallows film split rumor continues to gain momentum. This time, The Daily Telegraph talks to Potter producers about the possibility. While nothing was confirmed, it was clear that producers were interested in the split happening.

February 19th - Confirmation of Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince director David Yates directing Deathly Hallows is accidentally announced by children's book author Lois Lowry.

March 12th - After many rumors, Warner Brothers officially announces that Deathly Hallows will be split into two separate films.

March 21st - The Potter fandom proudly learns that the hilarious Potter Puppet Pals win Best Comedy video at the 2007 YouTube Awards.

March 24th - RDR Books requests JK Rowling's presence in New York City at the Lexicon copyright case.

April 1st - MuggleNet creates several fake news stories and posts them throughout the day to celebrate April Fools Day.

April 14th through 16th - JK Rowling, RDR Books, and Steve Van Der Ark testify in court during a three day trial. Throughout the week, numerous reports and statements surface in what turns into a very critical week for the Potter fandom.

April 22nd - EA Games, creator of all the Harry Potter video games, announces that a Half-Blood Prince game is in development.

April 25th - ComingSoon.net reports that the release date for Deathly Hallows, Part 1 is set for November 19th, 2010.

April 25th - Warner Brothers announces Harry Potter: The Exhibition, "a state-of-the-art exhibition highlighting artifacts from the Warner Bros. films based on J.K. Rowling's beloved book series" to open in Spring 2009.

May 1st - For the first time in a decade, the weekly New York Times Bestseller List doesn't hold a single Potter book.

May 20th - The cover for Sorcerer's Stone 10th Anniversary Edition is released by Scholastic. Illustrated by Mary GrandPre, the artwork depicts Harry gazing into the Mirror of Erised.

May 28th - It is revealed that JK Rowling wrote a short Potter prequel for an upcoming Waterstones charity auction. The story involves James and Sirius 3 years before Harry's birth.

June 4th - Rumors of a Harry Potter MMORPG start to pick up pace when a rep at Warner Brothers confirms that the company is looking into the possibility.

June 5th - JK Rowling speaks at Harvard's commencement ceremony. As The Crimson reports, Jo "called on members of the Class of 2008 to use their capacity to empathize and their experiences of failure to conquer apathy."

June 10th - JK Rowling's Potter prequel sells to a ghost bidder for 25,000 pounds.

July 2nd - Fans become excited when many new, exciting, and official photos from Half-Blood Prince appear in Empire Magazine.

July 12th - Jim Dale speaks at Portus 2008 to a huge audience of his fans. He becomes the first person involved with the Potter books to speak at a Potter fan conference. For close to an hour, Jim read excerpts from the Harry Potter books and entertained the crowd with his lively narration and signature voices.

July 18th - The very first trailer for Half-Blood prince premieres with the IMAX version of The Dark Knight. To the disappointment of many, it's very short and doesn't include any video.

July 29th - The first Half-Blood Prince teaser trailer makes its way online and plays in front of The Mummy in theaters.

July 31st - It is announced that The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be published worldwide on December 4th, with all proceeds being given to charity. Originally only to be read by the owners of the seven handwritten copies, Jo decided to share the tales with the fans while benefiting a great charity at the same time.

August 14th - Warner Brothers announces that they are delaying Half-Blood Prince until July 17th, 2009. The news shocks fans and many speculate over why the decision was made.

August 19th - Alan Horn, President of Warner Brothers, issues a statement to fans explaining why the decision was made. It doesn't go over well with fans, however.

August 27th - Warner Brothers sues an Indian film company when one of their films, Hari Putar, has a name too close to their franchise for comfort.

September 2nd - Development of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park continues in Florida.

September 7th - MuggleNet's Eric Scull attends an early screening of Half-Blood Prince in Chicago, where WB tested film in front of an audience. A couple days later, he published a spoiler-free report to let fans know about the experience.

September 8th - The judge in the JKR/RDR books trial decides to halt the publication of The Lexicon because of its copyright infringement. RDR had to pay $6,750 in statutory damages.

September 9th - EA officially announces the delay of their Half-Blood Prince video game. The news was expected after WB delayed the film.

September 20th - JK Rowling donates 1 million pounds to the Labour Party because she was motivated by Labour's record on child poverty.

September 22nd - Scholastic announces that Deathly Hallows will be released in paperback on July 7th, 2009.

September 22nd - Warner Brothers' case against the makers behind Hari Putar is turned down by Indian courts, saying WB waited until the last moment to bring it to court.

September 29th - Scholastic releases a 'School Market Edition' of Sorcerer's Stone, which features a brand new cover. Illustrated by Mary GrandPre, it depicts Harry, Ollivander, and Hagrid in Ollivander's Wand Shop.

October 20th - JK Rowling announces that she'll be hosting a Beedle the Bard tea party in Scotland on the day of its release.

October 26th - A new international teaser trailer leaks online. The trailer includes lots of new scenes we haven't seen before and runs for about 90 seconds.

October 29th - David Heyman discusses the Half-Blood Prince delay a little more and reveals that the film is just about complete.

November 8th - An illustration display appears in Cedar Rapids with close to 100 pieces of artwork from Mary GrandPre - some of which have never been seen before. The exhibit is on display until February 5th, 2009.

November 10th - Publishers Weekly reveals that Scholastic will print 3.5 million copies of Beedle the Bard in the US.

November 11th - In an interview with MTV, Emma Thompson reveals that she will not return as Professor Trelawney in Deathly Hallows because of another project she has scheduled.

November 13th - An excerpt from Prince Charles' Birthday Book reveals JK Rowling's favorite scene from Deathly Hallows.

November 14th - Warner Brothers releases a new Half-Blood Prince trailer exclusively for fansites. The trailer premiered on the big screen in front of Twilight. Ironically enough, Twilight took Half-Blood Prince's first release date (November 21st) after the delay was announced.

November 20th - Preparation for Deathly Hallows filming gets underway in Lochaber.

November 30th - As Beedle the Bard approaches its worldwide release, Scholastic editor Arthur Levine says that the stories are "as good as any Grimm tale".

December 3rd - The Associated Press reveals that 8 million copies of Beedle the Bard will be released worldwide.

December 3rd - Scholastic unveils an orginal handwritten copy of Beedle in New York City. MuggleNet was present to report for the fans.

December 4th - JK Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard is released in the United States and United Kingdom. To the dismay of some Potter fans, many bookstores did not hold midnight release parties like they did for each book in the Potter series.

December 6th - ABC Family airs several Half-Blood Prince sneak peeks during their presentations of the first two Potter films.

December 9th - Beedle the Bard becomes fastest selling book of 2008, according to The Telegraph.

December 11th - The first stop for Harry Potter: the Exhibition is announced. It will begin in Chicago on April 30th, 2009.

December 17th - Scholastic announces that Beedle sold 2.6 million copies worldwide in the first week on sale.

December 24th - In a first for the Harry Potter fandom, MuggleNet opens a social network designed specifically for Harry Potter fans.

MuggleNet is an unofficial Harry Potter fan site. Please email us if you have any questions or concerns. MuggleNet's original layouts were designed and created by Navy. All subsequent layouts by Dylan Spartz.

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