The Ron Weasley actor will make an appearance on radio talk show host Edith Bowman's program next Thursday between 1 and 4 PM GMT. Listeners can submit questions, which will be posed to him on air.

Thanks to everyone who emailed!

Hambledon Quince
1936 - present
Author of controversial theory that wizards originate from Mars, Muggles from mushrooms.

HarryPotter.com has been updated with a new Pensieve section, which holds several interviews, trailers, movie clips, and DVD extras.

Thanks to Laura for the tip!

Warner Bros. has just confirmed to us that the fifth Harry Potter movie will be released next year in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic on July 19th, and in Sweden on July 13th. To view a full list of Order of the Phoenix movie release dates, click here.

Emma Watson has been nominated for a Relly award in the category of Best Junior Achiever. You can vote for her starting tomorrow at this link. Live With Regis and Kelly will also air clips of the nominees on the show tomorrow. The winners will be announced on September 22th. Good luck, Emma!

Thanks to Sharon and Cody for the tip!

RupertGrint.net, MuggleNet's official Rupert fansite, has posted their exclusive interview with the actor who plays Ron in the Potter films. In it, he talks with site owners Claire and Kelle about everything from his favorite movies to Book 7 theories.

Additionally, those of you who checked our site the other day will remember we reported there will be no Quidditch in Order of the Phoenix. The information (just for MuggleNet visitors) had come from this interview with Rupert, where he states there won't be any broom time "at all" in OOTP. He also says he was "looking forward" to filming the Weasley is our King storyline, which "may be" in the sixth film.

Listen to the audio clip right here (MP3, 292 KB).

In the first editions of Half-Blood Prince, an error discovered in "An Excess of Phlegm" stated that Hermione received one Exceeds Expectations and ten Outstanding grades in her OWLs. However, she only took ten subjects. Our Potter Encyclopedia had staggered a guess that she took the "Muggle Studies exam and passed it with top marks despite dropping the subject at the end of her third year."

Now, HarryLatino.com reports that this was indeed a genuine error and has been rectified in recent editions of Book 6; it now reads she earned nine Os and one EE. Phew!

Three movie release dates that we brought you the other day have all now been confirmed by Warner Bros. You can always keep up with the latest Order of the Phoenix theatrical release dates in our movies section!

At the Emmy Awards last night, David Yates-directed film The Girl in the Cafe won the "Made for TV Movie" award. Congratulations, David! He was also nominated in the "Best Director" category, but did not win. The movie's producers announced that David couldn't attend the ceremony due to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix filming commitments.

Thanks to everyone who emailed!

Daniel Radcliffe recently announced that he will commence filming for a new ITV drama, My Boy Jack, in summer 2007. The show is based on a true story of Rudyard Kipling and his son Jack, who was killed in World War I. Dan had this to say about the new project:

For many people my age, the first world war is just a topic in a history book. But, I've always been fascinated by the subject and think it's as relevant today as it ever was with young men all over the world still sacrificing their lives in the name of war... I am extremely proud to be part of the production of My Boy Jack and only hope I can do justice to the memory of the men who fought and those who died.

In other Dan-related news, a pre-recorded video of the actor and David Haig, writer and star of My Boy Jack, was shown recently at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Photos from the event can be seen here, as well as a transcript of the video's message at the "Read more" link below.

Thanks to Jenna from DR.com for the info!

Previously, Katie Leung, Matthew Lewis, and Warwick Davis were scheduled to attend DraconCon, America's largest, multi-media, popular arts convention, but all have now cancelled their appearances for unknown reasons. Stanislav Ianevski (Viktor Krum) will still attend the event which will commence on Friday.

Thanks to KitsuneAi for the tip-off!

This week's episode is now online! Join Jamie, Laura, Eric and me for an hour of good 'ol fashioned Harry Potter podcasting. In this show:

- Rupert intros the show! He's got something for Micah next week.
- Listener Rebuttals tackle last week's heavy discussion.
- Character Discussion: Aberforth Dumbledore.
- We try our hand at a new crackpot-theory segment, but we need your help!
- A few voicemails.
- Dumbledore/Norris Facts.
- Andrew's 'HUH?!' E-mail of the Week.

All that and much more can be found by downloading the latest show. To do just that, visit the MuggleCast portion of the website. If you have iTunes, you can automatically get each episode delivered weekly to your desktop. Just click here and then press "Subscribe"!

Bad news for those who are looking forward to a good grudge match in the Order of the Phoenix film next summer! We've been informed that there is no storyline in the movie surrounding Ron's Quidditch hardships, nor has there been any filming on broomsticks done by Rupert. We're led to believe that this means there will be no Quidditch in the fifth film at all. We hope to learn more soon!

We have received three more European release dates for Order of the Phoenix.

Belgium - July 11th
Denmark - July 13th
Poland - July 20th

We will confirm these as soon as possible!

The Draco Malfoy actor in the Potter films gave a small interview to the Junior Carp Tournament's website. A couple of weeks ago, Tom attended the annual tournament in New York.

In the interview (WMV format), Tom talks about filming progress on Order of the Phoenix. He says that filming is three-fourths of the way completed, and predicts that fifty percent of what he shoots will make the final cut of OOTP. You can also see the second part of the interview where Tom talks about the fishing tournament. Thanks to Loren for the tip!

Yahoo! Movies recently posted the trailer for Rupert Grint's latest movie, 'Driving Lessons.' The film will hit limited theaters on October 13th.

Thanks to Branden for sending us a scan of Dan Radcliffe's interview in the 2007 Guinness Book of World Records. As we reported back in March, the Goblet of Fire DVD set a world record for the largest selling DVD on its first day in the USA (which was 5 million copies). The scan also includes a picture of Dan holding the certificate on set of Order of the Phoenix.

Rumors have passed around the web for a few days now concerning Jessica Stevenson's arrival onto the cast of Order of the Phoenix. However, Yahoo! News is reporting today that she has been cast for the role of Mafalda Hopkirk, who works in the Improper Use of Magic Office at the Ministry of Magic.

You can see a photo of Jessica right here. HPFZ had originally reported this a few days ago.

Yahoo! News is reporting that actress Emma Watson has achieved eight A*s and two As on her GCSEs. Congrats, Emma!

For those of us in America who are clueless as to what the GCSEs are, the General Certificate of Secondary Education is a set of British qualifications (sometimes focused around Math, English, and Science) taken by secondary school students.

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

The Daily Record has published a new interview with actor Rupert Grint, who reveals that he recently failed his driver's test. He also wants to continue playing Ron in the Potter series through the seventh film.

I want to do all seven and hopefully that'll happen. It'll be weird when it's all finished because it's been a huge part of my life. I started when I was 11 and I'm 18 now.

You can read the full interview right here. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

MuggleNet senior staff member, Benjamin "I hope you don't mind!" Schoen turns 17 today (it's already the 24th in the UK). Ben's dedication to the site has resulted in many a sleepless night for him; so much so, in fact, that he just grabs a quick nap wherever he can! As well as his newsposting and content updating, you'll always find Ben offering negative, sarcastic and often controversial enlightening, positive and uplifting comments on MuggleNet's weekly podcast, MuggleCast. All in all, a hardworking and friendly guy!

Happy birthday, buddy!

OTHER BIRTHDAYS: Happy Birthday to actor Rupert Grint and Stephen Fry (UK audio book reader) as well!

A few days ago, the nominations were announced for this year's batch of World Soundtrack Awards. A song on the Goblet of Fire soundtrack, "Magic Works," was nominated for "Best Original Song Written for Film."

These winners will be announced on October 14th at the Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium. We'll let you know if GOF wins as soon as we find out. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

The live, official Harry Potter podcasts that Emerson Spartz of MuggleNet, Cheryl Klein of Scholastic, and Melissa Anelli of Leaky recorded in July are now all available for download on iTunes right here. They met over 1,000 of you at these events, starting at Anderson's in Naperville, IL, Barnes and Noble in Las Vegas, NV, and Barnes and Noble in Los Angeles, California.

Each of the three shows features about an hour and a half full of theory and discussion, so we hope you enjoy! If you don't use iTunes, you can hear all of these shows by following download instructions at the Official Scholastic page.

Goblet of Fire was awarded the "Choice Movie: Drama" award last night at FOX's Teen Choice Awards, voted on by teenagers across the United States. You can see a complete list of the winners here. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

Thanks to K.J. for sending us a scan from this week's Women's Day New Zealand, which features a small spread on recent Order of the Phoenix filming.

Accompanying the article are four new pictures from the set. Two show Maggie Smith, who plays McGonagall in the film, sitting in a wheel chair reading a newspaper (not The Daily Prophet, as the article suggests). The other pictures show Robbie Coltrane's and Tom Felton's doubles.

Mid-Day has an excellent new interview with Order of the Phoenix director David Yates, Potter actor Dan Radcliffe, and Cho Chang actress Katie Leung. In it, we learn Yates' approach to directing the film, the kissing scene between Dan and Katie, and much more. Excerpts from the article:

How different is this Potter?
Very different so far - this role's more challenging than the ones I done before. Not physically challenging but in terms of acting, it's harder to do this one. And then it is different working with David, he's sort of got a very high quiet voice and he's soft spoken.

This movie is also different because there was a big gap in the middle because we stopped for a month and a half to do school exams and stuff. So the production shut down in the middle, which was very odd because that hasn't happened before.

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

This week's episode of our Harry Potter podcast features Ben, Jamie, Claire, and me as hosts. We discuss the Defense Against the Dark Arts job at Hogwarts, take quite a few voicemails, and much more!

To download, visit the MuggleCast portion of the website and click on "Episodes" at the top. You can also subscribe via iTunes to have the show downloaded automatically to your desktop each week. Enjoy!

The transcript from our live New York City Leaky Mug podcast at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square is now available.

Thanks to the MuggleCast transcribers and the elves over at Leaky for all of their hard work!

EDIT: You can also see the video version of this podcast over at Google Video. Visit LeakyMug.com for the link!

Tom Felton was in New York last week for the annual Junior Carp Tournament. Thanks to UHP, we now have seven pictures of Tom up in our galleries from the event!

CORRECTION: The tournament was in Weddington, New York...not Pennsylvania. Thanks, Mary!

Two big changes have occurred on MuggleNet over the past couple of weeks, and we want to make sure you have the chance to enjoy them.

First, our HP Encyclopedia has a new feature: the Readers' Encyclopedia! The easiest way to explain this is by calling it our own version of Wikipedia. Visitors can submit their own information articles to spread the wealth of Potter knowledge. Since this section is still very new, the number of articles that exist so far is relatively small, so now is the time to contribute!

Thanks for this project go out to leaders Andy and Claire, coder Josh, and writers Sheri, Gretchen, and Elizabeth. All of them do a great job running the HP Encyclopedia!

Second, our Movies section has gone through a complete revamp from top to bottom! Each movie's section (Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix) has been completely refreshed and reorganized. Each area now holds the same content for each film, cast pages have been recreated and centralized, universal links help you get from movie to movie, plus MUCH more.

Big thanks go to MuggleNet staffers Suraj, Natalie, Lei, and Caroline for helping put this new section together. Enjoy, everyone!

HarryLatino.com has been told by Warner Bros. that Order of the Phoenix will be released in Spain on July 20th, 2007.

Additionally, HPFZ reports that the movie distribution company who will be handling the movie in Australia has announced a change in the release date. The new date is July 12th, 2007, which would be several weeks earlier than the previously set date (September 6th). We are working to confirm this information and will provide an update once we hear news.

In a brand new interview, Julie Walters (Mrs. Weasley) talks about her current acting projects, Driving Lessons, the publication of her first fiction tome, and much more. On Potter, she says she will film her scenes for Order of the Phoenix sometime this fall, and confesses to not being quite an avid reader of the books, although her daughter is.

Additionally, she discussed starring in Driving Lessons alongside Rupert Grint, and also how he, Dan, and Emma have grown immensely since the first film:

"I love the time that I'm in his [Rupert's] company. He is a terrible giggler. He sees or hears something funny, and he's away. I see his shoulders start to twitch and I'm off too.

"But he's grown up so much in the last few years. At the premiere of the first Harry Potter film, my husband Grant turned to me, pointed at the three young stars, and said 'Look at them, poor things'. They were on the red carpet, there were camera flashes going off all over the place, and they were just kids. Grant said 'They look like three little rabbits, caught in the headlights of an on coming car'. A few years on and they now have assurance and poise. But not in that sort of pushy 'look at me' way."

Thanks to everyone who emailed!

Driving Lessons was recently given a PG-13 by the MPAA for language, sexual content and some thematic material. The film will hit North American theaters on October 13th. Earlier this year, the movie was rated "15" in the UK, where it will be released on September 4th.

Thanks to RG.net and HPFZ for the tip!

MuggleCast's resident news anchor and head transcriber Micah "What are we going to do about that?" Tannenbaum turns 24 today. Hope you have a great day, Micah!

Jo Rowling and husband Neil Murray attended the movie premiere of Snow Cake earlier today at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Some photos of their appearance can be seen here. Alan Rickman (Professor Snape) stars as Alex Hughes in the film.

Thanks, VTM, for the tip!

TLC's PotterCast recently conducted an interview with the Matt Lewis, who portrays Neville Longbottom in the HP films.

In the interview, Matt discussed Neville's character development that occurs in Movie 5:

"It almost comes off as a different character this year.... He's not the Neville that we all know. He starts off that way then rapidly changes throughout the film. It's been a lot of fun. Definitely a change, but definitely a welcome one."

Matt also speaks of several new faces around the set, including Imelda Staunton, who is playing Dolores Umbridge:

"She [as Umbridge] is the nastiest person you'll ever meet, on the film. She's just cruel and twisted and slightly mental.... You can see she's plotting something. She's plotting how she's going to kill you, later on, when your back is turned."

You can check out the first part of the three-part interview starting on the next episode of PotterCast, airing tomorrow.

In a new interview with The Independent, the Ron Weasley actor from the Potter films speaks about taking a role outside the wizard series. The article also asked him to answer some questions about his career. Thanks to "randombookworm" for the tip!

In a recent poll conducted among 1,213 US citizens, an interesting discovery was made: more people know about the fictional wizard (57%) than the British prime minister (49.5%). The Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture in New York said: "These results are not about how 'dumb' Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated."

Frankly, I'm surprised only 57% of Americans know of Harry Potter. Thanks to everyone who emailed.

The first ever photograph of Natalia Tena sporting purple hair and in full Nymphadora Tonks costume has surfaced online. The picture, which was taken on the set of the fifth movie, can be seen here.

Thanks to Stephanie for sending it in!

JK Rowling has been dubbed by Forbes magazine the world's ninth highest earning celebrity. Apparently, she rakes in a cool $145 per minute, while making $77 per minute last year. Hannah Clark of the magazine, said: "With the $145 she earns every minute, Harry Potter author JK Rowling could buy more than a few boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, one of the young wizard's favourite sweets."

We should probably take these figures with a grain of salt, especially since Jo brought up the topic on Richard & Judy this past June. "Initially people were reporting, and they still do frequently report much more than I got and I'm not pretending I'm not hugely wealthy because I am. But sometimes they print figures that certainly my accountant wouldn't recognize."

Thanks to those who emailed!

Join Jamie, Ben, Laura, Eric and me for another fun week of our Harry Potter podcast! On this week's show:

- Ben is truly dedicated to the show.
- ...but Jamie thinks his recording circumstances are even more dedicated.
- "Too much music!" cries Andrew.
- What's up with Harry's eyes?
- Has Lily given Harry some sort of eye barrier?
- The deal with black and gray eyes mentioned in the books.
- Who was at Godric's Hollow the night Lily and James were killed?
- Will Harry become an Auror?
- A podcasting first: Ben drives and podcasts!
- A caller gives us a great theory on Snape's being good.
- We try to do something bold and talk about the latest HP news.
- Are Lucky Charms REALLY lucky?

Automatically download the show each week by subscribing through iTunes, or visit the MuggleCast portion of the site for a direct download of the show (including a smaller file size version for our dial-up listeners). Enjoy!

UPDATE: The population of Alma, Nebraska is around 1214. Congratulations to Rob from Kissimmee, Florida who sent in the correct answer first. Your T-shirt is on the way!

The transcript of our live podcast at Lumos 2006 in Las Vegas is now available. Thanks to the MuggleCast transcribers and those over at Leaky for all of their help!

MuggleCast Episode 51 will be released shortly!

The Herald Sun recently conducted an interview with Dan Radcliffe, in which he discusses Movie 7, "Equus," December Boys, and more. He mentioned that, although he talks to Jo about the Harry Potter books, he is never given any inside information on Book 7.

"I think it will be quite exciting really. It may be the only way (the arch villain) Voldemort could be killed is if Harry dies as well because there is that very strong connection between them."

We told you recently that Dan would play the starring role, Alan Strang, in London's West End play Equus. At the time, there was some confusion over whether or not Daniel would perform the part nude, as is usual.

"All the other actors who have played the part have done that, so for me not to do it wouldn't really be playing the part. It would be a watered down version. It wouldn't be the same. I'll be incredibly nervous, but I think, 'It's in the script; it's got to be done'. I'm terrified, but excited."

To read this interview in its entirety, click here. Thanks to Cass for the scan!

DVD Town is reporting that the HD-DVD for the Goblet of Fire movie will be released on August 29th. We're currently working on verifying this date with Warner Bros. Also, both the front and back cover art for the DVD has surfaced online.

Thanks U-C.net for the tip!

British television station ITV will broadcast this fall Driving Lessons, starring Rupert Grint and Julie Walters. A promotional clip from the film was aired recently and now RG.net has a video online. You can also view two screencaps here.

In a new interview, first published in Surrey Life, the Draco Malfoy actor talks about his acting career, hobbies, Harry Potter, and what he's been getting up to lately. He says filming for the Potter movies is always fun and that it's weird to see the final product.

"Obviously the scenes aren't shot in sequence and filming lasts so long that when I see it my first thought is 'where's the rest of it?' And sometimes I'm thinking 'oh yes, the next bit is really good' but then it doesn't happen or is somewhere else in the action."

Thanks to Lyn and Cecilia for the heads-up!

Brazilian Harry Potter fan site Oclumencia has posted a new photo of Dan and several visitors who went to the Order of the Phoenix set. The girl who sent in the photo, Ninive, was invited after winning a competition ran by Sistema Brasileiro de Televisao.

Thanks to Veritaserum for the tip!

The Scotsman reports that Jo has donated a handbag of hers to be auctioned off at the new members' club 29, in Glasgow's Royal Exchange Square on October 6th. Jo took the small black Rodo purse to the premiere of Sorcerer's Stone.

Thanks to Maines for the tip!

B1 Media, the company which produced the Goblet of Fire DVD, has won for "Major Technical - Best Menu Design" at the 9th annual DVD Awards.

Producer John Pohl commented, "We're honored that this award recognized the elaborate and expressive 3D achievement and strong sense of design the menus displayed. The artistic excellence of these menus contributed to an incredible DVD experience and was a result of the sacrifice that our 3D, compositing, animation and design teams made."

Voting at the 2006 Podcast Awards ends tomorrow! As most of you know by now, MuggleCast has been nominated in two categories along with our friends at PotterCast. We're teaming up to make sure that both podcasts win, so we ask everyone to vote for MuggleCast in Peoples Choice and PotterCast in Entertainment.

You can still vote today and tomorrow (once every 24 hours is the rule), so go here and vote away! Thanks for the support, everyone!

As it is now August 11th in the UK, JKRowling.com has been updated to wish Ginny Weasley a happy birthday.

On the August 9th episode of "The Colbert Report," comedian and host Stephen Colbert featured Jo in his "Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger" segment. He congratulated Jo on hinting that Harry might die in the final book. His reasoning - besides that witchcraft is evil - was that children need to learn life's cruel lessons as soon as possible.

You can watch the clip right here on YouTube (the part about Jo starts at 1:41). Please note that some content in the whole video clip may not be suitable for younger visitors. Thanks to Abbye and everyone else who e-mailed with the tip!

MSN has now posted a complete video from the second night of "An Evening With Harry, Carrie, and Garp." The charity reading with JK Rowling, Stephen King, and John Irving took place last week in NYC. Enjoy!

You can now order four Harry Potter 2007 calendars at Amazon. The calendars feature images from the first four movies as well as some character profiles. Pre-ordering links are below:

- Wall Calendar
- Mini-Wall Calendar
- Day-to-Day Calendar
- 2007 Desk Calendar

Thanks to HPANA for the tip!

JK's Army, the team who gives MuggleNet fans advice on buying or selling Harry Potter memorabilia, has started a new campaign urging eBay to clamp down on the selling of fraudulent HP merchandise. They need your help. To find out more about this worthwhile effort and how you can help bring about change, click here.

On a semi-related note, today marks the birthday of Marjorie, who runs our collecting tips page. Happy birthday, and thanks for helping to protect Potter fans from purchasing apocryphal items!

It has been one year of MuggleCasting! Ever since our first release on August 7th, 2005, MuggleCast has seen over two million downloads from fans across the globe. It has also received recognition from big time media outlets like the Wall Street Journal, and now we find ourselves nominated in major categories at the 2006 Podcast Awards!

Our 50th episode, highlighting the past year of our podcast, is now available for download. Join Ben, Jamie, Laura, Eric, and me as we recall the best and worst times heard on MuggleCast. We also discuss what Jo revealed at An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp, and Jamie shows the world what his singing voice really sounds like while he's on holiday.

To download the show, we recommend that you subscribe through iTunes so each new episode will be sent to your computer automatically. You can also visit the MuggleCast portion of the website for direct download links and show notes. Enjoy!

Our live LeakyMug from New York City is now online! You can subscribe to the all-new, all-on-its-own LeakyMug feed via iTunes right here. If you're anti-feed, you can download it here by right-clicking and saving. In this show we go over some of the highlights from Vegas and the New York readings, and just have lots of fun in general. The video actually will be out shortly, this time, so stay tuned!

Don't forget that today, tomorrow and Friday are your last days to vote for us at the Podcast Awards - by doing so (MuggleCast for People's Choice, PotterCast for Best Entertainment!) you can help send the LeakyMuggers to California to do (hopefully) another live podcast at the end of September!

Rupert Grint has been signed on by the ITV for an unspecified project in an attempt to revitalise TV ratings. Julie Walters, who plays Mrs Weasley in the Harry Potter movies, has also been signed for an upcoming drama. ITV will confirm full details of its upcoming schedule at the Edinburgh Television Schedule, which takes place from 25 to 27 August.

WB has confirmed to HarryLatino.com that Order of the Phoenix will be released in Argentina on July 12th, 2007. As more dates are announced, we will bring them to you here.

DanRadcliffe.com has received three new pictures from the set of Order of the Phoenix. The photos were taken on July 24th at Blenheim Palace, where filming has taken place for scenes from Snape's Worst Memory.

You can view the photos here in our gallery. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

The audio for the live NYC LeakyMug will be out early this week; you can only get this on our iTunes feed for The Leaky Mug (this means the show will not be on the PotterCast and MuggleCast feeds; this is a separate subscription) or by direct download when it is available - don't worry, we'll keep you updated! In the meantime, subscribe so you don't have to worry about it.

And while you're waiting, please head over to the Podcast Awards to support both PotterCast and MuggleCast. This year we've both been nominated in the People's Choice and Entertainment categories; we'd like to ask you to vote for MuggleCast for People's Choice and PotterCast for Best Entertainment - this way we can unite behind both shows instead of splitting our vote, and hopefully we can go out to the awards at the end of September and while there, put on a live podcast in Los Angeles. So, again, that's MuggleCast for People's Choice and PotterCast for Best Entertainment - you can vote there once every 24 hours through August 11, so please do! Thank you!

As we are all fresh off our trip to Vegas and New York City, MuggleCast will be released late Tuesday night instead of its normal Sunday release. Episode 50 will be a special podcast because we are celebrating our one-year anniversary this week!

A number of new photos from yesterday's OOTP filming at Leavesden Studios have surfaced online. They show Daniel Radcliffe running alongside someone who appears to be Harry Melling, Dudley in the Potter films. The scene looks to be where Dudley is attacked by Dementors in the chapter, "Dudley Demented," as both the Privet Drive set and a playground are close-by.

Thanks to Veritaserum for the pics!

Box Office Mojo is reporting that the sixth film, Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince, is set to be released on November 21st, 2008. WB has confirmed to us that this is indeed the actual release date. Let the countdown begin!

Steve Kloves will return to write the screenplay for HBP. A director has yet to be chosen. The fifth film, Order of the Phoenix, will hit theaters July 13th, 2007.

We have been informed that Order of the Phoenix filming took place last week in a forest in Burnham Beeches, England (Robin Hood was also partially filmed there). The scene in question is where Hagrid introduces his fifth year class to Thestrals.

Also, HP4U has a report from recent Movie 5 filming at Virginia Waters. This is the scene in which some Ministry of Magic employees attack Professor McGonagall with Stunning Spells outside Hagrid's hut (near the end of the book). You can view some interesting pictures, which includes shots of some of the cast, from the set here, and more details on the actual filming can be read below (spoiler alert).

An interview with MuggleNet's Emerson Spartz featured in the Style section of today's Washington Post. The article details the recent Official Scholastic Podcast Tour Emerson participated in, as well as the fan attention he received outside Radio City Music Hall, following JK Rowling's first reading.

Thanks to everyone who wrote in!

We just left the second night of "An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp" where JK Rowling answered some BIG questions for everyone. Here's the new facts:

- Other than Harry, Jo would most want to bring Hagrid into the real world.
- There's more to Aunt Petunia than meets the eye, and we'll find out what's unique about her in Book 7.
- Don't expect Dumbledore to pull a Gandalf.
- Dumbledore IS really dead. "Everyone needs to move through the five stages of grief" and get past his death. She also apologizes to DumbledoreIsNotDead.com for ruining the purpose of their site.
- Jo's future after Potter includes taking a long break from writing. She also plans to release a young children's book (currently half-written) that is shorter than any Potter novel.
- The librarians in the Potter novels have to be evil, otherwise the students would have nice librarians to help them find all the information they need. "Hermione wouldn't have to do any work!"
- Author Salman Rushdie, along with his son, came to ask, after a detailed theory, if Snape is good or bad. Jo replied that "your opinion was correct." Rushdie's opinion, unfortunately, was hard to follow.
- After being asked if there was one question fans should have asked by now but haven't, Jo couldn't reference any question in particular.
- While taking a shower before the reading today, Jo said that she had come up with a different title for Book 7 that would work better than her current title. No word on which title will be used, though.
- Stephen King said he was scared of Death Eaters, to which Jo replied, "I scared Stephen King."
- Moderator Soledad O'Brien asked the three authors who from their books they'd invite to dinner. Stephen immediately said he'd invite Harry and Hermione.
- While Jo is listing the characters who she'd invite to dinner, she names the trio but then pauses. The crowd begins to shout out other characters, but Jo responds, "I'm the only one who knows who lives through the series," accidentally implying that she could only list characters who make it through the final book. Her final two choices (after realizing what she said) were Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Whoopi Goldberg once again kicked off the night. Actor Tim Robbins introduced Stephen King, Stanley Tucci (starring in Devil Wears Prada) introduced John Irving, and Kathy Bates introduced Jo. All three of the writers read the same passages that they read last night.

UPDATE: Reader Kate sent us this report from last night. It includes some extra details on what Jo said regarding Book 7.

UPDATE 2: You can see two videos from last night here, thanks to Deepty.

UPDATE 3: Photos here, thanks to Bess Maines.

Thanks to reader Miriam, we now have a more detailed report from last night's reading by JK Rowling, Stephen King, and John Irving than the one posted previously. It includes all questions posed to Jo and her corresponding answers.

UPDATE: Photos here, thanks to Sarah.

UPDATE 2: More photos added, thanks to Samantha.

UPDATE 3: Video here. Video of yesterday's conference here. Thanks to everyone who emailed!

UPDATE 4: Thanks again to Sarah, we have two videos from last night's reading. To see them, right click and "Save Target As..." on the links below:

- Jo coming on stage [5.3MB, MP4, 53 seconds]
- Excerpt from Jo's reading [1MB, MP4, 9 seconds]

Again, if anyone plans to attend tonight's reading and would like to send us a report, please let us know.

We learned at the charity reading last night that An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp was being filmed for airing on MSN.com later this month. We'll have a link for you once it is available!

Our live Leaky Mug podcast, recorded at Lumos 2006 on Saturday, July 29th, is now available for download on iTunes! Join the entire cast of co-hosts from MuggleCast and PotterCast in this special discussion to talk about Harry (live or die?), Snape (good or bad?), and more.

Other happenings from Lumos:

The Leaky Mug team (Keeper Eric, Beaters Heather (from TLC) and Andrew, Chasers John Noe (TLC), Ben and Jamie, and Emerson as Seeker) defeated the championship Water Quidditch team the Threshers in a much-publicized game 120-70 in front of a crowd of several hundred people. The game was tied 70-70 with both teams trading goals back and forth until the Snitch (worth 50 points) was captured, giving the Leaky Muggers the thrilling victory.

The last event of the Official Scholastic Podcast Tour was another big success, with over 400 fans coming out to the Barnes & Noble in The Grove in Los Angeles to see Melissa, Cheryl and Emerson. The podcast should be online soon.

The last live Leaky Mug podcast is on for tomorrow, August 2nd at 12:30 PM at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in New York City. We hope you'll come out and see us if you're in the area!

MuggleNet was in attendance earlier tonight at the first of two charity readings co-hosted by JK Rowling. The show opened up with celebrity actress Whoopi Goldberg praising children for their interest in reading. Next, actress Kathy Bates provided a detailed introduction for Stephen King. She talked about her obsession with King, along with the roles she's played in his film adaptations.

A surprise appearance by Jon Stewart stoked the crowd up when he came on stage to introduce JK Rowling. Typical Jon Stewart, in his speech, he described how his five-month-old son has been standing outside of a bookstore waiting for Book 7 for three months now. At the end of his speech, he said he should be sitting out there with all of us.

With that said, a video to introduce Jo had her in her home holding a yellow portfolio. In it, she said, was the final chapter of Book 7. "I feel like the camera will be able to see right through this if it's too close," she remarked.

A gigantic standing ovation met Jo as she walked out onto the stage in her special high-heels (with a snake on each). With the warm welcome out of the way, she grabbed her US paperback copy of Half-Blood Prince and began reading at the part where Dumbledore takes Harry back in time to when he originally found Tom Riddle.

After reading, Jo took five or six questions from the audience. The first one asked what Hermione would see in the Mirror of Erised, to which Jo replied she would probably see Voldemort dead, and herself and Ron living happily ever after. Another question had Jo responding that we'll find out more about how potions and the connection between a wand and a wizard work in Book 7.

Tomorrow we will have a report on night two of An Evening with Harry, Carrie, and Garp!

JK Rowling, John Irving, and Stephen King participated in a press conference this morning in NYC and will all be reading from their respective novels tonight in Radio City Music Hall. We now have a transcript of everything Jo said at the conference (thanks to staffers Lei, Becky and Natalie), as well as audio here, photos here and here, and a media report here. Enjoy!

If you have any photos or reports from this morning, please let us know. Also, Jo will be answering questions posed by the audience at her reading tonight, so if you're planning on attending, please let us know what she says.

We've just learned that Nickelodeon Australia has nominated MuggleCast at the 2006 Kids Choice Award in their "Fave Podcast" category! Let's show the Australian's what the "Fave Podcast" is in Australia! Go here, create a NickName, and vote for all the categories. The Podcast category is number 15 on the ballot.

Also, Harry Potter is up for best book, GOF is up for best movie, Daniel and Rupert are both up for fave actor, and Emma is up for fave actress.

The award ceremony will be held on October 11th. Thanks to Jessica for sending in the news, and thanks to everyone who votes!

RedFlu has sent us new, very detailed information on the current plan for the beginning of Order of the Phoenix. These could be considered spoilers by some, so we have a link below to take you to the description. At most, this is a rough plan for the arrangement of the beginning of the film and chances are it will adjusted. Nonetheless, an interesting read for anyone interesting in seeing the plan so far for the film!

At this morning's press conference in New York City, JK Rowling talked a little about deaths in the seventh Harry Potter book: "I guess some people will loathe it; some people will love it."

She also spoke about life after Harry: "On the one hand, I am going to feel sad. Harry's been an enormous part of my life and it's been a turbulent phase of my life and he was always the constant. So there will be a sense of bereavement. But there will also be a sense of liberation because there are pressures involved in writing something as popular. Wonderful though it's been, I think that there will also be a certain freedom in escaping that particular part of writing Harry Potter.

"I feel quite liberated, I can just resolve the story now. And it's fun in a way that it hasn't been before, because finally I'm doing my resolution."

Check out some pictures of Jo at the event here.

If you were in the area this morning and managed to snap some photos of Jo, please let us know!

UPDATE: A report by Reuters includes some additional quotes from the author. Thanks, Richard!

UPDATE 2: Higher quality photos here.

UPDATE 3: Veritaserum has an audio clip from the entire conference here.

Erica Strainwright
1932-2001
Disgraced housekeeper of the 1950s who made a fortune selling cleaning potions that created more mold and grime.

The entire MuggleNet crew is here in New York City to attend and cover both of Jo's charity readings, which will be held today and tomorrow.

Jo, along with Stephen King and John Irving, was at a press conference this morning that lasted roughly 40 minutes. Only accredited press were admitted to the conference, but our friends at Leaky will have a summary up soon.

Also, a crowd gathered this morning in front of an exit at Radio City Music Hall, where Jo was expected to leave the conference. Unfortunately she had left before the crowd came together, but we'll have pictures of the gathering later today.

You can find full details on the reading right here. We will keep you updated today and tomorrow with pictures, reports, and more. Stay tuned!

We've also learned today on writer Meg Cabot's blog that she'll be attending at least one of the readings (she did not specify which one). Thanks to Nikki for the tip!