Several sources are reporting that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has moved ahead of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in all-time box office earnings.

According to ScreenDaily.com:

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince became the third biggest film in the series worldwide after adding $7.7m from 5,000 screens in 61 markets through Warner Bros Pictures International (WBPI) for $610.5m overseas and $904.9m globally.

Box Office Mojo also places Half-Blood Prince ahead of Goblet of Fire, but with slightly different numbers.

According to the filmography on his agents website, Harry Melling is set to reprise his role as Dudley Dursley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. He will join Richard Griffiths, who plays Vernon Dursley, when the first of the two parts is released on the big screen later next year. As of yet we have received no confirmation that Fiona Shaw will join them as Petunia Dursley.

Thanks to Snitch Seeker for the tip!

New York-based photographer Tim Hailand has let us know about his new book which will be available in December titled "One Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe".

It includes 50 photos of Potter actor Dan Radcliffe taken on January 13th, 2009. At the time, he was living in New York to star in Equus. The book also includes personal notes from Dan at the end of the book where he discusses each photo.

Additionally, a portion of all book sales will go to Broadway Cares/Equity fights AIDS. You must pre-order by October 1st in order to receive it for the holidays. For more information, click here.

BBC Radio 5 interviewed Jason Isaacs recently and discussed Deathly Hallow filming.

Isaacs confirmed that he has completed filming the Malfoy Manor scenes and will return next month to shoot some scenes with Voldemort--the Battle of Hogwarts possibly?

He could not confirm the split point in Deathly Hallows, but you might recall that our MuggleNet sleuths uncovered that Josh Herdman revealed the split point to be before Malfoy Manor.

Thanks to Snitch Seeker!

They quite literally give a hand, as Potter author JK Rowling and Hagrid actor Robbie Coltrane are among many celebrities contributing to the 'Give Tilly A Hand' charity auction.

Said auction is to benefit a little girl named Tilly Lockey, who had to have her hands and feet amputated after contracting metengitis.

Each celebrity designed their own handprint. JK Rowling drew several Potter-related items on each of her fingers (see photo), and Robbie Coltrane filled his in with green patterns. See all of the celebrity handprints at this link.

The auction will be held September 5th. To see more details, click here. Thanks to Claire for the tip!

For all the wizard rock fans out there, Wrockstock is back!

This year’s festival will take place between November 6- November 9, 2009 in Potosi, Missouri. Tickets are available now on the Wrockstock website. After September 1, 2009 tickets will go up to $150/$100/$50 respectively.

Participating bands include The Moaning Myrtles, Draco and the Malfoys, The Whomping Willows, The Remus Lupins and many more!

Click below for the full schedule.

The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, in cooperation with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health, has announced twelve libraries will host "Harry Potter’s World: Renaissance Science, Magic, and Medicine," a new small format traveling exhibition.

The exhibit will run for a four-week period between September 2009 and November 2010 and present at least two public programs on the exhibition themes. All showings of the exhibition and related programs will be free and open to the public.

The exhibition explores Harry Potter’s world, its roots in Renaissance science and the ethical questions that affected not only the wizards in J.K. Rowling’s books, but also the historical thinkers featured in the series.

Click here for complete information on the traveling exhibitions and the list of public libraries it will be visiting. Thanks to Tori!

If you're a Potter fan and a Twitter user, chances are you follow Oliver Phelps and Warwick Davis and saw some Deathly Hallows-related updates they've made recently.

First, actor Warwick Davis (who has previously played Professor Flitwick) confirmed he will indeed play Griphook in Deathly Hallows. Although this has been hinted at for some time (set pictures like this one tend to confirm these kinds of things), it's the first time we've gotten direct word.

Second, Oliver Phelps updated his Twitter with word that he is the "first actor in the UK to have a VFX MOVA facial capture scan. Exciting technology." We presume this is for special effects in Deathly Hallows as it's the only film he's working on right now.

Thanks to all you Twitter users who e-mailed with the tips!

In a shocking twist, the BBC has learned that Rupert Grint is sad that filming of the Potter franchise is coming to an end:

He told Newsbeat: "I'm just trying to make the most of it really because it is going to end. I think it is going to be sad, but I'm ready to move on as well.

"At the moment we've got so much to do. Because it's two films it's going to take a year."

Rupert also talks briefly about his kiss with Emma:

He admitted that snogging Emma, who plays Hermione Granger in the movie, was a bit weird.

"We were dreading it to be honest, because we've grown up together and it just seemed wrong really," he said.

"It was fine. We just really believed we were Ron and Hermione and not Rupert and Emma and it was OK. It was only a few takes, so it didn't last long."

Thanks to Steven for the tip!

Live in England and need a good reason to see Half-Blood Prince again? Gloucester Cathedral, where several scenes for the Potter franchise have been shot over the years, is hosting a special screening of Half-Blood Prince! From ThisIsGloucestershire.com:

Warner Brothers, the makers of the Harry Potter series, have offered a copy of the film to be screened inside the cathedral, which features in the movie as a backdrop of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The film will be projected onto a 20ft X 9ft screen, with 350 tickets going on sale on the stroke of Midnight, on August 23, at www.ticketweb.co.uk.

They will also be also available over the counter at the Cathedral shop or by calling Marketing Gloucester Ltd on 01452 207020 from August 24. Costs are 8 pounds for children under 16 and 10 pounds for adults.

Read more details right here. Thanks to Foss for the tip!

Senior staff member, MuggleCast co-host, teen icon, Kansan, entrepreneur. These are a few titles Ben Schoen has collected since he started working on MuggleNet several years ago.

Unfortunately Ben lost the "teen icon" title today (he'll always be our idol though). He's now the big 2-0 and I'd like to be the first to welcome him out of the teenage years.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! Be sure to leave your birthday wishes in the comments, or wish him well via his Twitter or Facebook.

Registration for Infinitus 2010 is officially open! The people who brought you Lumos, Prophecy, Portus and Azkatraz are back at it again! HPEF is offering an early bird registration price for $165.00 until midnight of September 7th, 2009. After that, registration will be $180.00 until March 31, 2010. It will then increase to $200.00 pending availability. Be sure to put "MuggleNet" in the referral box when signing up!

Please note that your registration will include all Formal Programming except Keynote Luncheons (which can be purchased at a later date). Information about tickets to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter will be available soon!

For complete information, head on over to Infinitus2010.org. Infinitus will take place in Orlando, Florida from July 15-18, 2010.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continues to move up the All-Time Worldwide Box Office list. The sixth film currently holds the No. 14 spot with $886.0 million, recently surpassing Chamber of Secrets, which stands at No. 15 with $878.6 million.

The movie seems well on its way to the top 10, and stands just $10 million shy of Goblet of Fire. Other Potter films in the top 10 include Sorcerer's Stone at No. 5 ($974.7 million) and Order of the Phoenix at No. 7 ($938.2 million).

Thanks to Jhonny for the tip!

Please join us in wishing Rupert Grint a very happy 21st birthday on this 24th day of August!

Leave him your birthday wishes in the comments!

The Ashes--a cricket series between England and Australia--took place earlier today and Dan Racliffe and Tom Felton spoke on TMS for 25 minutes. They talked about their friendship, their love for cricket and filming the Harry Potter films.

On a related note, congratulations to England for winning the Ashes!

Thanks to everyone who emailed in the tip!

A DVD cover for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is now available for your viewing pleasure right here.

At this time, we cannot confirm if it's the official cover but it appears to be for a 2-disc special edition.

The DVD and Blu-Ray versions are not available for pre-order yet, but we'll keep you updated.

Thanks to Lucas!

Two of the Harry Potter films have made EMPIRE's "50 Greatest Ever Movies Sequels."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made it to the 15th spot while Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban made it to the 24th spot!

Here's what they had to said about Order of the Phoenix:

Why's it so good? David Yates took over the directing reins for this fifth film, based on the longest - and, some would say, dullest - book in the series, and knocked it out of the park. Excising large swathes of not much, he cut it down to one of the leanest films and delivered a barnstorming last act in the Ministry of Magic, with the sort of magical duels we'd been waiting four-and-a-half films to see.

The Orlando Sentinel has some interesting information regarding the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park.

One is for a Finnish company, FogScreen Inc., to provide fog special effects....(Think the Davy Jones effect near the beginning of Walt Disney World's Pirates of the Caribbean ride.)

The second is an updated notice for work from Orlando-based theme-park-design company Austin 2 Paris Inc. The notice says the work is for "automata" -- the plural of automaton, which is a type of robot.

Percy Weasley celebrates his birthday today, August 22. Let's forgive and forget and wish him the best.

Have a great one, Percy!

It's been awhile since JKRowling.com has been updated, but some alterations to the site have appeared. The title of Rowling's diary has changed to "Everything you might want to know" and a few books and links have also changed. Let us know if you find any other ones!

Thanks to Leaky!

The latest episode of our Harry Potter podcast has arrived, and we're celebrating our 4th birthday! Join Jamie, Ben, Micah and I for a great episode oozing at the brim with the following:

- HBP continues to make money at the box office while DH filming surges on.
- Potter Exhibition is heading to Boston, but where will it go next?
- Jamie Waylett isn't returning for DH and Joshua Herdman reveals where the split will be. Our thoughts.
- What happened with HBP IMAX 3D? Andrew explains how it was a rip off.
- Happy Birthday, Micah!
- Micah and Andrew discuss the HBP video game.
- MuggleCast turns 4; the listeners and hosts celebrate!
- This Week in MuggleCast History, Make the Music Connection, Jamie's British Joke of the Week, and Chicken Soup!

All that and a LOT more (including Jamie's tell-all review of Half-Blood Prince) can be found in this week's show! To download the fun for free, we recommend subscribing through iTunes. Just CLICK HERE and then press "Subscribe" to the right of our album art. (Already subscribed? Refresh your feed!) No iPod or MP3 player needed! You can also visit the MuggleCast website to listen right within your browser, or to download the MP3 file to your desktop.

Several weeks ago, a not-for-profit Potter symposium (MuggleMayhem) was held in the UK, and MuggleNet's own Jamie Lawrence was present to participate in some of the events.

Actor Joshua Herdman, who plays Goyle in the Potter films, was one of several actors from the franchise who hosted a Q&A session at the event. He revealed some particularly interesting Deathly Hallows information with fans that is worth reporting.

First, Herdman said that the current plan was to split Deathly Hallows just after the trio are captured by the Snatchers and right before they are taken to Malfoy Manor. Many fans had speculated this is where the split would be, as it will provide quite a cliffhanger between films. Please note that - while this may be the current plan - the director and producers have made it clear that they could very well change where they had been thinking of splitting it if they thought a different point worked better after filming was complete.

Second, Herdman says that his character will be the one who dies instead of Jamie Waylett's character (Crabbe). This decision was made after Waylett was arrested and convicted of cannabis possession several months ago. Waylett is not expected to return for Deathly Hallows.

We all know that there have been numerous attempts at a real life invisibility cloak in the Muggle world, but here's a new one: in the next issue of Entertainment Weekly, CBS will be publishing video ads within the printed magazine itself! Daily Prophet and/or moving portraits much? From the Financial Times:

The cost of the full-motion video ad was not disclosed, but it will be far more expensive than traditional print ads, according to executives familiar with the technology, developed by a US company called Americhip.

The willingness to spend on such a promotion highlights the radical means marketers are employing to reach consumers at a time when a growing number of people are using new technologies such as digital video recorders to avoid ads.

"It's part of the future - a way to engage consumers in new and surprising ways," said George Schweitzer, president of CBS marketing group. "How do you sample a drink? You give them a taste."

Unfortunately, the ads will only be issues delivered to New York and Los Angeles residents. If anyone can send in video of this impressive feat, please do send it in to us!

Entertainment Weekly has a new feature looking at 17 characters who are deadly but charming, and Lord Voldemort has made their list thanks to the cast who play him in the films:

Known as the Dark Lord to those who dare not speak his name, this corrupted wizard represents ultimate evil in the world of J.K. Rowling's magical books. And as played by the regal Ralph Fiennes — with childhood assists from young actors like Christian Clouson, Frank Dillane, and Fiennes' own nephew, Hero Fiennes-Tiffin — it's easy to see how Voldemort could seduce anyone to the dark side.

See Voldemort's entry here and the entire list starting here. Thanks Lauren!

If you're a Lord of the Rings fan you'll know that Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro are working on getting a Hobbit film made. In a new interview with The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blox, Dan Radcliffe made it clear that he won't be looking for any role like that once Potter is complete:

"I'd have to say, 'Thanks but no thanks,' not that anyone has asked me," the 20-year-old actor told me last week in England. "Honestly, I don't think they would want me anyway, it's just too close. Whatever I do next, I don't think there will be any wizards in it!"

Thanks to Maggie for the tip!

Actor Mike Edmonds, who is set to play one of the Gringotts goblins in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has said the following in a new interview:

"I start filming for Harry Potter in October and I’m really looking forward to it."

Edmonds spoke with media at a local charity bike ride. He is also known for his role as Logray, the Ewok sharman, in Star Wars.

A giant crop circle that looks like an owl has been found in a field in Wiltshire, UK, and there are theories that it's a tribute to Hedwig.

Steve Killick, a Harry Potter fan, said: "It is very exciting to think that there are fans of Harry from other galaxies.

"Most of the world has fallen in love with Harry Potter so it makes sense that most of the universe will do eventually too."

Pattern expert Karen Alexander dismissed the claims: "The owl is an ancient symbol of wisdom, so perhaps it is a message to people that we should be thinking deeper about the world around us.

"This is obviously a time of some upheaval in the world so perhaps this is a sign that we should be looking backwards for some wisdom in how to deal with today's problems, rather than anything to do with Harry Potter."

Karen Alexander is a party pooper. See the crop circle here, and thanks to Cassie for the tip.

MuggleNet's very own Micah Tannenbaum, the beloved news anchor of our podcast MuggleCast turns 27 today. Micah is known for his segments such as, "What's Buggin' Micah?" and more recently, "Micah's Dungeon" where he imprisons fanfic writers until they let him read their stuff on the air in his smooth, certain voice. Micah recently kicked a lot of butt in the news-posting position on the main site here and should probably have a ninja turtle named after him, well, just because. Happy birthday, buddy!

Over the last several weeks, various news outlets have explored and critiqued Harry Potter and its effects on its readers. Now, we have a new article from the Boston Globe that looks at how the series has won over some religious critics as of late.

“When stories become as popular as the Harry Potter stories, they no longer simply reflect the religious views of the author, but become artifacts of the culture, and they say something about the culture that has embraced them,” Dalton says. “And that is certainly the case with Harry Potter.”

Thanks to Annie and Makenzie for the tip!

Evanna Lynch, the girl who plays Luna Lovegood in the movies, turns 18 today.

As many of you know, Evanna is a huge Harry Potter fan. She was a frequent MuggleNet visitor and MuggleCast listener. She even landed the role as Luna after she found out about the casting call from MuggleNet!

Yep, she's one of us. From your friends and fans at MuggleNet: have a great one, Evanna!

A video has surfaced providing glimpses of the huge castle under construction and some of the towers.

Also, more photos of snowy Hogsmeade have been found, and can be found here, courtesy of Brianorndorf.com. Thanks to Leaky for the tip.

The actress who plays Hermione in the Potter films has updated her official website with a new blog entry:

Hi Everyone,
Back at Leavesden filming HP7 after a frantic publicity week for HP6. It was a great success and thank you for all your support during the tour! It was great fun and I hope you liked the film as much as I did!

Hope you're all enjoying your summer holidays.

Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the tip!

UPDATE: WB has asked Chris and Maria to take down their set report. Sorry!

Filming has been underway for a few months now, and a couple who met through Harry Potter recently received the unique opportunity to visit the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Being good fans, they wrote an exhaustive set report on their blog that details every aspect of their visit. Among their findings, they learned that a small new scene has been created for Deathly Hallows. They also saw several sets including Luna's house, the Room of Requirement, the Great Hall, and many more.

Read the report right here! Thanks to Leaky for the tip.

As the summer movie season comes to a close, IMDB is looking toward the most anticipated movies of 2010. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I makes the top 10 list, trailing only Alice in Wonderland.

The movie hits theaters November 19, 2010. Thanks to Snitch Seeker!

Daniel Radcliffe recently made a "major donation" to the Trevor Project--"a non-profit organization that operates the only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention helpline for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth."

"I am very pleased to begin my support of The Trevor Project, which saves lives every day through its critical work," said Daniel Radcliffe. "It's extremely distressing to consider that in 2009 suicide is a top three killer of young people, and it's truly devastating to learn that LGBTQ youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers. I deeply hope my support can raise the organization's visibility so even more despondent youth become aware of The Trevor Helpline's highly trained counselors and Trevor's many other resources. It's vitally important that young people understand they are not alone and, perhaps even more important, that their young lives have real value."

Read the rest of the article from BroadwayWorld here.

As we told you last month, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was nominated in the category of Summer: Movie-Action Adventure at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards. The awards were held last night in Los Angeles and the sixth installment came away with the top prize!

Check out a full list of winners here and watch the show tonight at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

In a new interview with EvannaLynchFans, Luna Lovegood actress Evanna Lynch talks about the Lovegoods and filming for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Which part of Deathly Hallows are you most excited about seeing turned into film?

I imagine everyone will say this-the walk through the woods and Platform nine and three quarters. It was such an experience to read, such a catharsis, I remember reading it for the first time and I felt like I could hardly keep up with my own eyes rushing across the pages. It will be so exciting to see how they translate that experience onto film, to see what someone else made of it. And of course the Lovegood house!! I have seen it being made from scratch and been in it and all around it and it is absolutely beautiful, much more vivid and detailed and alive than anything I could ever dream up even while reading the books. I hope they give it good screen time, it truly deserves it. I'm so excited just to see Mr.Lovegood in action. Luna has always been so different and jarring to those around her, it will be so nice to see someone with the same energy and hear his lines, you can't beat the Lovegoods for unpredictability.

Check out the rest of the interview here to read more about Evanna Lynch herself and her role in Half-Blood Prince.

Check out this new video from Wired.com, showing the process of converting Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to 3-D.

“The first step is masking out objects in the scene so that we can turn those objects 3-D,” says IMAX’s Eric Robinson as he shows off the software. “The next step is, re-create the scene in 3-D so that we can generate depth information from that. Our proprietary render system generates a new image, which is offset from the original.”

Thanks to ScarPotter.com for the tip!

It's hard to believe it has been four years since Andrew, Ben and Kevin sat down to record the first episode of MuggleCast. Released August 7, 2005, Episode 1 would become the launching point for something truly amazing, as seven people - who knew relatively little about each other - would get together each week to discuss all things Harry Potter.

Now, roughly 177 episodes later, the show has enjoyed tremendous success: a couple of podcasts awards, the #1 spot on iTunes, and live shows here in the United States, as well as Canada, England and Australia. But none of this would have been possible without you, the listeners! So thank you for four great years of podcasting and we look forward to many more!

Be on the lookout for Episode 178 next week, where we'll discuss our four-year anniversary and a lot more!

A few Deathly Hallows set photos have emerged online from Bovingdon Airfield in England. The pictures show an open road surrounded on each side by long lines of lighting cranes. While there is no confirmation, this seems to be set up for more filming of the Seven Potters scene. We'll keep you posted as we receive more information and photos.

Thanks to Oclumencia and Snitch Seeker!

If you're like me (a nerd), you probably love catching movie mistakes in films. MovieMistakes.com is a great site to see a list of all known mistakes, and their Half-Blood Prince page now holds 66 of 'em! Like this one:

When Hagrid and Slughorn are drinking after Aragog's funeral, Slughorn's cup is considerably larger than Hagrid's cup. After Hagrid passes out, Slughorn's cup has shrunk to the same size as Hagrid's.

I was surprised to see that they didn't have one I caught: after Draco is escorted out of Slughorn's party by Snape and Harry begins to spy on them, you can clearly see crew rugs used to quiet Draco and Snape's footsteps. The same rugs are visible earlier in the film when Harry and Ron walk down a corridor after Slughorn's class.

(I just sent that to MovieMistakes.com.)

As they get ready for the Holidays, Warner Bros. wants your opinion about the watches they are getting ready to launch. Anyone who completes the survey will get $5 off their next purchase of $30 or more by August 31!

Check out the four designs and take the quick survey here.

Great news for fans attending MuggleMayhem: we have some last minute guest updates for you. Joshua Herdman (Gregory Goyle) and Robbie Jarvis (young James Potter) will both be attending the convention. Also, Natalie Tena's (Tonks) band will be playing a set on the Saturday night themed party.

For those of you not attending, you still have time to buy a ticket!

Heart Radio interviewed the trio last month as they made their press rounds promoting Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Of particular interest was Dan's revelation that "there is a Quidditch element to one of the rides." He also talks about Nagini's role in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

In the interview, Emma admits she would choose Ron over Harry, and Rupert talks more about his ice cream van and Swine flu.

The interviews include much more, so take a listen here! Many thanks to Snitch Seeker!

We can now add Harry Potter wall art to the long list of Harry Potter merchandise available. Indianapolis’ DreamTrust Corp. has acquired the rights to sell decals featuring images from all the Potter movies, according to IndyStar.

The decals, called Pinhedz, range in price from $40 to $110 depending on the size. Check them out here.

Are you attending MuggleMayhem? Enter the fan fiction competition and you could win some very special rare prizes at the event. Full details on the official forum.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince held onto second at the U.S. box office this weekend, conjuring up $17.7 million in ticket sales. The movie saw a boost from opening in 162 IMAX theaters, bringing its domestic total to $255.5 million.

The sixth installment remained on top overseas, making $42.7 million this past weekend and bringing the foreign box office number to $492.3 million. Prince's worldwide total now stands at $747.7 million.

Central Florida News 13 recently aired a look at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The video includes a run-down of the project, aerial footage of the construction site and a look at the "robocoaster" prototype that is the rumored basis for the design of one of the major attractions.

Check it out in two parts: here and here.

Thanks to Alex for the tip!