2013 – Year in Review

 

The Numbers

  • MuggleNet news posts: 1,244
  • MuggleNet page views: 14,161,421
  • MuggleNet seen in: 216 countries, colonies, and territories by over 3,747,675 individuals

 

The Stellar Seven

These were our seven most popular news stories for the year.

  1. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was officially announced at Universal Studios Hollywood.
  2. The Diagon Alley expansion at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando was confirmed.
  3. MinaLima presented The Graphic Art of the Harry Potter Films in a special exhibition.
  4. J.K. Rowling was revealed as the real author behind crime novel The Cuckoo’s Calling, previously under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.
  5. J.K. Rowling admitted that Dumbledore was the character she missed the most in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America.
  6. J.K. Rowling announced that she will be penning the first screenplay for a new Potter film series based on the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as part of an “expanded creative partnership” with Warner Bros.
  7. David Heyman confirmed that he will produce the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film adaptation.

 

The Stories

January
January 7 – In a poll, Hermione Granger was voted the best cinema role model with 19% of the overall votes.

January 7 – MuggleNet got nominated for a Shorty Award in the Fansite category.

January 8 – Pictures leaked of WWoHP Orlando expansions, letting all fans assume that the expansions were no longer just a rumor.

January 9 – Emma Watson won the award for Best Dramatic Movie Actress for her role as Sam in The Perks of Being a Wallflower at the People's Choice Awards.

January 11 – Rupert Grint's The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman competed for a Golden Bear in the Berlin International Film Festival.

January 17The Casual Vacancy was ranked #23 on USA Today's Top 100 Best Selling Books of 2012 list.

January 19 – Daniel Radcliffe's Kill Your Darlings premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received good first reviews.

February
February 7 – J.K. Rowling was honored with an award for philanthropy at the Beacon Awards. She was recognized for her involvement with the Volant Charitable Trust.

February 12 – BBC Radio named J.K. Rowling the 13th most powerful woman in the UK.

February 13 – Scholastic hired Kazu Kibuishi to design the new paperback covers for the Harry Potter books in honor of the fifteen-year anniversary of the publication of Sorcerer's Stone.

February 19 – MuggleNet took part in Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter's "Wand Week" in celebration of wands.

February 24 – MuggleNet hosted the first live MuggleNet Harry Potter Oscar Awards ceremony based on fan votes in each of the categories.

February 27 – The first rumors started popping up about WWoHP Orlando expansions being complete in summer 2014.

March
March 4 – MuggleNet Fan Fiction received its 10,000th submission, titled Laid to Rest, the final part in the writer's Hollow Soldiers series.

March 17 – After countless rumors concerning Emma Watson playing a role in the Fifty Shades of Grey film adaptation, Emma finally denied these assumptions on Twitter.

March 23Goblet of Fire was named the most popular book found in British households by the Sun.

March 29 – Richard Griffiths, the actor who portrayed Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films, passed away at the age of 65.

April
April 1 – Some of the April Fools' Day posts were hilarious, including Dame Maggie Smith being cast as the twelfth Doctor in Doctor Who and J.K. Rowling writing a comic book about Fred and George post-Hogwarts for charity.

April 3 – Pottermore released new, interactive content for PlayStation Home.

April 18 – MuggleNet posted its Quidditch World Cup roundup. UCLA, University of Texas at Austin, and Sam Houston State University won!

April 18Alohomora! celebrated its one-year anniversary.

April 24 – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was officially announced at Universal Studios Hollywood.

May
May 2 – International Harry Potter Day was celebrated by fans around the world.

May 8 – The Diagon Alley expansion at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando was confirmed.

May 22 – Rare copy of Philosopher's Stone sold for £150,000; includes J.K. Rowling's illustrations of Snape, baby Harry, the Hogwarts crest, and annotations.

May 30 – The new fifteenth anniversary cover for Chamber of Secrets was released.

June
June 5 – Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter hosted "Animal Actors" event.

June 19 – MinaLima presented The Graphic Art of the Harry Potter Films in a special exhibition.

June 27 – Bloomsbury released new covers for the adult UK editions.

June 27 – New illustrations from Mary GrandPré were compiled and released online.

June 27 – The fifteenth anniversary cover of Prisoner of Azkaban was revealed.

June 29Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix fifteenth anniversary covers were discovered before their official release date.

July
July 1 – MuggleNet Interactive celebrated ten years of magic and memories with a range of celebratory events.

July 1Entertainment Weekly honored the Harry Potter series with 7th place on their list of greatest books of all time.

July 4 – Warner Bros. Studios enabled virtual exploration of Diagon Alley via Google Street View.

July 13 – J.K. Rowling was revealed as the real author behind crime novel The Cuckoo's Calling, previously under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

July 23 – A first edition of The Cuckoo's Calling, signed by "Robert Galbraith," sold for £2,950.

July 31 – Scholastic revealed Kazu Kibuishi's Deathly Hallows cover art, the last piece of the fifteenth anniversary collection.

August
August 2 – Warner Bros. announced the closure of the Harry Potter Dialogue Centre after ten years of operation.

August 11 – LeakyCon made its way across the pond to become the first major Harry Potter convention in the UK.

August 20 – Kazu Kibuishi spoke with the Scholastic blog about illustrating the fifteenth anniversary editions of the Harry Potter series.

August 27 – J.K. Rowling admitted that Dumbledore was the character she missed the most in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America.

September
September 5 – Emma Watson was presented with the Woman of the Year award by Tom Hiddleston at the annual GQ Awards.

September 9 – A signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sold on eBay for an astonishing $10,602.

September 12 – J.K. Rowling announced that she will be penning the first screenplay for a new Potter film series based on the Hogwarts textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as part of an "expanded creative partnership" with Warner Bros.

September 16 – Warner Bros. signed on as global distributor for the BBC miniseries of The Casual Vacancy, due to start production in early 2014.

September 27 – MuggleNet spoke to Lumos's Head of Communications about the aims behind J.K. Rowling's charity.

September 27 – Warner Bros. trademarked, among others, Quidditch Through the Ages and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, provoking rumors of further films and adaptations.

October
October 1 – MuggleNet celebrated its fourteenth anniversary.

October 1 – David Heyman confirmed that he will produce the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film adaptation.

October 4 – First look at Wizarding World Orlando's Gringotts carts was revealed.

October 7 – Warner Bros. Studio Tour London announced it would host "Hogwarts in the Snow," covering the Hogwarts model with a blanket of snow.

October 9 – The Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic opened at Edinburgh University.

October 21 – Students of the New England School of Communications announced an adaptation of The Tale of the Three Brothers into a short film, including a nine-year-old girl playing the character of Death.

October 23 – Three new Potter Puppet Pals videos were released.

October 27 – The MuggleNet Podcast Family earned four nominations in the 2013 Podcast Awards.

November
November 8Harry Potter: The Exhibition announced its next location: Norrkoping, Sweden in May 2014-September 2014. This was its first European stop.

November 9 – J.K. Rowling raised £1,000,000 for Lumos with an event at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter.

November 19 – Full Harry Potter Forever 46 stamp collection from USPS was released, with 20 stamps and a number of keepsake items.

November 20 – Warner Bros. Studio Tour London unveiled the snow-covered Hogwarts model.

November 21 – Details for Wizarding World Orlando's "A Celebration of Harry Potter" were revealed, including cast Q&A, wand master class, MinaLima panel, Pottermore behind-the-scenes look, and a prop expo.

December
December 6 – Bloomsbury UK announced Jim Kay as the new illustrator of Harry Potter books.

December 8 – The first official photo of the Diagon Alley expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando was released.

December 11 – J.K. Rowling's charm bracelet sold for £20,000 at Sotheby's, to benefit Lumos.

December 12 – A new video with Stuart Craig discussing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando expansion was released.

December 17 – The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park announced an upcoming webcast on January 23, 2014.

December 19 – More details about the A Celebration of Harry Potter event at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando were released.

December 20 – J.K. Rowling confirmed the Harry Potter stage play, a collaboration with producers Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, focusing on Harry's childhood.

December 20 – Two trailers for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando's Diagon Alley expansion were released.

December 22 – A helicopter flew above the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida for a construction update.

December 25The Cuckoo's Calling received the number three spot on Amazon's Best-Seller list.