Filmonic » Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince script online

Liam — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:37:28 +0000

In preparation for the awards season Warner Bros. have released the original screenplay for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We don’t usually get the chance to read scripts as they are kept under tight security during production, and then when the film is released we don’t really need it because we have the completed form for our viewing pleasure. I think I’ll read this one over the weekend just out of interest. According to SnichSeeker there are a few scenes that didn’t make it into the film, and some dialogue changes.

You can download the PDF file by clicking here. You can also check out the ‘For your consideration’ page for Half-Blood prince here.

Deleted Half-Blood Prince scene

Liam — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:15:59 +0000

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released on DVD and Blu-ray next month (Amazon are currently selling the DVD for $10) and to gear people up Warner Bros. are starting to release some behind the scenes stuff, along with some deleted scenes that didn’t make it into the movie.

The scene below gives us an extended look at the students and professors as the clouds darken before the Death Eaters invasion. I can’t really see why it was cut down, but I’m sure they have their reasons.

Pre-order Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Liam — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:17:50 +0000

Update: According to The Leaky Cauldron official footage from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movies will be included on the special edition version of the DVD, as well as on the Blu-ray copies. Just another reason to buy it!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is now available to pre-order on Amazon.com. It won’t officially be released until December 8th, but keen Potter fans can make sure theirs arrives as soon as it becomes available. Like with most films, it can be purchased on DVD, Blu-ray, a Two Disc Special Edition, Widescreen and Amazon Video on Demand. Click here to pre-order yours!

Maggie Smith talks Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows

Liam — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:04:53 +0000

When Warner Bros. decided to undertake the Harry Potter adventure one of the most important requirements was to put together a strong cast. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have come into their own now, but back during the first few movies they were basically learning on the job, and more experienced actors were needed to help carry the films. Thankfully Warner Bros did just that by bringing on-board legendary British actors such as Alan Rickman, Richard Harris, and two time Oscar winner Maggie Smith to play supporting roles, and over the years it has been these actors that have made the movies special, for me anyway.

Nothing like the Harry Potter franchise had been undertaken before and it would require everyone involved, especially the actors, to keep spaces in their diary’s free for the next decade. Things were running smoothly cast-wise until Richard Harris unfortunately died in 2002, and the role of Dumbledore was then taken on by Michael Gambon in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

For the past 5 years the same actors have been appearing on our screens again and again, although fans of the franchise may have noticed something was different about one particular actress in the latest outing Half-Blood Prince. Maggie Smith who plays Minerva McGonagall wasn’t as ‘active’ on-screen as we had seen her in past instalments. I knew from previous reports that Smith had breast cancer and was undergoing treatment, although I didn’t know how bad it was for her during filming. Smith recently spoke to The Times about her cancer battle, and on filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Last year Dame Maggie found a lump on her breast. “I had been feeling a little rum. I didn’t think it was anything serious because years ago I felt a lump and it was benign. I assumed this would be too. It kind of takes the wind out of your sails, and I don’t know what the future holds, if anything. I don’t think there’s a lot of it, because of my age — there just isn’t. It’s all been. I’ve no idea what there will be.”
She revealed that she made Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince — playing Professor Minerva McGonagall — during her cancer treatment. “I was hairless. I had no problem getting the wig on. I was like a boiled egg.”
The cancer was “hideous”, the chemotherapy “something that makes you feel much worse than the cancer itself”, she said. “You feel horribly sick. I was holding on to railings, thinking ‘I can’t do this’.” Dame Maggie is planning to “stagger through” filming the final Harry Potter film, The Deathly Hallows.
“The last couple of years have been a write-off, though I’m beginning to feel like a person now,” she said. “My energy is coming back. S*** happens. I ought to pull myself together a bit.”

Cancer isn’t kind to anyone, especially 74 year old’s, and while we didn’t see McGonagall marching around after students like we usually do, Maggie Smith gave another great performance given the circumstances.

It’s good to hear that her energy is coming back, as she will need it for Deathly Hallows. Fans of the books will know that McGonagall plays an important role in the final film. Now that Dumbledore isn’t around she is appointed Headmistress of Hogwarts, and during the Battle of Hogwarts she has wizarding duels with Snape (Alan Rickman) and Voldemort. While I don’t expect Maggie Smith to be doing anything too physical i’m sure these scenes can still be done. I mean it wasn’t actually Ian McKellen (70) and Christopher Lee (87) throwing themselves around the room during their battles in The Lord of the Rings.

The next time you hear young actors and actresses complaining about how hard it was filming for 10 hours a day or how tough it was running away from those planned explosions, block out their bull by admiring the tough cookie that is Dame Maggie Smith.

Half-Blood Prince crosses $300 million mark in the US

Liam — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:15:03 +0000

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has crossed the $300 million milestone in the United States according to Box Office Mojo, making it the only Potter movie to do so after the first movie back in 2001. Overall Half-Blood Prince is the third highest grossing Harry Potter movie with $927 million, behind Order of the Phoenix with $938 million and Sorcerer’s Stone with $974 million.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows began filming in January and is expected to shoot for a total of 250 days as the film will be split into two. We will be getting Part I in November 2010 and Part II in July 2011. I have a feeling the final movie will be the one that finally knocks Sorcerer’s Stone off the top spot as the highest grossing Potter movie.

Splitting Deathly Hallows was probably one of the best decisions Warner Bros. made as it will allow the franchise to draw to a close in an epic fashion (the big battle at the end will apparently last 30 minutes, compared to around 10 minutes if it were one movie). Warner Bros. will also make another $900+ million. Everyone’s a winner!

Harry Potter expected to overtake Bond to become top grossing franchise

Liam — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:42:10 +0000

With the Harry Potter franchise earning crazy amounts of money in the region of $800 – $950 million per film you’d expect it to give other franchises a run for their money (pun intended) in terms of ‘highest grossing franchise ever’. It’s taken a few years but it looks like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be the film that tips the franchise over the $5 billion worldwide mark, overtaking the Bond franchise in the process and taking the highest grossing movie franchise in the history of ever crown.

From Variety:

The five previous “Harry Potter” pics have grossed $4.48 billion at the worldwide box office. That still trails the roughly $5 billion grossed by the James Bond film franchise (not accounting for inflation), but the boy wizard is expected to overtake agent 007 within the month.
The sixth installment, grossed a record-breaking $22.2 million in midnight releases unspooling in 3,003 theaters at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. That more than beat the $18 million midnight record set last summer by Warners’ “The Dark Knight.”

Everyone expects Half-Blood Prince to make big numbers, however it seems the lack of anything Potter related over the past 2 years (no book, no film) has caused anticipation to sky rocket, which could cause it to start breaking a few records. Warner Bros. still have two movies and another $2 billion to go, but they will have to start planning ahead. After 2011 their cash cow will be gone (in terms of movie releases anyway, I expect them to milk the franchise with DVDs, box sets, extended editions and all that jazz for years to come).

Rupert Grint recovering from swine flu

Liam — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:13:26 +0000

According to the BBC Rupert Grint who plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films is recovering from a “mild bout” of swine flu.

Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, took a few days off filming but has now returned to the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and he is well enough to attend the world premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in London on Tuesday.
“He has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members,” his publicist said. She said that Grint’s doctor had confirmed the 20-year-old actor had recovered and was no longer contagious or at risk of infecting others.
“Other scenes were shot in his absence which did not require his involvement and thus filming was not disrupted,” she added.

It’s good to hear it wasn’t too serious and he is recovering, however Emma Watson appeared on UK TV yesterday and mentioned that she filmed a kissing scene with Grint two weeks ago, so if he had swine flu two weeks earlier he could have passed it on to her via the mouth. Imagine if the whole Harry Potter cast catch it!

Below is the interview with Emma Watson. In the first video she talks about auditioning for Hermione, growing up with the franchise, and going to University/College in the US. In the second video she talks about Half Blood Prince and filming Deathly Hallows.

Harry and Dumbledore Half-Blood Prince featurette

Liam — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:50:17 +0000

If Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released last year when originally intended it would already be out on DVD and Blu-Ray by now, but as it got pushed back 8 months we’ve had 8 months worth of extra marketing. I’ve lost count of how many posters have been release, however I won’t complain about the trailers because they’ve made me a born again Potter fan (I stopped watching after Azkaban but have recently caught up). The Half-Blood Prince marketing guys can finally see the end in sight, and have released a featurette which focuses on Harry and Dumbledore. We also see behind the scenes action and a bucket load of new scenes. Watch below!

This will be the last Half-Blood Prince footage-related post until it is released in two weeks time. Potter fans have waited two years for this, i’m sure they don’t want it spoiling with a barrage of clips days before it is finally released.

David Yates talks Half-Blood Prince delay, Deathly Hollows split

Liam — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:39:58 +0000

Because of The Dark Knight’s success last year Warner Bros. decided that they’d made enough money for one year and pushed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince back to this summer. However, it wasn’t just the fans who were disappointed with the decision. It took director David Yates a while to warm to the situation, as he told the L.A Times recently:

At the time, I was so adrenalized, I was so caught up in the process of getting the film in on deadline and making the movie on a certain schedule, and then the decision to delay was a huge anticlimax. There was a huge sense of disappointment, I must say. We finished the film a year ago, so it’s very strange to go all this time without seeing it with an audience, which is what you make it for. But the studio made their case for the move and I came to understand and appreciate their reasons and they are very good at delivering these movies and understanding the process of making a film successful and I think it wise to defer to their judgment.”
“You find yourself fiddling with it much more in post-production, naturally. There’s a good and bad to that. You could keep adjusting things for the rest of your life if you allowed yourself to do that. That can be unhealthy and at some point you have to say, ‘Here is the cut-off date.’ I know fans are eager to see it and it’s been interesting for us to come back to it now, even as we are busy filming the next installments.”

The interview took place during a break from filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, which will be split into two films. Yates revealed what they are currently filming and gave us an idea where the film will eventually be sliced.

“We’re here in the forest, we’ve just finished the scene where Harry, Hermione and Ron are captured by the Snatchers after being chased through the woods. The Snatchers are brutal and scary but they aren’t the most intelligent of creatures.They’re trying to figure out exactly who it is they’ve caught.”
“Things can change when you edit, of course, but the idea now is that it will be not long after the sequence that we are filming here today. That’s what we’re experimenting with. We’ve had three or four different ideas about where to cut off the seventh film. Traditionally, the movies have ended with a death or a bereavement, some sort of passage or arrival. This time we think we will end with more a cliffhanger. Again, though, that’s the thought as of this moment.”

As I haven’t read the books this means nothing to me (i’ve just watched the films), but i’m sure true Potter fans will know what this cliffhanger may be. Yates also praised Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint for being so ’stable and level-headed’. Deep down society expects young child actors who earn millions and find fame to end up doing hard drugs and become paparazzi fodder. Thankfully for the Harry Potter franchise these actors have grown up to become sensible and generally cool people (not that I know them, i’m just assuming).

When July rolls in it will have been 2 years since Order of the Phoenix, so expect Potter riots during the opening weekend, and maybe a few deaths.

Harry Potter and the joy of young love

Liam — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:09:41 +0000

Back when the Harry Potter trio were young they could focus all of their attention on important things such as levitating feathers and playing death chess, but now they are all grown up and are developing ‘feelings’ and their rushing hormones are causing attractions and distractions. Warner Bros. latest marketing campaign is focusing on this with the release of new relationship themed posters and TV spots. Above is one of the 6 new posters that have appeared online via the UK Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince site. As well as new artwork the site also gives us previews of the film’s score.

Below are the TV spots. Personally I prefer the dark and epic trailers, but I suppose these trailers on relationships will bring in a few more females to add to the $900 million+ Half-Blood Prince will no doubt make.