Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling, otherwise known as the lady who wrote those books about the wizard school, has an annual tradition, started in 2015, where she apologizes for a particularly unjust death that has saddened die-hard Harry Potter fans. 2015’s apology was for Fred Weasley, one half of the Weasley twins duo that throughout the series had seemed to be inseparable. Last year’s apology was for Remus Lupin, the werewolf and one-time Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who’d ended up a close ally and friend of Harry’s. Both deaths were tragic, and yet fit with Potter’s theme of victory through self-sacrifice. The apologies both garnered mournful tweets from fans who talked about what great characters they were, and how they miss them. This year’s apology, however, split the fandom right down the middle.

Even though the books are long done, the one thing that still remains is Quidditch. Even here in Nacogdches, Bring your kids to play this "Muggle" game they have now named "Kidditch"

Stocks in magic are down. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was less than fantastic (hey-o), the much-touted stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won’t come to Broadway for months, and we can assume that the constant onslaught that was 2016 sapped many children of their belief in the wonder of magic. The Harry Potter-industrial complex needs a shot in the arm, and head honchos over at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park may have just the thing to inspire a little excitement.

Everyone knows Harry Potter’s most famous distinguishing mark: The lightning bolt scar on his forehead. But do you know how many times Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, had that scar applied to his forehead over the course of making the eight Harry Potter movies? All told, it was over 2,000 times. That works out to about 250 applications per movie. That’s just one of the cool Potter facts featured in the newest episode of You Think You Know Movies!

Fifteen years ago this week we met a little boy with glasses and a lightening bolt scar on his forehead. He went to a magical school, learned how to fly, made some friends, made some enemies, and went on to defeat one of the worst movie villains of all time. You probably know that his name is Harry Potter, but how well do you know the Harry Potter movies?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them opens this week, but is the Harry Potter spinoff enough to kick off a brand new franchise? Will J.K. Rowling’s new movie connect to the Potter book series? ScreenCrush has new fan theories that could tie everything together. You might want to sit down for this.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third movie in the beloved magical franchise, but in many ways, it was a film of firsts. It was the first Potter not directed by Chris Columbus (Alfonso Cuaron served as his replacement) and it was also the first Potter released in IMAX. Those are just a couple of the facts featured in the newest episode of You Think You Know Movies!

How do you make a successful Harry Potter prequel without Harry Potter? J.K. Rowling’s new spinoff, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, travels back nearly 70 years to 1926 before the events of the first Potter movie to tell a whole new story in a new setting with (almost) all new characters. Reviving the magical universe from the second biggest franchise of all time is a pretty risky move, but Fantastic Beasts does a good job of blending the familiar with the new.

J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them won’t just be a five-part return to the magical world of the Harry Potter movies; it has the potential to be groundbreaking for Hollywood diversity.

Whatever the reason behind late-in-the-game Stranger Things mashups, we’re hard-pressed to deny some of the skill involved. Following Buffy and Charlie Brown combinations, Netflix’s surprise summer hit gets a magical Harry Potter mashup, as Eleven and her friends take a trip to Hogwarts.

We’re about a month away from our return to J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world — or another corner of it, in another time, anyway. Although the world will feel somewhat familiar to fans of the Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is introducing a whole new cast of charming (and not-so-charming) characters that we’ll hopefully come to know and love throughout the trilogy. And this series of character posters should help you get better acquainted.

The very first Harry Potter movie opened 15 years ago next month. Fifteen years. A lot has changed in blockbuster movies over the past decade and a half – superheroes are now front and center, CG has advanced to remarkable degrees, and remakes, prequels and spin-offs are filling the movie theaters. But J.K. Rowling’s magical world was one of the most original series of its time. Before Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone opened on November 18, 2001, the only major movies for kids born in the ‘80s and ‘90s were animated films from Disney and Dreamworks. The 21st Century also brought with it the Star Wars prequels and the Lord of the Rings series, but Harry Potter introduced a whole new era of fantasy blockbusters for kids (Chronicles of Narnia, The Golden Compass, Twilight, etc.). It gave millennials the first major family franchise of their generation.