YATES TO DIRECT ANOTHER HARRY POTTER MOVIE

Filmmaker DAVID YATES has become only the second director to make more than one HARRY POTTER movie - he's confirmed he'll be shooting another entry in the wizard boy franchise. Yates is currently putting the finishing touches on Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, due out in July (07). And the Brit had so much fun, he'll also be filming the next movie, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. He tells Sci Fi Wire, "I am doing Half-Blood Prince, and I'm doing it because I love the (Potter) world, I love the characters. I think I have more business with this world and these characters." Chris Columbus made the first two films, Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets.

Amazon hits 1 million pre-orders for HPDH

Amazon announced today that since February 1, more than one million pre-ordered copies of the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, have been pre-ordered on their website. This marks a significant increase over Half-Blood Prince in 2005, when it took almost twice as long for one million books to sell.

Harry Potter fake appears on the internet

A fake version of the latest Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has appeared on the internet.

An anonymous author wrote a 250,000-word version of the seventh book in the series and put it up online.

Book publishers Bloomsbury have insisted that the version is bogus.

According to The Sun, only three other people other than J K Rowling have read the book - all of which are publishing bosses.

A spokeswoman for the company said: "We are aware of the internet version but it is not the real thing. People will have to wait until 21 July."

Emma Watson Returns to Potter for $4Million?

Originally the rumor was that Emma Watson was not going to return to the Harry Potter Franchise. Which seemed to be a blatant grab for more money. Do I blame her? Heck no. So the latest scoop from one of our readers is that not only has she returned with more on screen time, but that she will get $4million bucks. Not knowing what she got paid for the last films, I cant say how big of a raise this is. Please note this is total rumor with no facts backing it up. The only thing we do know is that she will return.

The anticipated fifth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novel series is being directed by award-winning British filmmaker David Yates and is coming to cinemas July 13th, 2007.

In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager's recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned. Fearing that Hogwarts' venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about Voldemort's return in order to undermine his power and take his job, the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the Hogwarts students.

But Professor Dolores Umbridge's Ministry-approved course of defensive magic leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces threatening them and the entire wizarding community, so at the prompting of his friends Hermione and Ron, Harry takes matters into his own hands. Meeting secretly with a small group of students who name themselves "Dumbledore's Army", Harry teaches them how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts, preparing the courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that lies ahead.

Warner Bros. says no Harry Potter screenings in Canada

A Hollywood studio is to cancel all preview screenings of its movies in Canada, in an attempt to clamp down on "rampant" film piracy in the region.

Warner Bros will halt all "promotional and word-of-mouth screenings" of new releases, says the Hollywood Reporter.

The studio blamed the failure of the Canadian government to make camcording - videotaping a film directly off the cinema screen - an illegal practice.

The preview ban will affect Ocean's Thirteen and the latest Harry Potter.

"We regret having to cancel our screenings in Canada," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Brothers.

"But our studio must take steps to protect not only our branded assets, but our commitment to film-makers and to our distributors."

Canada is the number one priority in terms of anti-camcording legislation Darcy Antonellis, Warner Brothers

The ban was announced on Monday, as representatives from major film studios told a parliamentary committee in Canada that unauthorised recording of Hollywood films in domestic cinemas was rampant.

"Canada is the number one priority in terms of anti-camcording legislation," said Darcy Antonellis, a senior figure in worldwide anti-piracy operations at Warner Bros Entertainment.

"Within the first week of a film's release, you can almost be certain that somewhere out there a Canadian copy will show up."

Last year, Twentieth Century Fox threatened to postpone film releases in Canada to eliminate the threat of unauthorised camcording.

Cable talks

Meanwhile, the major studios are in talks with US cable company Comcast over plans to screen films on cable TV on the same day as they are released in cinemas.

Comcast's Stephen Burke told a trade show in Las Vegas that subscribers could be charged between $30 to $50 (£15-£25) to watch a film release at home on its opening day in cinemas.

"We've talked to the studios about this and they're all interested," said Mr Burke, but added that there were no imminent developments.

Studios, which make a large chunk of their profit from DVD sales, are eager to narrow the gap between big screen debuts and DVD releases, thereby reducing the need for a second promotional campaign.

However, cinema owners have strongly resisted any effort to close the window amid fears their attendances would fall.

Warner Bros. to offer movies online in Hong Kong

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Warner Bros. film studio said on Wednesday it will offer movie downloads online through ViDeOnline Communications Ltd. in Hong Kong, a key movie market where film piracy has plagued Hollywood.

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Through its Web site named 08Media, ViDeOnline will offer newer films such as "Superman Returns" and Oscar-winning "Happy Feet," as well as numerous older titles from its library like "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

About 100 titles will initially be available, Warner Bros. and ViDeOnline said in a statement. The price per download was not disclosed.

The agreement comes against a backdrop of illegal copying and distribution of movies on DVDs and on the Internet. Hollywood studios claim that piracy costs them more than $6 billion a year in lost revenues. A key arena where studios are battling piracy is China.

One strategy employed by Hollywood is to get consumers more top quality copies of legal movies faster.

"This deal fits perfectly with our philosophy of providing consumers around the world with access to our world-class entertainment," said Jeffrey Schlesinger, president of Warner Bros. International Television, a division of Warner Bros.

ViDeOnline Chairman and Chief Executive Dr. Priscilla Lu said the company uses digital video watermarking and other technology to guard against copying.

Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.