There's a fun little poll over at iVillage that posits the question: Would you want your kid to attend Hogwarts? As the mom of a 10-year-old who, I suspect, hopes in her heart of hearts that a letter confirming her admission to Hogwarts will be flown in by owl when she turns 11, I'm unequivocally with the majority on this one.

My kids are already at least 87% convinced that the world of wizards and witches is real, that Hogwarts really exists, and that You-Know-Who is out there lurking somewhere. My seven-year-old son is half-certain he's really Harry Potter (hey, he does have the unruly hair that won't stay in place no matter how much it's combed), but then again he's also pretty convinced that the Transformers are hiding in every semi-truck, police car and fire truck we pass.

More so than most fictional creations, though, the world created by JK Rowling has captured the fancy of adults and children alike. When my husband and I schlepped off with four kids in tow to Barnes and Noble last week for their big Midnight Madness party around the long-anticipated release of the final book in the series, we were pleased to see how packed the store was, even here in Oklahoma City, the buckle of the Bible Belt, where there have to have been preachers on their pulpits warning their congregations against the evil of the boy wizard the next Sunday.

On the way home from the midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, my 10-year-old daughter/resident Harry Potter fanatic and I had a lively discussion about the books versus the films, which of the five Harry Potter films she likes the best, and which stay truest to the books from which they are adapted. Interestingly, her least favorite film of the series to date is my favorite -- the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (I actually prefer Alfonso Cuarón's directing for Prisoner of Azkaban, and would love to see him back at the helm for the seventh film, but I like better the storyline of Goblet of Fire).

Although I agree with other Harry Potter fans who've said the fourth book was overlong and could have perhaps been shorter without losing much, I felt that the fourth film did an excellent job of trimming away a lot of the fat, while focusing on those key points that drove the plot forward along the arc of the overall series.

Over at Hollywood Elsewhere, there's been an interesting game of cat-and-mouse going on between Jeff Wells and Warner Brothers around Wells' early review of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. A couple days ago, Wells posted a "somewhat negative" review, which is not, in and of itself, a shocking development. A rep from Warner Brothers delivered a smackdown from on high to Wells, slapping him with the dreaded "your invitation to the screening clearly stated NO REVIEWS before opening day blah blah blah take it down or you'll never see another WB press screening until you're too old and decrepit to write negative crap about films."

Wells complied with WB's request and took the review down, but noted that the concept of an embargo was a little moot at that point anyhow, given that last Friday -- a full five days before the hotly anticipated Opening Day -- early reviews of the film were run by Variety's Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt, Time's Richard Corliss, Rolling Stone's Peter Travers, New York Magazine's David Edelstein and Patrick Z. McGavin on Emmanual Levy's site. But who's counting? Apparently Wells is, at least, because just seven hours later, his own review was back up, with Wells noting in the comments in response to a reader that, while the embargo had not been lifted, with all these other reviews already out (42 pre-release date reviews as of now on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 74% "fresh" rating), he didn't feel the need to comply with WB and "hold his water."

Just when you had recovered from the early summer lead-ins sequel saturation featuring Spider-Man 3 and Shrek 3, you found yourself dodging robots left and right as Transformers invaded just about every nook and cranny of the country. Hopefully you've also been bracing yourself against the mother-of-all-promotions that is also known as the advertising for The Simpsons Movie.

However, don't count out the boy wizard just yet ... and we're using the term "boy" here loosely, since Daniel Radcliffe looks old enough to be a junior in college at this point. But if you're a fan of the Harry Potter series, like I am, then you couldn't ask for a better summer. You've probably had the book on pre-order for months, you've dusted off your wizard robes, found your magic wand, aired out the Firebolt, and had the release date for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix marked on your calendar for weeks.

So, as a bit of a teaser, check out the new clip above from the flick that just appeared on Moviefone, and inch yourself closer to the edge of your seat. The wait is almost over, and I feel about as nervous as Hagrid looks in this clip about getting a ticket.

When I saw the name of Warner Brothers' new website for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I was concerned. I worried that JoinDumbledoresArmy might be some sneaky plan by the Bush administration to draft our youngsters into fighting overseas. But after closer inspection, the site appears legit. It allows you to enroll alongside Harry, Ron, and Hermione to fight the Dark Arts and also to send messages to Dumbledore's Army that will appear on the website. The messages that have been left so far range from the heroic -- ("We must band together against the Dark Lord," says Larry R.) to the cryptic --("I'm of Brazil, yeah!!! LOL," says Eder F.) to the profound -- ("EEEEEEEEEEEE!" says Katie A.)

Once you enroll in the Army, you can download wallpapers, skins, banners, images, and buddy icons. I must admit, I did not enroll -- I fear a 26 year-old man signing up for "Dumbledore's Army" would surely put me on some sort of pedophile watch list -- but I did play the site's game: "Dark Arts Defense." The object of the game is to master spells. I won my school's spell-ing bee three years in a row, but alas, those skills did not translate. You have a wand, they give you symbols and you're supposed to trace them out in the air to defeat your opponent. There's a training course, but I got cocky and skipped right over it, which was a mistake. I must say, the game was a lot of fun, but playing it was quite a blow to my self-esteem. The current high score: 318,071. My score: 6.

Today it was announced that Warner Brothers and Electronic Arts are developing a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game that takes advantage of all the newly-made console goodies that have come with the likes of Wii and the PS 3. As Harry grows up, so does his video world. The Goblet of Fire game bumped the Potter franchise up to "E 10+," so I wouldn't be surprised if the return of Voldemort bumps the new game up to a big ole "T for Teen." Since they plan to closely follow the book and film, I imagine that bodes well for adults who want a more mature gaming adventure.

Fans will get the chance to "ooh" and "ahh" over the scenes of the film, which will become the backdrop for the game. The press release also states that the game will follow the "thrilling adventures outlined in the rich narrative of the book." I would imagine this means they're taking the Matrix approach to gaming with this next release -- a game that fills in the blanks of the film. This might be just the key to appease fans who are upset with inevitable, disregarded pieces of the plot.

I, for one, might pick it up just to play a little Sirius Black, who is one of the available characters aside from Professor Dumbledore, and obviously, Harry himself. Dan ny Trejo has fought on the streets of New York, so it's high time for Gary .

[via Coming Soon]

OK, movie marketing has officially gone retarded. I completely understand why movie nuts get all excited for the newest posters, trailers and plot synopses, but we've moved into an age in which we get press releases about promotional clips for cryin' out loud! ("Tune in next week for a piece of EPK material!!") It's almost as if the selling of the movie is more important than the quality of the... oh wait, did I say almost? My bad.

So what's the lastest bit of marketing madness that's spun me into such a dorky dither? Well, Warner Bros. just released a trailer clip for Harry Potter and the Organ of the Codex (or something like that), but it's not even a full trailer! It's only 10 seconds long! It's a teaser FOR a trailer! Pretty soon we'll get movie titles that are announced one syllable per month. What's next, is Quicktime going to charge me 50 cents to watch the full trailer once it's released? (Note to WB: If you go through with the pay-per-trailer scenario, you owe me $3.2 million.)

The new clip swept by so quickly, all I had time to think about was "Wow, Harry looks older" before I caught a glimpse of Alan Rickman and that girl who plays Hermoine -- who, mind you, is (definitely) still too young to be considered aesthetically attractive. (In print, anyway.)

Harry Potter and the Opal of France opens July 13. Start planning your costumes now.

[Special note: This rant represents my court-appointed Harry Potter post for the month of November. Erik said it was mandatory, which I believe is the direct opposite of voluntary.]

UPDATE: The first official full-length trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will debut this Monday at 3PM EST, and can only be viewed on HappyFeetmovie.com -- even though the film Happy Feet has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Coming Soon has also nabbed ten new photos from the pic. Enjoy!

[via AICN]

We are now within one year of the next cinematic installment of the Harry Potter franchise (based on the popular book series of the same name, if you were somehow unaware of the fact), and you know what that means, don't you? Correct! It means it is time for the Potter information to start finding a way onto the Internet, and today's little update comes to you via a particularly fanatical Daniel Radcliffe fan website. Now some of you crazed Dan-Fans probably already know this if you keep a watchful eye on the site, but Radcliffe the webmaster has just shared several new images from the set of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the pictures section of his the page. None of them are particularly amazing, but they're all spoiler-free for those of you who are concerned with such things. There's also a handful of older pictures there, in case you are the square sort of person who doesn't check daily. Don't worry, though: I'm sure this is just the tip of the set-report iceberg.

As we draw nearer the return of Harry Potter to the silver screen, the additional cast is slowly shaking into place. The key players, of course, are all returning (the list of those recalled grows longer and longer with each flick), and new cast members continue to be added to fill out the always growing Potter cast of characters. For the most part, I've been rather satisfied -- and often impressed -- with the casting decisions made by the various Potter teams, and I hope to see the trend continue for the fifth film.

The latest character from the Potterverse to be cast is Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, now confirmed to be played by Helena Bonham Carter. Carter's name -- which has been associated with the role since May -- immediately brings to mind two films for me; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (as Charlie Bucket's mom) and Big Fish (as Jenny). I liked Carter in both of these roles, and she actually did just a little bit of being a witch in Fish, but not so much the Death Eater sort of witch. I'm going to go on record now and declare this an excellent casting decision. I can't wait to see Death Eaters in action.

On a side note, the studio also announced the musical composer. It will be Nicholas Hooper, who has a history of working with director David Yates.

After four films, it has practically become a game -- name the new Harry Potter director! In what has come to be amusing referred to as the "revolving door of directors," the incredibly popular Potter franchise has featured a new helmsman with every flick after the initial two. Sure the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) changes in style are occasionally notable, but the series itself continues to maintain powerful box office force despite the constant changing of the directorial guard. And with each successive successful film, the title becomes more and more of a prize for hopeful directors to win. It also simultaneously becomes more and more challenging; nobody wants to be the guy who screws up Harry Potter (if that is even possible).

It has already been whispered that ex-Python Terry Gilliam has been approached about directing one of the remaining two (David Yates has already been attached to part five), and now a new name enters the rumor fray -- and like Gilliam, it is a biggie. M. Night Shyamalan recently said he was approached way back at the start to direct film one, but was too busy with Unbreakable at the time. What he calls the "dance" continues today, apparently, as interest is still strong in bringing Shyamalan to the Potter family. I haven't decided what I think about this yet, so comment away and help me make up my mind.