Harry Potter

[GeneChing]

July 18, 2011 11:58 AM
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" broke box office records in its opening weekend

(CBS/What's Trending) - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" opened to $169.3 million domestically and $307 million internationally, which gave the movie the new opening-weekend record both at home and abroad. The official "Harry Potter" Facebook page added 542,996 new likes from Friday to Sunday for a total of 29,585,455. "Deathly Hallows: Part II" tallied an impressive 254,516 tweets.

Now back to our regularly scheduled flame wars...

[sanjuro_ronin]

Now back to our regularly scheduled flame wars...

Flaming and Harry Potter in the same post, how appropriate !

[Taixuquan99]

I am looking forward to seeing it. I have to say, I cannot think of another work that has a similar character to what Snape turns out to be, especially treated sympathetically only after the end.

[GeneChing]

China delays Harry Potter release in favour of Communist party epic

Concluding instalment in Hogwarts franchise postponed to make way for Beginning of the Great Revival: The Founding of a Party

Jonathan Watts in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 July 2011 20.00 BST


The wizard Harry Potter is being forced to make his farewell as a pirate in Beijing because China is holding back the official version of the concluding episode in the Hogwarts franchise in favour of an epic celebrating the 90-year-old Communist party.

Counterfeit DVD hawkers are selling poor-quality copies of the Deathly Hallows 2 in the capital days after its release in foreign markets.

The original will not be screened for a fortnight, at least partly due to the priority put on the big-budget political epic Beginning of the Great Revival: The Founding of a Party, which brings together more than 150 Chinese stars, including Hollywood icon Chow Yun-fat, in a two-hour tale of the Communist party's roots.

With its depiction of the romances and idealism of a young Mao, the story aims to attract a new audience to the party, which marked its 90th anniversary on 1 July.

With enormous political prestige at stake, China's film authorities have gone out of their way to ensure success for the movie, which premiered last month. The biggest potential foreign rivals have reportedly been delayed to allow a clearer run at the box office. Deathly Hallows will be released on 4 August; Transformers: Dark of the Moon on Thursday , three weeks after its release in the US. To protect the domestic film industry, only 20 foreign films are approved for release in China each year. Film industry observers say it is customary for the authorities to give preferential treatment to Chinese revolutionary and historical films.

"This practice is long-standing. Unlike the US, films are not treated just as consumer products in China. More importance is given to their role in shaping opinion and educating the public," said Li Hongyu, a film journalist for the South Weekend newspaper. "But the situation is better than it was 10 years ago. At least the Communist party no longer requires its members to go to the cinema for certain movies."

Harry Potter fans have joked that their best option was to help the Communist party achieve its goal – purportedly 800 million yuan (£77.5m) – ahead of time.

"The fans of Transformers and Harry Potter should join forces and encourage their dads, mums, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, etc to see The Beginning of the Great Revival. Then we won't wait until August," blogged Gudushizhe88 on the Baidu Tieba web forum.

The official Xinhua news agency says the historical extravaganza earned $46m during its first three weeks – not far from the record pace the authorities had aimed for.

Critics insist this is due to block-ticket buying by state-run firms and local governments, such as the northern city of Changchun, which reportedly bought tickets for 100,000 party members. The true figures may never be known. Popular websites have been ordered to disable their ratings and comments sections. Some netizens have posted photographs of doctored tickets for different films – such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Fast Five and the latest Pirates of the Caribbean – that were sold in the name of "Great Revival" in an apparent attempt to manipulate audience numbers. China Film Group, which produced the movie, denied that cinemas had been pressured to bump up the box office numbers.

Even if official sleight of hand conjures up impressive box office figures for the communist epic, the marketing magic of Harry Potter could yet prevail – at least on the black market.

"Harry Potter brand new. Good copies. Just 10 yuan," said an illegal hawker outside Beijing's Silk Market as he pulled out a large bundle of pirated movies, including the latest Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars 2 and The Mechanic. Great Revival was not among them.

The doctored tickets is hysterical. That's the Chinese Porcelain Doll for ya.

[Taixuquan99]

I've been reading the first book in Chinese, not far enough along to determine whether it's one of the fake versions yet.

[SimonM]

It's very rare that a movie manages to improve on a book.

This was one of those times.

The funny thing is that, as an author, I could observe all the ways that the movie played with pace and action to provoke very specific emotional responses from the audience.

And, even seeing behind the magician's curtain, I still couldn't help but be affected a little bit.

Well worth watching.

[doug maverick]

this is a harry potter, fan made web series, done by a fellow filmmaker here in new york, the series has some really nice production value, check the article and the trailer.

http://mashable.com/2012/05/20/harry-potter-web-series/

[GeneChing]

I figured this thread could use a little ttt as its box office record was just dethroned by the Avengers.

I now confess that my review on HP 7.2 was just a way to get my kid into the screener. It made my kid was the coolest student in class for a whole week.

BTW, here's a photo of me when I studied at Hogwarts for a spell . I trained there right after Shaolin and Wudang.

[Hebrew Hammer]

Gratuitous self promotion Gene! Did they have Shaolin wizards??? I know there were Taoist ones....

[GeneChing]

Return of HARRY POTTER and the Chinese Porcelain Doll

The internet is freaking out about this Chinese university that looks like Hogwarts



Pictures of a new university being built in Hebei have been making rounds on the web after online users pointed out that the castle-esque buildings bear more than a passing resemblance to Hogwarts (the school in Harry Potter where wizards and witches go to learn magic, tricks).



Weibo user @Shijiazhuangweiba posted these photos of Hebei Academy of Fine Arts, located in Xinle, and they've been circulating among fans across the microblog. Even the UK's Daily Mail agrees that the university, what with its clock tower and magical-looking spires, takes on quite a likeness to Harry P's ol' stomping grounds (actually Alnwick Castle in Northumberland with some digital enhancement). Designers say that the university has been modeled on the architecture of castles from medieval Europe.



The university will reportedly be open for students later this year, at which point we have coincidentally decided to resume our studies...of fine arts.

[GeneChing]

Honestly when I did my review HARRY POTTER and the Chinese Porcelain Doll, I just did it to get into the screener. Biggest reach I've had to make to get it KungFuMagazine.com appropriate.

They are all Melons: Epic subtitle fails might make Chinese Harry Potter DVD better than the original



Even on the silver screen, English translations for Chinese releases can be a bit dodgy. But we're not sure if we've ever seen subtitles fail so epically as the ones from a recent Chinese-dubbed edition of Harry Potter.

It's not certain if these hilarious screencaps were taken from an official release or a bootleg DVD (we sure hope so), but either way it's pure magic. It's been a while since we've seen Harry Potter, but let's try to set up the story for those unfamiliar:

The film begins with a young wizard, the eponymous Hally Porter, who must escape from the clutches of his Melon uncle along with two pigeons.

Hally finds his way to the Hogawalz School of Wizardly, where he befriends a red-haired wizard name Rond after inspecting his magic stick. When the bratty Draco Malfoy tries to bully Hally, Ron sticks up for his friend and tells the bully to eat crickets. Malfoy responds by calling everyone dirty Melons.

Later in the film, Harry must confront the evil wizard Fodi and get the gold voice, all while trying not to get fired.

Enjoy, Melons!












brb. Gotta figure out how to get our hands on this cinematic masterpiece!
Contact the author of this article or email tips@shanghaiist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
By Alex Linder in News on Aug 16, 2015 5:00 PM

There are a bunch more screen grabs if you follow the link to the original article.

[GeneChing]

[GeneChing]

How magical.

‘Doctor Strange,’ ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Score China Releases
Senior Film and Media Reporter
Brent Lang @BrentALang


COURTESY OF DISNEY
OCTOBER 19, 2016 | 03:06PM PT

“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” and “Doctor Strange” will both be allowed to screen in China, sources tell Variety.

Both films appear likely to debut at roughly the same time that they bow in the United States. “Doctor Strange,” an adaptation of the popular comic book about a former surgeon who becomes a sorcerer, is the first out of the gate, and will hit the Middle Kingdom on Nov. 4.

“Fantastic Beasts'” date hasn’t officially been confirmed and could shift, but it appears that the “Harry Potter” spinoff will debut on Nov. 18.

China is the world’s second-largest film market, and can add tens of millions of dollars to a film’s gross. Previous Marvel releases such as “Iron Man 3” and “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” did more than $100 million in the People’s Republic. The “Harry Potter” franchise hasn’t been as successful, with the most recent film in the series making a little more than $60 million in the country. However, that film hit theaters five years ago, and China’s box office has continued to grow exponentially since that time.

China maintains a tight quota on the number of foreign productions it allows to screen in the country, limiting it to 34 non-Chinese films annually. It appears that the remaining slots are going fast. Just this week, “Trolls” scored a release date. “Inferno,” a thriller with Tom Hanks, and “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” Ang Lee’s war drama, will also get screened in China.

Benedict Cumberbatch stars in “Doctor Strange,” along with Tilda Swinton and Rachel McAdams. “Fantastic Beasts” is set in the world of Hogwarts, though it focuses on new characters. Eddie Redmayne stars, with David Yates, who directed several previous “Potter” adventures, sliding behind the camera.

Spokespeople for Disney, the studio behind “Doctor Strange,” and Warner Bros., the maker of “Fantastic Beasts,” declined to comment.

[GeneChing]

This is rather dated but an echo of it popped up on my newsfeed randomly and so I chased down the source. This is the earliest I found.

Yoga is the work of the devil, says Vatican's chief exorcist (and he doesn't like Harry Potter much either)
And you'll never guess what his favourite film is...
By Nick Pisa for MailOnline
UPDATED: 12:50 EST, 25 November 2011


Outspoken: Don Gabriele Amorth, the Chief Exorcist for the Vatican for the past 25 years, spoke of his dislikes at a fringe event of the Umbria Film Festival

Father Gabriel Amorth has carried out more than 70,000 exorcisms in his capacity as Chief Exorcist at the Vatican.

The 85-year-old can boast 25 years in the post after being appointed by the late Pope John Paul II.

At a conference today, he surprised the delegates by revealing some of his greatest dislikes - yoga and Harry Potter.

Father Amorth, a colourful and often outspoken personality, said:'Practising yoga brings evil as does reading Harry Potter. They may both seem innocuous but they both deal with magic and that leads to evil.'

He added:'Yoga is the Devil's work. You thing you are doing it for stretching your mind and body but it leads to Hinduism. All these oriental religions are based on the false belief of reincarnation.'

Father Amorth, speaking on the subject of People And Religion at a fringe event at the Umbria Film Festival in Terni, spoke of his distaste for JK Rowling's young wizard.

He said:'People think it is an innocuous book for children but it's about magic and that leads to evil. In Harry Potter the Devil is at work in a cunning and crafty way, he is using his extraordinary powers of magic and evil.


Twin terrors: Yoga turns devotees towards Hinduism, believes Father Amorth - while

'Satan is always hidden and the thing he desires more than anything is for people to believe he does not exist. He studies each and everyone of us and our tendencies towards good and evil and then he tempts us.

'My advice to young people would be to watch out for nightclubs because the path is always the same: alcohol, sex, drugs and Satanic sects.'

It is not the first time that Father Amorth has raised eyebrows with his forthright views - last year he said that the ongoing child sex scandals rocking the Catholic Church were evidence that 'the Devil was at work in the Vatican.'

'Satan studies each and everyone of us and our tendencies towards good and evil and then he tempts us'

While in 2006, Father Amorth, who was ordained a priest in 1954, gave an interview to Vatican Radio in which he said that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and Russian dictator Josef Stalin were both possessed by the Devil.

According to secret Vatican documents recently released the then wartime Pope Pius XII attempted a 'long distance exorcism' of Hitler but it failed to have any effect.

It is also not the first time that Father Amorth, who is president of the International Association of Exorcists, has spoken out against Harry Potter saying in the past that it opens children's minds to dabbling with the occult and black magic.


Horrific: Satan at work in the 1973 film starring Linda Blair which is perhaps unsurprisingly Father Amorth's favourite film

Today Vanda Vanni, of the Italian Yoga Association, said:'A Satanic practice? Pardon the pun but that is an accusation that is neither in Heaven or on earth. Father Amorth's accusation is completely without foundation.

'It is an outrageous thing to say - yoga is not a religion but a spiritual discipline. It is about freedom and a search to find one's inner self. It does not touch religion and has nothing to do with Satanic sects nor does it encourage people to join them.

Giorgio Furlan, who runs the Yoga Academy in Rome, said`:'There are some paths of yoga which do lead towards Hinduism but other paths are more philosophical but their is no direct link with religion and certainly no link with Satanism.

'To say such things shows you have no idea of what you are talking about - yoga controls violent impulses of the nervous system and subconscious - to be honest with me it had the effect of bringing me closer to Christianity and in particular the Catholic Church which I had abandoned as a youngster.

THREAD: Yoga
THREAD: Exorcism
THREAD: Harry Potter

[GeneChing]

In the wake of SDCC2018