Tag Archives: Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling’s ‘Blackly Comic’ Post-Potter Book Gets Release Date

‘The Casual Vacancy,’ Rowling’s first adult novel, will be released on September 27. By John Mitchell J.K. Rowling Photo: Daniel Barry/Getty Images It’s been five long years since J.K. Rowling published “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and now we finally have the name and release date for her first adult novel. “The Casual Vacancy” will be released by Little, Brown Book Group on September 27. When Rowling signed her deal with Little, Brown in February, few details about the novel were made public, but now we know it is the “blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising” tale of what happens in an idyllic English village after a parish councilmember dies unexpectedly leaving a hotly sought after seat on the town council open. “When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock,” the official synopsis reads , going on to describe “a town at war.” “Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?” At the U.K. premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” Rowling told MTV News that she had been writing actively since finishing the final “Potter” book, but wanted the film franchise to conclude before she moved forward with her writing career. “I’m writing, and I’ve done quite a lot since finishing ‘Harry,’ ” she said. “I also felt I wanted the last film out of the way before I made any moves on the publishing front. ‘Harry’ is so huge and I suppose my involvement with the world has still been quite intense. This feels like a new beginning to me.” The seven “Potter” books represent the best-selling book series in history, with more than 450 million copies in print, and inspired the most successful film franchise ever, grossing more than $7.7 billion worldwide. Scholastic published Rowling’s “Potter” books in the U.S. but does not publish novels for adult audiences. Little, Brown said the 480-page “Casual Vacancy” will be available as a traditional hardcover, but will also be sold as an e-book and audio download. Are you excited for Rowling’s first post-“Potter” novel? Let us know in the comments below!

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J.K. Rowling’s ‘Blackly Comic’ Post-Potter Book Gets Release Date

Courtney Love Says Dave Grohl Hit on Frances Bean Cobain; Rocker Angrily Denies "Hateful" Claim

Courtney Love fired off a Twitter missive in which she accuses former Nirvana member Dave Grohl of hitting on her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. Grohl angrily denied the allegation. “Unfortunately Courtney is on another hateful Twitter rant,” he said via his publicist. “These new accusations are upsetting, offensive and absolutely untrue.” What the Foo Fighters frontman is referring to is a series of tweets the 47-year-old Love, the late Kurt Cobain’s widow, lobbed last night online. SIDE NOTE: Hilariously, her allegations against @davegrohl actually went to a German IT student by that name … it’s not the rocker’s account. Anyway, Love Tweeted the following: “I hear from frannies roommate that @davegrohl hit on frances, and that she was curious, I’m not mad at her, him I am about to shoot, dead.” Courtney admitted the whole thing may have been gossip she heard from a driver, but still laid into the musician because she totally believes it: “The driver from the cm who drove @davegrohl my daughter was telling me what st. on laurel canyon and that he had his hands all over her.” “it could be a riumnour [sic] the actual sex, and it’s not beans fault she’s not slutty in any way, at all, HES OBSESSED.” she added. Courtney went on to suggest that Grohl was “sexually obsessed with” Kurt as well and that he “had that Romney rape thing about him.” Don’t ask us what the hell that even means. For what it’s worth, Love is a certified crazy person. Frances Bean Cobain herself believes as much, as evidenced by their volatile history. [Photos: WENN.com]

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Courtney Love Says Dave Grohl Hit on Frances Bean Cobain; Rocker Angrily Denies "Hateful" Claim

The Casual Vacancy: J.K. Rowling Book Title, Details Revealed

J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame has finally revealed some details, including the title, of her upcoming novel for adults, The Casual Vacancy . It’s a “blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising” about a parish council election in a small English town, called Pagford. Reads a description of the book by Little, Brown publishers: “Pagfod is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty fa

The Hunger Games Breaks Quarter of a Billion at the Box Office

Following a record-breaking opening weekend at the box office, how much did The Hunger Games rake in this Friday and Saturday? $61.1 million, enough to easily top all other films once again. A few facts about this impressive figure and where it helps The Hunger Games rank among the all-time best in Hollywood… This weekend’s gross marks a 60 percent drop from the prior weekend, which is on par with other blockbusters: Iron Man 2 dropped 59 percent; and Spider-Man 3 fell 62 percent; and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 decreased by 70 percent. The Hunger Games has now earned $251 million in 10 days, making it the fastest-ever non-sequel to achieve this milestone. The only movies to have hit that total in fewer days: the final Harry Potter ; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ; The Dark Knight . Analysts predict a final domestic tally of around $375 million. Have you seen The Hunger Games yet? Give it a grade if so:

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The Hunger Games Breaks Quarter of a Billion at the Box Office

After You’re Done Pumping $6/Gallon Gas, Spend All You Have Left in Life to See Battleship

“Highlights of Battleship partnerships include (in alphabetical order): CHEVRON EXTRAMILE — Chevron’s ExtraMile convenience stores will feature a Battleship instant-win game that will be promoted via radio, in-store game cards, as well as online with banner ads at Chevronextramile.com. In-store signage will include pump toppers, pump posters, door decals, counter cards and employee buttons.” [ Deadline ]

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After You’re Done Pumping $6/Gallon Gas, Spend All You Have Left in Life to See Battleship

Can You Guess the Most-Rented DVD of 2011?

Can you guess the most-rented DVD of 2011? Hint: It wasn’t the most-bought DVD of 2011, but you probably already knew that . Another hint: Despite all odds, it doesn’t star Danny Trejo . Give up? Don’t we all! Per the LAT : The Bruce Willis action-comedy Red was the most rented DVD of 2011 but wasn’t even close to the top of the sales charts. The most rented movies are a mix of films that largely enjoyed solid but not spectacular runs at the box office. They seemed to leave theaters with good word-of-mouth, leading people to sample the films via rental. Among the most bought DVDs, meanwhile, are many of the top-grossing hits of last year. Animated films sold particularly well. Since children often watch their favorite animated movies multiple times, making a purchase was more economical than rental. No. 1 on the list was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 , while other big sellers included Deathly Hallows: Part 2 , Tangled , Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Help . The only film to make both Top 10 lists: breakout comedy Bridesmaids . So if there’s any doubt that the bulk of midgrade theatrical releases are just commercials for DVDs that studios don’t really want you to rent anyway, and/or that better blockbusters have the potential to influence stronger DVD sales, let it be put to rest. [ LAT ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .

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Can You Guess the Most-Rented DVD of 2011?

‘Hunger Games’ Ignites Box Office: Experts Weigh In

One box-office watcher tells MTV News the book adaptation was ‘the hottest party around and nobody wanted to be left out.’ By Kevin P. Sullivan Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Lionsgate We all knew “The Hunger Games” would debut to enormous opening-weekend numbers, but few could have predicted just how quickly the fire would spread. The YA adaptation opened to an incredible $155 million weekend, passing up “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Spider-Man 3” to have the third-highest opening weekend behind “The Dark Knight” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.” Early predictions had “The Hunger Games” opening at a respectable $70 million, not even half the actual total and in range of this year’s “The Lorax,” another recent box-office surprise. As the release drew nearer, analysts bumped up the predicted total to a range of $125 million to $130 million. The reason for the initially low prediction lies with another YA series, according to Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations . “Many people were comparing this to the original ‘Twilight’ film, which grossed $69 million its opening weekend,” Bock said. “Even though the book series was a huge success, many other young adult novels have been translated to film recently and failed to produce the next ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Twilight,’ so, as an unproven commodity, expectations were tempered a bit with ‘The Hunger Games.’ Even Lionsgate was estimating that the film would debut with a three-day weekend gross of $75 million earlier in the week; they certainly didn’t expect it to nearly eclipse that number on opening day.” Wanna win a Hunger Games special edition HP laptop from MTV News? Click here to enter! The strong push out of the gate came from a combination of an aggressive marketing campaign by Lionsgate and groundswell created by fans of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling books. Gitesh Pandya of Box Office Guru said it was a precise combination of those key factors that led to such an explosive opening weekend. “The record opening was driven by the loyal fanbase, which is humongous, along with a carefully crafted marketing push that intrigued them and also drew in new audiences in time for the movie’s release,” Pandya said. “Marketing was a key component to the massive debut, as the film wasn’t over-promoted to the point of repelling people. Lionsgate turned the opening weekend of ‘Hunger Games’ into the hottest party around and nobody wanted to be left out.” Lionsgate is certainly not wasting any time in trying to repeat the magic of their biggest hit to date. Production on the sequel, “Catching Fire,” is scheduled to begin this summer with a release tentatively set for November 2013. Pandya believes the next adventure of Katniss Everdeen could even go bigger. “Studios knew to stay out of the way of ‘Hunger Games,’ which is why no other film opened wide this weekend. But now they know how big of a juggernaut it is, and if history is any indicator, the opening of ‘Catching Fire’ will be even bigger in November 2013,” Pandya said. “And unless Disney changes its superhero date, we’re going to see a big-brother battle as Liam Hemsworth’s ‘Catching Fire’ will open just one week after Chris Hemsworth’s ‘Thor 2.’ ” What did you think of The Hunger Games? Give us your review on Facebook ! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Hunger Games’ Related Photos Inside ‘The Hunger Games’ Capitol ‘Hunger Games’ Cast Hits NYC

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‘Hunger Games’ Ignites Box Office: Experts Weigh In

‘Hunger Games’ Rakes In $155 Million At Box Office

‘Games’ had third-highest opening ever, beating out all ‘Twilight Saga’ movie openings and every non-sequel ever made. By Ryan J. Downey Josh Hutcherson in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Lionsgate Much like Katniss Everdeen herself, “The Hunger Games” ‘ aim was true. When it comes to box-office records, it’s hard to keep a good book down. “The Hunger Games” beat all of the “Twilight Saga” movies and every single non-sequel ever with the third-biggest opening weekend of all time. The big-screen adaptation of the first novel in the massively popular young adult trilogy collected $155 million domestically, a figure that was just $3.4 million less than “The Dark Knight” opening in 2008. (“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” is still #1 with $169.1 million). Audiences gave the movie a CinemaScore of “A.” “The Hunger Games” collected an estimated $19.7 million in midnight screenings alone. Librarians, academics and bookworms of all stripes should note that all of the movies in the top five “all-time” list are based on some sort of printed source material. “Potter,” “Dark Knight,” “Hunger Games,” “Spider-Man 3” ($151 million) and “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” ($142 million) were, of course, all drawn from either novels or long-running comic book characters. “The Hunger Games” made another $59.3 million overseas, which is about on par with the debuts of the opening installments in both the “Twilight” and “Harry Potter” franchises. The next installment in author Suzanne Collins’ trilogy, “Catching Fire,” will see its film adaptation arrive in November of next year. But “Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence will be back in theaters well before that. The 21-year-old Oscar nominee’s new horror flick, “House at the End of the Street,” is due September 21. MTV News will exclusively unveil the full trailer for the movie online this Thursday morning. The latest from “Hush” director Mark Tonderai will see Lawrence in a role much different than skilled archer Katniss Everdeen, as she’ll play a high school student who gets tangled up with a guy who has very dark secrets. “House” had an estimated production budget of $7 million for Relativity Media, which is standard issue for the genre. That’s quite a bit less than the $78 million Lionsgate spent on “The Hunger Games,” but the indie studio surely isn’t sweating that number: It’s already the biggest movie on record for the home of the “Saw” franchise. “The Hunger Games” had an 85 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes at press time, which is exactly the same as last weekend’s #1 film, “21 Jump Street.” The comedically driven movie version of the earnest late ’80s TV drama about cops who went undercover in high schools was #2 this week with $21.3 million, for a total of $71 million. “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax,” which enjoyed the eighth-highest debut for an animated movie earlier this month, was #3 with $13.1 million and a $177.3 million total. “John Carter” was #4 with $5 million for a $62.3 million total, and “Act of Valor” rounded out the top five with $2 million for a $66 million total. Although those totals are similar, “John Carter” carried a reported production budget of $250 million while “Valor” was made for $12 million. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Hunger Games’ MTV Rough Cut: ’21 Jump Street’ Related Photos The Hunger Games

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‘Hunger Games’ Rakes In $155 Million At Box Office

The Hunger Games Earns Third-Biggest Opening of All-Time

The world was most definitely watching. Following astounding takes at both midnight showings and overall on opening day , The Hunger Games has shocked even its most ardent followers by earning $155 million between Friday and Sunday, the third biggest opening of all-time in Hollywood. “It was the perfect storm. Having the first film in a franchise to be so gigantic is amazing. We had a great book and a great director in Gary Ross,” said Lionsgate president of marketing Tim Palen. Last year, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 set the mark for best debut with $169.2 million; while The Dark Knigh t took in $158.4 million in 2008. But The Hunger Games is now the record-holder for opening weekends in terms of non-summer films and non-sequels. It shot past Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million in 2007), The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($142.8 million in 2009) and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 ($138.1 million last year) late on Saturday. Yes, Katniss Everdeen may be The Girl on Fire. But she’s also starring in The Movie on Fire, that’s for sure. Here’s a look at the top 10 box office results from an incredible weekend: The Hunger Games : $155 million. 21 Jump Street : $21.3 million. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax : $13.1 million John Carter : $5 million

Drive, Fassbender, Serkis Honored at the 2nd Annual YouReviewers Awards

The 2nd Annual YouReviewers Movie Awards aired on YouTube this past weekend, and we’ve got to say, it was quite a show! This year, our friends at ENTV played host as YouTube heavy hitters Jeremy Jahns, The Schmoes, and a host of other notables from the ever-opinionated YouTube film community presented their favorite films, performances and trailers (because, after all, this is YouTube) of 2011. If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the full show below – we think it’s safe to say that in the never-ending glut of awards shows this time of year, there’s nothing else like it. Or you can skip to the full winners list below to see what the small-screen scene picked as the best of the big screen. 2012 YouReviewer Awards Winners List: BEST PICTURE Drive 50/50 The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes The Artist Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt. 2 Hugo The Descendants Midnight in Paris Warrior BEST DIRECTOR Nicolas Winding Refn ( Drive ) David Fincher ( The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ) Martin Scorsese ( Hugo ) Steven Spielberg ( War Horse ) Michel Hazanavicius ( The Artist ) BEST ACTOR George Clooney ( The Descendants ) Ryan Gosling ( Drive ) Joseph Gordon-Levitt ( 50/50 ) Michael Fassbender ( Shame ) Brad Pitt ( Moneyball ) BEST ACTRESS Rooney Mara ( The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ) Viola Davis ( The Help ) Emma Stone ( The Help ) Charlize Theron ( Young Adult ) Michelle Williams ( My Week with Marilyn ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Nick Nolte ( Warrior ) Christopher Plummer ( Beginners ) Albert Brooks ( Drive ) Jonah Hill ( Moneyball ) Andy Serkis ( Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ) BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Octavia Spencer ( The Help ) Shailene Woodley ( The Descendants ) Elle Fanning ( Super 8 ) Melissa McCarthy ( Bridesmaids ) Carey Mulligan ( Shame ) BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR Joel Courtney Michael Fassbender Ryan Gosling Jean Dujardin John Boyega BREAKTHROUGH ACTRESS Rooney Mara Shailene Woodley Berenice Bejo Jessica Chastain Brit Marling BEST ANIMATED FEATURE The Adventures of Tin Tin Arthur Christmas Rango Puss in Boots Kung Fu Panda BEST VILLAIN Albert Brooks ( Drive ) Voldemort ( Harry Potter ) Kevin Bacon ( X-Men: First Class ) Loki ( Thor ) Bryce Dallas Howard ( The Help ) BEST HERO Rooney Mara ( The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo ) Gosling ( Drive ) Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) Moses ( Attack the Block ) Caesar ( Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes ) BEST SCORE Drive The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo War Horse The Muppets Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Super 8 Hugo Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Rise of the Planet of the Apes Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon BEST TRAILER The Dark Knight Rises Trailer 2 The Hobbit The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo The Avengers Prometheus MOST UNDERRATED FILM Warrior The Adjustment Bureau Win Win Hanna Attack the Block THE I’M SHOCKED IT DIDN’T SUCK AWARD Real Steel Fast Five (tie) Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (tie) MI:4: Ghost Protocol

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Drive, Fassbender, Serkis Honored at the 2nd Annual YouReviewers Awards