… and it got the highest blessing of them all – series author J.K. Rowling said, “The film was just as I had imagined it.” I’d include a link to the original story but that’s pretty much it.

Short version: the movie clocks in at a healthy 152 minutes and change, and scored a PG rating rather than PG-13. Our younger readers will be able to get in without mommy and daddy, but will they be able to stay awake for the whole movie?

Long version: right here.

Because I’m too lazy to make each one a separate article… Empire Online reports that, contrary to the custom of cutting a book down to size for the film, the movie will in fact have a scene added that wasn’t originally in the book. And, for any of our readers (or their older kids) in .uk, they’re trying to cast the roles of “Young Hagrid” and Tom Riddle. Contact info if you can use it… And, I don’t know if this is news, but the first batch of toys is available at major retailers everywhere. Anyone who acquires an extra Dumbledore figure is urged to email me soonest.

Hey, it’s been a slow news week. (Or maybe we’re just working too much at our day jobs. Who knows?) Anyway, it’s just been announced that the world premiere of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” will be on November 4 in Leicester Square, London. It premieres for the rest of us Muggles on November 16, in case you’ve forgotten.

Who says those SEC filings and BusinessWire press releases never come in handy?

According to Scholastic’s financial projections, there won’t be a new Harry Potter novel for their Fiscal Year 2002 (which spans through May 2002). So much for those rumors that the fifth novel would be out in time for the movie.

The subject line pretty much says it all, friends. This is the new poster promoting the Harry Potter movie; for the graphically challenged, it shows a whole lot of small boats cruising towards Hogwarts.

Fresh from the Leaky Cauldron: more neat-o stills from the set of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” I’ve decided that the .uk title is cooler than the .us title, so I’ll use it for a while. Go get an eyefull.

Okay, so it never was just for Great Britain,
but the power of this weird little phenomenon just
continues to amaze me. Not only are J.K. Rowling’s books
best-sellers in just about every English-speaking country
on the planet, but now they’re best-sellers
in Japan as well. Hey, at least it’s not Pokemon…

The inevitable teaser for “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” is online for your viewing pleasure, if you can get in — the site seems more than a little lagged. In other news, series author J.K. Rowling was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles. Hey, if it gets kids to pick up a book instead of a Gameboy, I’m all for it.