Harry Potter Tid-bits, edu-bits, and web-bits

WB: Harry Potter Films Now the Top Grossing Franchise of All-Time
Variety is reporting tonight that Warner Brothers has announced the Harry Potter film series
are now the top-grossing film franchise in movie history. Amassing a staggering ” $4.47 billion worldwide,” the series about the boy who lived has surpased the box office totals for all 22 of the James Bond films, as well as the six “Star Wars” films.

UPDATE: Warner Brothers has now issued a press release to TLC with more on this achievement, and includes the following:

In addition to holding the franchise box office record, all five of the Harry Potter films have the distinction of being among the 20 top-grossing box office hits of all time. In making the announcement, Alan Horn said, “It would be an understatement to say we
are proud of the success of the Harry Potter films. We also want to congratulate all of the extraordinary actors, filmmakers and artists who have shared this remarkable cinematic journey with us.” Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution,
said, “It is a thrill to see the Harry Potter franchise reach this unparalleled mark, and, with two movies yet to come, it is amazing to think what heights the franchise could reach by the end of the decade. Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, Warner Bros. Pictures President of International Distribution, added, “This worldwide box office record once again proves that the appeal of the Harry Potter movies knows no border, no age limit, and no language barrier. Each of the five films has captured the hearts and sparked the imagination of audiences everywhere.”

Reports Variety:

Bond, which dates back to 1962, has generated $4.44 billion worldwide and the “Star Wars” pics have pulled down $4.23 billion since the first release in 1977.

For its part, Fox says that the “Star Wars” franchise would, with adjustment made for inflation, actually translate into $6.21 billion; MGM had no comment about what Bond’s adjusted B.O. would be.

And domestically the “Star Wars” franchise still far outpaces the boy wizard. All told, the “Star Wars” pics have grossed $2.18 billion, while the “Harry Potter” franchise has grossed $1.41 billion. But then there are still two more “Potters” to go.

And all three have generated millions upon millions in downstream ancillary coin for their
studios, once homevideo and TV revenue are added into the tallies.

The final two Harry Potter films have yet to be released, with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince set to begin principle photography in a few weeks and due in theaters November 21, 2008. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film is set for release some time in 2010.

The Leaky Cauldron: WB: Harry Potter Films Now the Top Grossing Franchise of All-Time
Also:

As announced previously, author J.K. Rowling is making three appearances here in the US on the “Open Book Tour,” with stops in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. On three of these appearances select schools were chosen to see the Harry Potter author at an appearance where she will read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, answer questions and autograph copies of the final Harry Potter book for lucky schoolchildren. Last week the schools in New York City for
the Scholastic sponsored event with JKR on October 19 were announced, and today the 40 schools in Los Angeles, California were announced. According to CBS2, “a student from each of the 40 schools will attend the event based on an essay contest” at this appearance with 15 high schools, 15 middle
schools and 10 elementary schools all part of those chosen to participate in this event on October 15. To see the entire list, click here.

Schools from Orleans parish chosen to participate in the New Orleans, Louisiana event to be held October 18 will be announced this Wednesday, September 12.

The Leaky Cauldron: LA Schools to see JRK on Open Book Tour Announced…

I wish Warner Bros. had done a more “comprehensive” version of the harrypotter.com. I’ve wondered about that for a long time. They have so much $$ for it, and could really REALLY capitalize on the idea of virtual/dynamic world.

Of all properties- with THOUSANDS of evangelist brand devotees… they could have really, REALLY made bank with a clever, exciting web-strategy to engage online users. The site as it is now can be considered “fun” for a noob viewer. But it gets flashy (stuck sometimes), the games are so-so, and there isn’t actually an entry point for a long-term user.

You can enable cookies to remember several things– like your house, your pet, your plant, and your wand… but there’s no community element to it. It started with the 1st movie, and every new installment they plunk new flashy features onto the old ones– so you get a mix of various HP movie styles in one web world.

Like Star Wars and Star Trek– HP fans are dress-up kids (or adults). Look at all the people who dress up for the movies & the book releases. I mean– heck, I was dressed like a wizard-trying-to-blend-in-with-the-muggles in that charity-shop-chic. At the release of book 7– there were school kids from gryffindor, hufflepuff, ravenclaw, slytherin, there were quidditch players, professors, Rita Skeeter, and lil Harry’s.

HP fans are EAGER for escapism. A world to dive into– it’s the SAME love that people have for Pirates and why Pirates of the Caribbean Online will be so awesome!!!

Harry Potter fans created many HUGE, POPULAR, PROFITABLE sites, like dissendium.com (which managed to create an interactive experience from a fan perspective for the Tri-Wizard Tournament), The Leaky Cauldron (my personal fave– these peeps get flown all over the world to speak about their HP obsession), and mugglenet.com which managed to get a POPULAR BOOK published based on their theories for book 7!!!

And for WB to have such an amazing, excitable audience eager for the wizarding world at their fingertips– and NOT provide a suitable online atmosphere to truly benefit (both audience & corp) from? Tut tut. As it is– it’s a marketing website with a few smile-worthy elements, but mostly just so-so information based on the next book installment.

How great would it be to see WB & Scholastic pair up to make an uber-world? …I can just see it now… *insert dreamy sigh* It’s like a community director’s dream!

technorati tags:Harry, Potter, WB, Warner, Bros, Online, Community, Social, Network, Brand, Marketing, Licensing, Kids, Children, Teens, Readers, Scholastic

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A Better Review of Scandal & Education

So, now that Catty Monday is through– here is a great review from Anastasia’s “Totally Wired” blog (it’s great!):

 Anyone who doesn’t know who Vanessa Hudgens is, does not have a tween in their lives or is not tuned into pop culture. She’s the female star of Disney’s hugely popular “High School Musical” franchise, and last week, she apologized for the nude photographs that “appeared” on the internet. Allegedly, they were meant for her boyfriend and co-star Zac Efron’s eyes only. Cynics in Hollywood believe they were leaked on purpose as a way to communicate to the industry that she’s ready for more “mature” roles and doesn’t want to remain a tween queen forever. Still, I guarantee you that teens all over the world have heard about the scandal and have probably seen the photos, which is why I think it’s a teachable moment.

It means that when you take a sexually explicit photograph of yourself or someone else in one context, that it can resurface later in another. Just because you think it’s private, and your boyfriend or girlfriend assures you it’s just for the two of you, situations change. You could have a bad break up and the photos get posted as revenge. Your boyfriend’s annoying friend could discover it while surfing on his computer and post it for the whole school (and world) to see. The internet has fundamentally redefined our sense of what can stay private. If it’s digital (or can be digitized), you cannot guarantee it will stay private. This includes photographs, audio recordings and video, all of which can be taken or recorded without you even knowing it.

danah boyd posted some helpful tips for teens and adults about managing their online identities and maintaining a certain degree of privacy (or just making the more private parts of your online identity harder to find). She suggests:

Create a public Internet identity. I strongly recommend blogging, but even a homepage will do. Have a genuine all-accessible identity online that you’re cool with grandma and your boss reading. Don’t make it uber drab, but do provide context for who you are, what you do, what you’re passionate about, etc. Think of it as a digital body and dress it up as if it were going into a job interview. Blogging
is especially good because you can keep updating your identity over time in a way that shows that you think. It’s much easier to get a sense of someone through their commentary on public affairs or life
around them than through a static page.

Say NO! to Facebook’s public search option. Click “privacy” - “search.” Under “Who can find my public search listing outside of Facebook?” uncheck both boxes. Be proactive about this. You might not think you care now, but having your Facebook profile at the top of a search for your name might not be what you want when you’re looking for a job.

Expect unexpected audiences. Your profile on Facebook and MySpace might be “private” but when you join the Los Angeles Network or when you accept someone who knows someone, you might find that the audience viewing your profile is not who you expected. Are you prepared for this? Make sure that profile says what you want it to say, even to those you don’t expect. If you want to be a porn diva and make it in Hollywood, put up that slutty photo, but if you want to be a lawyer, you might regret that photo a few years from now. Of course, I’m sure there are porn stars who later became lawyers, just like there are actors who became governors.

Write blog comments as though you’re writing your own blog. The more popular a blog, the more likely the comments from that blog are to show up high on Google’s lists. If you write inflammatory [comments] on those blogs just to piss people off, it will come back to haunt you. (It depresses me that a huge chunk of the comments on BoingBoing’s new comment system are extremely negative.) Personally, I don’t think that you should be anonymous on a blog. I think that you should stand by your name, but write articulately. And blog on your own blog so that the comments are not at the top.

Treat video and audio just like text. Right now, video and audio aren’t searchable, but they will be. Don’t think that you can say or do anything you want on a video and it will never come up. That
Neo-Nazi video you made and put up on YouTube cuz you thought it was funny will eventually be searchable and associated with your name. Are you really ready for that to appear at the top of a Google ego search?

Totally Wired

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