February 5th 2015 will see the first ever Harry Potter Book Night. This exciting event will give new and existing fans a chance to share the wonder of J.K. Rowling’s unforgettable stories and, most excitingly, to introduce the next generation of readers to the unparalleled magic of Harry Potter. You are hereby invited to embrace the magic and banish the midwinter blues!

Bloomsbury Children’s Books is inviting schools, bookshops, libraries and community groups to host early-evening events in celebration of Harry Potter Book Night. Bloomsbury is creating a complete Harry Potter Book Night Kit – available for free download – offering hosts everything they need to plan an unforgettable evening. The kit will include invitation templates, an event poster, games, activities and quizzes as well as ideas for dressing up and decorating the venue. The kit will be available from the new website harrypotterbooknight.com. Event hosts can register now at the site to receive the kit and updates in the run up to the big night.

In addition to the community events outlined above, there will be public events in London and key regions, a major competition for UK and Irish schools and many further treats and surprises – all celebrating J.K. Rowling’s seven iconic Harry Potter books – to be revealed soon.

Bloomsbury Children’s Books will be marking Harry Potter Book Night on February 5th in their key territories, giving fans across the world an opportunity to join in the celebrations.

Bloomsbury is working closely with Harry Potter partners on plans for the inaugural Harry Potter Book Night, and this interactive celebration joins the new Jonny Duddle jackets, Harry Potter book festival events and the Jim Kay illustrated editions publishing October 2015 as part of a wider strategy from Bloomsbury to pass the magic of these unique adventures on to as many readers as possible.

In a new survey by Vue Cinemas, the Harry Potter books came out in the Top 5 Best AND Worst book series to be turned into films. Vue have sent over the results which you can read in full here. Find the results specific to Harry Potter below.

Harry Potter came out as the worst book series to be turned into a film, mainly due to plot gaps and actor choices. The top five worst books to be turned into films are as follows:

1. Harry Potter
2. 50 Shades of Grey (interesting as it’s not even been released yet)
3. Lord of the Rings
4. The Hobbit
5. Twilight

Lord of The Rings came out as the UK’s favourite book series to be turned into films, due to it staying true to the book, and it bringing to life what the reader imagined. The top five best books to be turned into films are as follows:

1. Lord of the Rings
2. Harry Potter
3. The Hunger Games
4. Batman
5. Bridget Jones’ Diary

Harry Potter was voted both the worst book adaptation, and the second best. In this context, worst doesn’t mean bad films, it means the series that people felt the most was missed out of. Plus, the books had such a wide-spread and intense following, that the films were always going to upset some fans.

Other little tidbits on the results:

• Out of the Harry Potter books and films, the books are the clear favourite amongst fans, with more preferring the book versions of Harry Potter than any other vs. questions in the survey. 12% more agreed that the books were better than the films. In fact, every region of the UK agreed that the books are better.
• The key moments respondents felt were missed out of the Harry Potter films were Peeves the Poltergeist and the Quidditch World Cup, followed Hermione’s elf rights group, SPEW.
• Females are bigger fans of the Harry Potter books than males, with females preferring the books, and males preferring the films.

Yesterday, J.K. Rowling teased fans on Twitter with an anagram that would give us “the first sentence of a synopsis of Newt’s story. It isn’t part of the script, but sets the scene.”

Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry! My wand won’t tolerate this nonsense.

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 6, 2014

After lots of guesses and confusion, Jo gave us poor souls a few clues to help solve the riddle.

#Hint2 There’s only one sentence hidden in the anagram, it is written in natural English and it concerns Newt Scamandar. #3hintsreally

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014

Nor even: “Eye am havving a larf their’s nuthing hid in thair.” There is a sentence in normal English about Newt Scamandar there!

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014

New hint, because you’re coming up with really good suggestions: the sentence begins “Newt Scamander only” #correctedbecauseoftypo

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014

She gave one final clue before a fan figured it out:

“Newt Scamander only meant…”

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014

Read the answer below:

.@EmyBemy2 YES!!!!!!!!!!!! People, we have a winner!

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014

She finished the epic Twitter frenzy by giving us a full 2 sentence synopsis of the film!

Newt only meant to stay in New York for a few hours. Circumstances ensured that he remained… for the length of a movie, anyway. X

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 7, 2014

Potter alums Michael Gambon and Imelda Staunton are the latest actors added to the Paddington cast. They will be playing Paddington Bear’s Uncle Pastuzo and Aunt Lucy. The film, produced by Potter’s David Heyman, also stars their Harry Potter colleagues Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters. After some recent casting changes, Colin Firth has been replaced by Ben Whishaw as the voice of Paddington.

The film will be released on November 28, 2014 and the world premiere will be held at Odeon Leicester Square on November 23.

Blu-Ray.com and dvdsreleasedates.com are both reporting a November 25, 2014 release date for Daniel Radcliffe’s film, What If which was released a few months ago in select theatres around the US.  You can pre-order the film on Amazon or Best Buy. They have also posted some of the special features we can expect on the BluRay:

Special Features:

• Two Vignettes
  • Blurred Lines – Hear from the actors and filmmakers as they explore the themes of What If and talk about their experience shooting a modern love story
  • Opposites Attract – Hear from the cast and crew on the ups and downs of Chantry and Wallace, and become acquainted with their hilarious friends
• Three Deleted Scenes (Blu-ray exclusive)
• Two Additional Vignettes (Blu-ray exclusive):
  • Behind the Scenes of “What If” – Filmmakers and cast talk through the film’s production
  • A Modern Love Story – Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan setup the story and the filmmakers introduce us to the rest of the cast

Thanks to MuggleNet for the tip!

Deadline is reporting that Bonnie Wright is set to star in The Highway Is For Gamblers. The film has a Kickstarter campaign and has raised a little over $9,000 of its $165,000 goal. Nikki Reed, Gustaf Skarsgård and Joe Jonas will also star in the film. According to the Kickstarter page, “This is a story of two best friends who live in the desert, but who dream of so much more.”

“Heidi [Bonnie] and Jane [Nikki] are best friends living in a sprawling desert community. After a series of relationship problems mars their friendship, Jane goes missing at a rodeo. Heidi begins a search across the desert for her friend, digging up secrets and encountering the violence of life on the road, crossing paths along the way with a series of unusual men in her hope for an honest connection in a dishonest world. Heidi is constantly searching for people who don’t want to be found. She is open and trusting, and in the universe the film is set, these things karmically add up and play against her.”

Alexandra McGuinness, the creator of the film has this to say to anyone who wants to see this film made:

I made my last film in the summer of 2010, and have spent the time since trying to make another one. Since that time, crowd funding has transformed the way people are making independent films. It’s a really exciting time. There is no other way to get this movie made, so if you have an interest in seeing this film with the wonderful cast and crew attached, please contribute. There are some already exciting perks [on the Kickstarter page]; most of them are designed to involve the audience as much as possible in the production of the finished film. Join us on our journey.

The Kickstarter page also shared a video of Bonnie asking people to support the film: