Pottermore News had the chance to interview Pottermore CEO Charlie Redmayne and asked him numerous questions about the online gaming website. He discussed what will be coming up on the site this year, you can read his answer below. Also see Part I and Part II of their interview in full.
We will be seeing more content to engage with and new developments with the site. We will see more books rolling out. I hope we are getting faster and better at doing that. I think that some of the feedback we got on the last rollout was that it was great and people got it before Christmas and weren’t expecting it.
At the same time, there was a little bit of disappointment in some areas of how much there was [in the release]. I think we need to strike the balance. We work very hard to make sure what we produce is really good. We’re working with an extraordinarily creative person in terms of J.K. Rowling. We need to make sure we get it right. There will be much more stuff coming out onto the site.
We’ll also be rolling out into more territories. At the moment we’re in English, both in the U.S. and U.K., French, Italian, German and Spanish. The site will be rolling out in Japanese. At the moment only the Shop’s in Japanese. We’ll also be rolling out in South Korea and Brazil. Those I can guarantee, but we may be rolling out into more countries as well.
Otherwise, you will see [the e-books in other languages.] They may not have their own shop but there will definitely be shops for Korea and Brazil. In some of the other territories, we’re going to make the ebooks available from the existing stores. You will see new digital platforms – the Book of Spells on PlayStation is just the beginning of what we’ll do in Playstation and other platforms.
[All of the different experiences will be about] experiencing Pottermore on all the platforms and access for us to do so. [Pottermore] will continually evolve. One of the great privileges of running a digital business is that we’ll be talking about things next year which we didn’t even know we’re going to exist this year. We need to react to those opportunities and make sure we stay at the forefront of what we’re doing.
James and Oliver Phelps were special guests at Harry Potter: The Exhibition this weekend at Discovery Times Square. SnitchSeeker was able to interview the stars at the event and that interview may be watched below! Enjoy!
Harry Potter: The Exhibition will be open until April 7th 2013. The tour has been all over the world, from NYC and Chicago to Sydney, Australia and and even Singapore!
This week is Wand Week at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter and to celebrate the Harry Potter Facebook page released a video on how to use a wand with Paul Harris, who choreographed the wand battles in the final film. The studio tour also had a special guest today, Chris Rankin! He was on hand, along with Paul Harris, to answer fan questions on the Warner Bros Studio Tour Twitter.
Delve into the world of wand making, spell casting and wizarding duels this February, during our first ever Wand Week.
Special effects and choreography experts from the Harry Potter film series will be involved in creating the activities for Wand Week.
Discover how fight scenes were developed and the incredible amount of planning that went into each wand movement.
Original moulds, concept art and wand designs will be showcased in the attraction.
For the first time, Ollivander’s authentic costume (as worn by John Hurt) will be on display at the entrance of his famous wand shop.
Our knowledgeable staff members will be on hand to share many of the behind-the-scenes secrets of the most successful film series of all time.
Wand Week will take place from Saturday 16th to Sunday 24th February, limited tickets available, book your tickets today.
Tom Felton will be one of the many celebrity guests at this year’s Fan Expo Vancouver. Fan Expo Vancouver is an all-ages pop culture convention for fans of comics, sci-fi, horror, anime, and gaming. The schedule for the expo will be released in April, so we will have more information on when and where you can find Tom.
Thousands of fanatics will flock to meet film & TV stars, geek-out over new videogames, nab rare comics, and snap pictures with other fans dressed like their favourite characters. The weekend will be packed with gaming tournaments, Q&A sessions, sketching duals, retail and exhibitor areas, and workshops like special effects/make-up.
Where: Vancouver Convention Centre, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC
When: April 20 – 21, 2013; 10am to 7pm Saturday, 10am to 5pm Sunday
As we reported yesterday, Scholastic will be releasing 15th Anniversary Editions for all the Harry Potter books this November. Hollywood.com caught up with the new cover artist, Kazu Kibuishi, to discuss this amazing opportunity. Some snippets from the interview may be read below:
How did [the opportunity to illustrate the new editions] come about? The short story is that David Saylor, the Creative Director who was in charge of Harry Potter back when it was originally released by Scholastic, is also my Creative Director on Amulet. And in passing, he just asked me if I would be interested in trying out for this project. Initially I was hesitant. To be honest, I just didn’t — I was kind of curmudgeonly a fan of Harry Potter, thinking, “Well they don’t need new covers! The Mary GrandPré covers are fantastic! I love them!” But then I understood what they were looking to do, and that was reintroduce the series, the way we see it in hindsight, to a new generation of readers. When I realized that’s what they were looking to do, I got a little bit more excited, and we did submit some samples that they really liked.
Did you have kind of a mission statement for yourself in terms of what you wanted to bring to it? I wanted to approach it like an art historian/designer and illustrator. And sort of, I think especially the first cover embodies that approach because, in a way, it is like fan art of the original book, but done through the prism of fan arts for classic literature, such as Great Expectations or A Christmas Carol. And that was really the way I looked at the first book. Actually, it all dawned on me when I looked at a cover for a Perennial Classics reissue of Treasure Island. I looked at that and I thought, “This was new one day. A long time ago, this was what kids would read and get really, really excited about.” You know, they would read Treasure Island and want to go on this adventure. And I thought, well that’s what happened here with Harry Potter. This is one of our Treasure Islands. And I wanted to approach the covers by looking at the series in that way.
You mentioned having a great respect for Mary GrandPré’s work. Did you talk to her at all before you began? Or have you spoken to her since? No, actually. I had no communication with any of the creators. It made it nerve-wracking! I suppose it was liberating in that I was able to just create in a vacuum and do what I thought was right. And to David’s credit, he gave me a lot of freedom to do what I wanted; he trusted me a lot.
We haven’t been given a look inside the new addition yet. Do you know if GrandPré’s original illustrations remain? Or will you be doing new ones? I don’t know what they’ve decided to do about the interiors yet. That is a discussion that’s been parked. As far as I know, the illustrations are in tact and will be there.
Well, I feel like if they do keep the original illustrations, your cover compliments them. It’s not like it’s a completely different vision. Right. I did want to incorporate a little bit of the whimsy that I feel GrandPré’s illustrations convey. And I tried to thread it through the imagery. And hopefully it’ll come across, especially the later covers.
I’m curious about your vision of Harry and of the other characters. How much of that is how you pictured him while you were reading, and how much of it came from GrandPré’s illustrations or the movies? Huh. Good question! I didn’t really think about that! I feel that Harry Potter is, himself, he is… all of us. So, in that way, he is such an iconic character, I think we all feel like we know what he should at least feel like when he is illustrated, and I didn’t really give it a second thought. I really didn’t think about it too much. I just drew him and I said, “Well, that’s Harry.” I really came to it in that way — but it’s a good question! Because we have Daniel Radcliffe and we have all these iterations of illustrated Harry Potter. It just came naturally. I think we all just think about his glasses! It comes down to that; it’s a pair of glasses that is walking through the world, and we are seeing the world through that pair of glasses.
Did you have any say in keeping the title font? Oh yeah, that’s going to stay the same. That was already decided upon before I came onto the project. That is the logo. There was no way I was going to touch that.
The Hollywood Reporter has posted some rather interesting news regarding Rupert Grint. They report that Rupert may be starring in a pilot for a CBS comedy Super Clyde, which centers on a meek, unassuming fast-food worker decides to become a super hero.
THR says that Rupert will play Clyde, “the well-meaning and sweet yet slightly neurotic guy who never feels like he really fits in. The avid comic book reader considers himself a borderline agoraphobic with mild to severe anxiety issues who wishes he were a super hero himself. When Clyde inherits a $100,000 a month inheritance from his long-dead eccentric Uncle Bill, he decides that the cash will be his secret super power and will use it only for good and reward the good-hearted.”
Remember, this is a rumor until Rupert’s reps confirm it. AND even if it is true it is not guaranteed that the show will actually be produced. The pilot would have to be chosen as one of their new shows.
UPDATE: Thanks to Rupert-Grint.us we know this is, in fact, TRUE!
