Today the winner of The Woman in Black Ghost Story competition was announced! The competition opened on Halloween and 177 fans sent in their ghost stories. They were wittled down to 10 and voted on at the end of December. The winner’s story will be read by Daniel Radcliffe on the films DVD.  The following press release, sent over by Monument Pictures, reveals the winner:

The votes have been closed and counted and the winning video for THE WOMAN IN BLACK’S YouTube competition to find the UK’s spookiest ghost story has been chosen.  Budding young writer Nicola Torch, 16, from Lancashire beat 177 other haunting and harrowing tales to become the winning entry with her story ‘Fear of Hue’.

Launched on Halloween by Daniel Radcliffe, the star of upcoming ghost story chiller, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, the competition challenged writers of all ages to submit their own original ghost story video to the film’s official YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/thewomaninblackmovie).

The competition was a resounding success and the ghostly tales were shortlisted to ten finalists based on the following judging criteria: creativity, originality and writing style.

Nicky’s video made it to the final 10 shortlisted entries going through to the public vote, and winning a trip to attend the Worldwide Premiere of THE WOMAN IN BLACK on 24^th January 2012.  Her winning story will be read out by Daniel Radcliffe and included in the bonus features of THE WOMAN IN BLACK DVD.

Talking about winning the competition, Nicky says, “I entered but I had no idea I would win, I was happy enough to get in the top 10 and I can’t wait to see Daniel read my story!”

The film opens in the USA on February 3rd and on February 10th in the UK and Ireland! The world premiere will be held in London on January 24th and Magical-Menagerie should be on hand to interview the cast.

Yesterday Tom Felton let fans know via Twitter that he provided his voice for an audio tour for Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter. Today we have received official word from WB regarding the audio tours:

Our handheld audio-visual guides bring the Studio Tour to life in a completely new way. Narrated by Tom Felton who plays Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, it contains fascinating facts about the sets, costumes and props, as well as newly produced interviews with filmmakers and never before seen behind-the-scenes footage. It is available in eight languages, with the English Digital Guide narrated by Tom Felton, and can be pre-booked with your tickets. This is available to hire for just £4.95.

All posts about the tour may be read here. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter will be opening on March 31st of 2012, tickets may be purchased on the Official Website.

Stay tuned to Magical-Menagerie for all the latest news on this exciting new attraction!

In an interview with The New York Post, Severus Snape actor Alan Rickman talked about the Harry Potter series, playing the role of Snape, theatre and more. The parts where he discussed Harry Potter may be read below:

Did [Harry Potter author] J.K. Rowling know ahead of time what would happen with your character, Snape?
Yeah, she knew everything. It’s fair to say that she put the ending into a safe. She knew how it would finish.

Did she tip you off?
Before I said I would do [the first film] I said I had to talk to her. We spoke the next day, and she gave me a very small piece of information … that let me know there was more to him than met the eye.

Can you share that with us?
No. I promised her I never would.

Having played the character all those years, did you have emotional or cathartic moments toward the end?
With the last film, it was very cathartic, because you were finally able to see who he was. It was strange, in a way, to play stuff that was so emotional … but satisfying on all sorts of levels. You know, Ray [Fiennes, who played Voldemort] and I had a scene where you just thought, well, finally it’s just a couple of actors talking to each other, with no special effects.

On holding a wand.
Holding a wand is not the most threatening thing. And pointing it at Dame Maggie Smith, who you’ve grown up worshipping from the cheap seats at the National Theatre, and she’s pointing it at you … and she can arch an eyebrow like nobody. Thank god for the sheets of flame.

Did he ever consider not acting in all eight of the movies?
No, I wasn’t going to let anyone else finish him.

Today is also Snape’s birthday, so Happy Birthday to our favorite Potions Master!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been nominated for several awards at the 10th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards which will be presented on February 7, 2012 and air on Reelz Channel. Harry Potter has been nominated for:

• Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture – Deathly Hallows 2
• Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture – Ukranian Ironbelly Dragon
• Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture – Hogwarts
• Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture – Hogwarts School Buildings
• Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture – Deathly Hallows 2

Good luck to all of the Harry Potter crew members up for an award!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed that 7 films are in final contention for the Excellence in Makeup Oscar. All members of the Academy’s Makeup Branch will be invited to view 10-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films. Following the screenings, members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

• Albert Nobbs
• Anonymous
• The Artist
• Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
• Hugo
• The Iron Lady

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, at 5:30 a.m. PT. Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre and televised live by the ABC Television Network.

In a new interview Steven Spielberg talked about his decision to pass on Harry Potter back in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

I’ve had chance to make a lot of movies that went on to be big hits with other directors and other studios, because I can’t do everything. I was offered Harry Potter. I developed it for about five or six months with [Potter screenwriter] Steve Kloves, and then I dropped out. I just felt that I wasn’t ready to make an all-kids movie and my kids thought I was crazy. And the books were by that time popular, so when I dropped out, I knew it was going to be a phenomenon. But, you know I don’t make movies because they’re gonna to be phenomenons. I make movies because they have to touch me in a way that really commits me to a year, two years, three years of work.