Over the weekend, the world sent off one of the most beloved literary/cinematic franchises in grand style. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (which, just in case you’ve been living under a cyber rock, stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint) scored the best opening 3-day weekend of all time with an estimated domestic $168.6 million total, which captured the top domestic prize from The Dark Knight (whose previous winning total was $158.4 million); the movie also captured an additional foreign take of $307 million with a worldwide total $475.6 million. At the risk of sounding chintzy, these numbers are nothing less than magical.

Here are the records set thus far by Deathly Hallows: Part II: Biggest midnight-showing total of $43.5 million; biggest one-day opening day and Friday total with $92.1 million; and biggest international opening weekend of $307 million, which ousts the record set just earlier this summer by Pirates Of The Caribbean 4, which took in $260.4 million internationally during its opener. The only major record that Deathly Hallows: Part II didn’t break was the Saturday record of $51.3 million previously set by Spider-Man 3 — not that this slight omission matters in the grand scheme of things.

In terms of likewise comparisons, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II has already scored half of the worldwide $955 million total of Deathly Hallows: Part I, which kicked off with merely a $125 million domestic opening weekend, so I imagine that Part II still has many legs with which to stride in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, Transformers: Dark of the Moon held onto second place in its third week with $21.3 million (and a $302.8 million domestic total) while a couple of two-week holdovers — Horrible Bosses (with $17.6 million) and Zookeeper ($12.3 million ) — took third and fourth place, respectively speaking. In fifth place, Cars 2 added another $8.3 million in its fourth week (for a domestic total of $165.3 million).

Sadly, this weekend’s only other wide-release debut, Winnie The Pooh, took in only $8 million. This was a wonderfully touching movie, but Disney really chose a bad weekend with which to introduce the latest contribution to the Pooh franchise. In other words, attempting to compete against the last installment of the Harry Potter francise is a losing game, no matter how one looks the situation. Still, I suspect that Pooh will do quite well in the home video market.

Movie stills courtesy of AllMoviePhoto

Last night was the big NY premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2. As this incredible long-running franchise comes to an end, everyone is looking back at how these kids have grown over the ten years since we were first introduced to their magical world. (Have you seen this five minute look back video of all the HP movies?) I thought it would be fun to include photos of them from the first two movies, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). I remember the first time I saw Harry Potter in the movies, and how impressed I was at how intricate and engrossing the scenery was, and what great child actors they were. It’s bittersweet to say goodbye, but it seems like time to me. Especially when we see how these sweet kids have grown up into some really gorgeous men. It feels a little wrong though to notice.

Above we have star Daniel Radcliffe, who is just 21 yet possesses the grace and professionalism of a seasoned actor. I just love him.

Matthew Lewis, 22. (Neville Longbottom). This before photo is actually from 2007′s Order of the Phoenix. Can you believe how great he looks now?

Tom Felton, 23. (Draco Malfoy) Sniveling little Draco grew up to be quite a lovely young man. He recently said he might start some kind of career as a rapper, but some outlets are guessing that he was just joking about it. He also said he was flattered to hear that his co-star Emma Watson had a crush on him when they were 12.

Rupert Grint, 22. (Ron Weasley). Grint is in dire need of a haircut and styling – that suit looks a little too big for him. Still, I sense that he’s one of those guys who just doesn’t take themselves too seriously. Rupert has a new interview with Parade where he reminisces about his favorite scenes and talks about how hard it was to say goodbye after 12 years working on set. (And here’s a link to a segment of his interview with Regis & Kelly, where he talks about kissing Emma Watson. He’s adorable.)

We can’t forget Alan Rickman, 65. (Severus Snape) He didn’t grow up in the films like our other featured actors and Snape doesn’t really do it for me, but his voice is just incredible. I’m also surprised to read that he’s 65, because I would have put him at 15 years younger. He has a naughty glint in his eye, doesn’t he?

Photo credits: WENN, Fame and AllMoviePhoto

As many of you have seen, a film about Prince Harry has been announced. It’s called The Spare, as in, “the heir and the spare”. The film will follow Harry from childhood to his military service in Afghanistan. It won’t go into production until 2010, but that hasn’t stopped people from theorizing aloud as to which actor will play the ginger prince. Both People and the Huffington Post have gotten into it, putting up online polls to see which actor would be most acceptable. At the top of most lists is Rupert Grint (or Harry Potter fame) and none other than Sparkles himself, Robert Pattinson. HuffPo actually has a much larger list, and I like some of the names they included – everyone from James McAvoy to the puffy-chested Ed Westwick to Cate Blanchett. Blanchett could do Harry justice, I think. But Pattinson has taken the early lead:

Harry Potter star Rupert Grint and Twilight actor Robert Pattinson are rumoured to be leading contenders to play Prince Harry in a new film. The movie, called The Spare, is to chart the high and low points of the Prince’s life, including the death of his mother, the Princess of Wales, and his time serving in Afghanistan.

The project is still in its infancy, with a screenplay not expected to be ready until the end of this year, meaning that casting will not begin until 2010.

However, the internet has been awash with rumours over the past week about who will play the 25-year-old, who is third in line to the throne. Several showbiz websites have tipped red-haired Grint, 21, who is best known for his role as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, as a likely candidate.

Pattinson, 23, who shot to fame playing Edward Cullen in the 2008 romantic vampire film Twilight, is also thought to be vying for the part.

The film is to be directed by Peter Kosminsky, who said he was drawn to the project because he feels “a sense of compassion” for the Prince. But he said that he would not begin considering who will play the lead role until he and producers David Aukin and Hal Vogel have read Jeremy Brock’s script.

Kosminsky told the Daily Mail: “My personal approach as a director is that I read the script, and people start to pop into my head.”

Despite the rumours about the two British actors, Kosminsky has said that he would not rule out an American playing the Prince.

He cited actress Renee Zellweger, with whom he has previously worked, as an example of an American who mastered the English accent for her role as Bridget Jones. He added: “I think it’s reasonable that we don’t want to rule out Americans, although there’s a very strong cadre of British actors, too.”

Commenting on his attraction to the Prince’s life story, Kosmisky said: “His parents break up in the most spectacularly public way, his mother dies in the most tragic and, again, public way and everything is picked over. He’s a man born to no role, the heir and the spare.”

Referring to the Prince’s tour of duty in Afghanistan last year, he added: “Suddenly, he finds himself alongside ordinary guys.

“He’s immersed, in the most acute circumstances, in the real world and absolutely finds his métier – and for the first time in his life he doesn’t feel like a spare part.”

[From the Telegraph]

I think it’s a good idea to simply choose the actor who has the general Prince Harry messy-hot-dumb vibe, rather than just concentrating on the ginger. The ginger can be faked. And I certainly don’t want to see anyone from a Harry Potter film playing The Spare – and that includes Sparkles. I adore James McAvoy, and he does a lovely English accent, but I fear he’s too small for the role. Screw it, just hire Harry to play himself. He might be good!

It ended up raining buckets at last night’s premiere of Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince in London, but fans didn’t seem to mind. Fans in costume and with faces painted to support the Gryffindor quidditch team weren’t about to let the sudden downpour keep them from seeing the stars of the wildly popular series.

I love everyone’s outfits – Emma Watson’s wrap dress is so elegant while Daniel Radcliffe went whimsical and bold in a bright pink shirt and old-fashioned suit. Rupert Grint is hopefully over his swine flu because he got all wet in his cute suit with a cool skinny tie. The three lead stars of the Harry Potter series are everything that young celebrities should be – friendly to fans, gracious to the press, smart, and forthcoming. They’ve also avoided scandal and we haven’t heard that much gossip about their personal lives:

Emma Watson’s wardrobe malfunction’s may have been the star of the London premiere of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” but there was plenty to see besides Hermione Granger’s eminently sensible nude-colored knickers. Whoops!

Daniel Radcliffe, wearing a slightly odd suit (a frog closure? Really?) and bold salmon-colored shirt, and Rupert Grint, who’s apparently on the mend from swine flu, got soaked during the downpour in Leicester Square.

Helena Bonham Carter walked the red carpet in character as Bellatrix LeStrange, if LeStrange had decided to do her major-event shopping at Joyce Leslie. Back in 1986. J.K. Rowling looked smashing in a low-cut electric blue gown.

Some of the actors wore white ribbons around the wrists in memory of actor Rob Knox, who played Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby, and who was stabbed to death outside a bar last year.

[From The NJ Star Ledger]

I think the wardrobe malfunction they’re referring to is that Watson had to re-tie her wrap dress, but it didn’t look like more than just a minor embarrassment to her.

The Half Blood Prince is more adult than we’re used to and as a movie geared for teens it has some romantic moments as well as some funny bits. It’s also darker and scarier than the previous Harry Potter films, according to interviews stars Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe gave to CNN’s Myleene Klass.

It looks as incredible as the last Harry Potter films. I’m a real fan of the series and love the way that the movie bring the books to life and transport you to another world. You’re really taken to a place with it’s own set of magical rules and characters, and the best part is that you don’t have to check your brain at the door. Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince opens in the US and many countries next Wednesday, 7/15. It will be released around the world by July 24.

Also shown at yesterday’s premiere are Harry Potter author JK Rowling, Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), and Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledore). Credit: WENN.com

20 year-old hot ginger actor Rupert Grint, best known as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films, came with the swine flu, his publicist confirms. Grint had a mild case, though, that only required a few days away from filming Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. He is said to be recovered now and plans to attend the premiere of the much-anticipated sixth Harry Potter film, The Half Blood Prince, in London on Tuesday.

It seems that there’s no magic spell against the swine flu.

Rupert Grint, 20, who plays Harry Potter’s pal Ron Weasley, caught the notorious bug while filming the latest movie in the wizard series but is now well enough to attend Tuesday’s London premiere of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

“It has just been confirmed that Rupert Grint has taken a few days out of filming due to a mild bout of swine flu,” his rep says in a statement. “He has now recovered and is looking forward to joining his fellow cast members at the junket and premieres this week and will then return to filming directly afterwards.”

Grint’s doctor determined that the actor is not contagious, the rep adds.

Filmmakers of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were able to shoot around Grint’s absence and no production days were lost, the rep says.

[From People]

A lot of people have probably had mild cases of swine flu that went undiagnosed and have cleared up by now. I really think that the media hype was unwarranted, but my husband is a scientist and he claims that it’s understandable since it’s so rare that viruses mutate from being passed from animal to human to human to human. Swine flu can also can cause severe illness and death in young people, which isn’t typical of seasonal flu. At this point, it doesn’t seem to be the huge pandemic that we were warned about and it’s oddly comforting to hear that a minor celebrity has come down with it and is fine. Let’s hope that it’s under control now and that cases like Rupert’s are typical.

Rupert Grint is shown at the Berlinale on 2/8/09 and on set in London on 4/22/09 and in Wales on 5/12/09. Credit: WENN.com

Aw, young love. Or young love as portrayed by teenagers in a film about wizards and growing up. The first whiff of ginger heart-throb-in-training Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) was enough to bring the awkward pre-teen out in me. Now imagine Emma Watson’s dilemma – she’s scheduled to have a screen kiss with Ron for the next installment of Harry Potter (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows).

The two actors have known each other for eight years of filming, so it makes sense that they’ve probably got a relationship that borders on brother-sister, just to make the whole thing even more uncomfortable. Emma claims that she’s never had to kiss someone for a job before, and that she asked her friend Daniel Radcliffe for advice. Radcliffe told her that after the first few takes, kissing gets boring. Interesting, Daniel…maybe it’s the girl? The Daily Telegraph has more:

Emma Watson dreads her first on screen kiss with Rupert Grint -when the stars of Harry Potter begin filming this month expect some awkward on set tension between Rupert Grint and Emma Watson.

…[B]oth actors are already panicking about their first screen kiss between their characters Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Speaking at the Bafta ceremony Watson, 18, tells me that she is terrified of pairing up with her 20 year-old co-star of eight years, despite the best efforts of Daniel Radcliffe, 19, to reassure her.

“Well I’ve never had to do it before so I can’t say I have any techniques,” she says. “I’ve never had to kiss anyone on screen so it is all new to me.”

“Of course I am nervous about it. But, apparently it gets quite boring after a couple of takes, that’s what Dan said to me anyway.”

Meanwhile, off screen Watson was not short of male attention at the Grey Goose afterparty at the Grosvenor House Hotel and spent much of the evening in the company of Jamie Dornan, a model who used to date Keira Knightley.

Mandrake revealed last month that Grint is also concerned about the impending kiss despite doing a graphic nude scene in his recent film Cherrybomb.

“As I’ve known Emma for so long, I reckon it will be 10 times worse,” he said.

“I really love the seventh book, but there is no way it will be tame with the Hermione stuff.”

The actor claimed he fills in crosswords to ease the awkwardness between takes and will bring “a stack of crosswords” to the Harry Potter set.

From The Daily Telegraph

I can’t remember who said it, but I remember a very famous actress once complaining that for her first screen kiss, no one told her not to slip the actor your tongue. Sounds like practical advice for Emma and for Rupert. Rupert sounds really nervous too – think there’s something else going on? Do they have little crushes on each other? And does anyone else think it’s really cute that Emma asked Radcliffe for help with her problem? I wonder if they’re really close in real life.

Emma Watson is shown at the BAFTA Awards and in a scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Credit: WENN

Actor Rupert Grint, 19, best known for playing Harry Potter’s sidekick Ron Weasley, is growing up to be a hot and very outspoken young man. He is quoted as saying that he met Lindsay Lohan and that she came off as narcissistic. He says Lindsay told him she was going to win an Oscar by 25, but that he thought “you can’t act.” As for Paris Hilton, he says he hasn’t met her and that he doesn’t really want to:

The Harry Potter actor revealed that he met Lohan last year in America and that she bored him by talking about herself all the time.

Grint added that he didn’t want to meet Hilton because she was the sort of girl you should “stay away from”.

He told The Sun: “I met Lindsay last summer and she talked about herself a lot.

“She said she was going to win an Oscar before she turns 25. I just kept thinking, ‘But you can’t act’.

“I haven’t met Paris and don’t want to either. She and Lindsay are the type of girls you need to stay away from.”

[From Digital Spy via Gossip Rocks]

I knew there was a reason I liked this kid. He comes across like he has a sense of humor and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. I’ve read interviews with Lohan and have reached the same conclusion about her – she loves to hear herself talk and it’s all about her grand plans for life. Meanwhile she’s still drinking and partying her days away. At least people are still willing to take her picture.

I see great things in Mr. Grint’s future and maybe he will go on to win an Oscar himself. He has plenty of time, unlike other rapidly-aging former child stars.

Rupert is shown at the National Movie Awards on 9/28/07 and at FAO Schwartz for a Harry Potter store opening on 7/13/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Rupert Grint, Danielle Radcliffe and Emma Watson, the young stars of the wildly popular Harry Potter movies, were immortalized in a foot, hand and wandprint ceremony at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood yesterday.

In a recent interview in Details magazine, Radcliffe said he has no desire to date an actress and that he thinks that displays of immense wealth are obnoxious:

“I think it would be very hard to go out with an actress, because they’re mad. Some actresses are just insane. I’ve never worked with a nasty actress—they’re all absolutely delightful. But completely barking…”

“Even when I was very young and before any of this had happened, I remember being repulsed by ostentatious displays of wealth,” he says.

“People who have car collections—I never understood that. I always thought that was unnecessary. It’s not beautiful, it’s not creative. It’s just showing how much money you’ve got.”

[From Details.com]

In the interview, Radcliffe says he had a “brief heart attack” when he heard via text message that JK Rowling was planning an eighth Harry Potter book. He was relieved to find that she just planned to contribute to a charity book on magic. He will receive $50 million for playing Harry in the screen versions of the next two installments of the series, but fears being typecast and wants to step away from the role at some point.

The fear of being Harry Potter forever might explain his naked turn on the stage as a mentally disturbed stable hand in Equus. It might also provide motivation for the rather odd pictures of Radcliffe that accompanied his Details interview, in which he wears in a leather vest and blue contact lenses. The Daily Mail published this picture of his costar Emma Watson reacting as she saw the pictures for the first time. It’s going to take a lot more than a wardrobe change – or disrobing – for Radcliffe to escape Harry. With that kind of cash attached to the role, he may as well accept his fate. And next weekend we will learn what that fate will be.

Thanks to WENN for these pictures.

Harry Potter mania is about to hit. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is out in US theaters on Wednesday while the last book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is out next Saturday, July 21.

Advance reviews for the film are overwhelmingly positive, with a current 87% aggregate critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Several critics have written that it’s the best Harry Potter film yet, and that it’s darker and scarier than its four predecessors.

As for the book, I have to admit I’ve read all the other Harry Potter titles and although I won’t be waiting in line for it I’ll be sure to snatch up a copy within a few days of its release.

Diehard Harry Potter fans are planning a media blackout next weekend so that the end is not spoiled for them. JK Rowling has said that two characters will die at the end of the series, and a lot of speculation has surrounded her claims. She said she was crying while writing the end of the book and that she was devastated to end it. Fans want to know who dies, but not until they get a chance to read the whole book first.

Now, as the July 21 release of the seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, approaches, fans who have waited the better part of a decade to find out the ultimate fate of Harry, his friends and his nemeses are taking no chances.

But how far do they have to go? Must they close their eyes, cover their ears and scream, “LALALALA?”

Pretty much. In fact, if you want to get in touch with a rabid Harry Potter fan on the weekend of July 21-22, you might be out of luck.

Readers are planning media blackouts — no computers, no cell phones, no TV, no radio. And if that’s not enough, they’re threatening to get physical.

“I’ll beat the crap out of the person who spoils it for me,” Pritthish Chakraborty wrote in an e-mail. Chakraborty, 17, who runs a fan Web site, Harry Potter Beyond, in his native Bangladesh, was spoiled two years ago when a “friend” sent a picture message to his cell phone of the page describing Dumbledore’s death.

Many fans don’t want to give up the excitement and camaraderie of a midnight release party, but they know they’re putting themselves at risk.

“We advise people — I know this is terrible — to bring headphones to the book release and put them on as they leave the store so they’re not subject to the idiot across the street screaming the end to them,” said Melissa Anelli, a webmaster of the Leaky Cauldron, a prominent Harry Potter fan site.

[AP Article from the Houston Chronicle thanks to Viv for e-mailing it.]

In 2005 some fans were upset to have the end of the last book yelled out at them as they left bookstores early in the morning of the release.

I’m the kind of person that can’t resist looking up spoilers, but that wouldn’t keep me from reading the book as all the fun is getting there.