Monday, Aug. 18
Word came this week about "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" moving from the fall to July 2009 -- to the same week, movie editor Barbara Vancheri pointed out to me today, that saw the release of "The Dark Knight," thus ruining my argument that July is the wrong time to release a movie with dark subjects. Now Summit Entertainment gleefully announces that "Twilight" will move up its release by three weeks to Nov. 21, taking advantage of Warner Bros.' decision to wait out 2008.
"Twilight" was a featured panel at Comic-Con, with author Stephenie Meyer on hand to join director Catherine Hardwicke and the young cast. The two stars of the vampire-human romance fantasy, 22-year-old Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire") and Kristen Stewart, 18, seemed overwhelmed by the screaming fans in San Diego and Pattinson, in particular, could barely get a word out without deferring to a co-star. Stewart was more articulate but equally nervous -- Pattinson pulled and tugged at his thick hair throughout the ordeal and Stewart almost matched him for hair-pulling and jitters. Now they have a shorter time now to prepare for the media onslaught; I hope that Comic-Con gave them each a hint of what's to come and they've figured out a way to relax and enjoy the adoration.
Back to Harry Potter for a moment. The buzz in the media yesterday wasn't so much about Entertainment Weekly (along with the UK's Empire magazine) featuring "The Half-Blood Prince" as cover stories for their fall movie previews. Even weekly magazines have to go to press well in advance of publication and can get left in the lurch by breaking news. What surprised (and amused?) most insiders was that the studio's parent company and EW's are one in the same: Time Warner Inc.
The studio had been considering the date change for three or four weeks, "but it really didn't kind of get on the front burner until sometime within the last seven days," Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution, said Sunday, The Associated Press reports. Entertainment Weekly's "deadline must have been earlier than the decision, than when we started to get serious about making the decision."
Saturday, Aug. 10
I attended the preview of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," and walking through the AMC Loews at the Waterfront was like being back in San Diego's Exhibit Hall -- except the Stormtroopers in Pittsburgh had more authentic-looking costumes. Stormtrooper TK-1085 of 501st Legion, Garrison Carida ("First to Advance, Last to Retreat"), also known as Tom Kness of Kittanning, was one of the costumed invitees lending a live-action air to the animated feature. There was another Stormtrooper, Jango Fett, Obi-Wan and Darth Vader ... no George Lucas, but their presence did him proud.
Posted
Aug 18 2008, 01:53 PM
by
Sharon Eberson