NEWS FOR THE DAY 30.06.06

Another Press Mention of Possible Book Seven in 07

Today there was another mention of a possible Book Seven release date coming in 2007. Bloomsbury, the UK publishers of the Harry Potter books, issued an early statement about the outlook of the company ahead of their annual stockholder meeting today, and wire reports are again including mentions of Book Seven coming out next year. Reuters reports:

"Harry Potter fans will have to wait until next year for the latest instalment of the boy wizard's antics to come out in hardback. The paperback version of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has gone to number one since its launch, the company said."

Please Note: This is most likely the reporters comment and not a direct quote from Bloomsbury. It is most certainly NOT an official announcement that the book is coming out next year either. While '07 is our best bet for Book Seven so far, nothing has changed as Jo specficially said earlier this week she is still writing the book. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was released in paperback in the UK last week; the US paperback edition from Scholastic comes out next month on July 25.

OotP Tie-In Products to "Skew a Little Older"

In a recent article for Retailing Today, Warners Brothers spoke about their plans for the tie-in products with the release of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. They said they are moving away from some of the earlier types of traditional toys and will be making some changes in merchandising with this new film.

"Over at Warner Bros., Batman is in between films but that's not the case for Harry Potter. The fifth film in the series--"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"--is due out in 2007 and will feature a revamped licensing program.

"We signed the same partners for the first two movies and did the same for the third and fourth so we're starting anew again," said Karen McTier, evp of domestic licensing and worldwide marketing for Warner Consumer Products. "Harry is getting older so we're going to skew a little older with this program. Instead of traditional toys we're going to focus on collectable toys and we'll skew older in apparel, as well."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released next year on July 13, 2007.