There’s no stopping Harry Potter from waving his magic wand at the Philippine box-office!  The formidable film franchise has now crossed the elite P1-billion milestone (P1, 012,396,258 to be exact) as the series’ sixth installment, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” grossed a wicked P157.59-million as of July 26 or after only 12 days of release.  This was announced today by Francis Soliven, general manager of Warner Bros. (F.E.), Inc. which distributed the film locally.

The “Harry Potter” franchise becomes the first movie series to collectively breach the P1-billion ceiling in gross sales in the Philippines, besting other blockbuster franchises like “Spider-Man,” “Star Wars,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “James Bond.”

“This is another major accomplishment for the `Harry Potter’ franchise and Warner Bros.,” said Soliven in making the announcement.  “The public’s fascination with Harry, Ron and Hermione and their magical adventures is unprecedented and will continue to endure for ages to come.  We’re pleased and proud to have been instrumental in bringing the world of Harry Potter to the people.”

The success of the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling’s beloved books started in 2001’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” which grossed a commanding P137.50-million, and subsequently followed by 2002’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (P156.34-million), 2004’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (P147.17-million), 2005’s “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (P199.51-million) and 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (P214.27-million).

The franchise comes to its conclusion with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2” to be released in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) suspects that new dangers may lie within Hogwarts, but Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. He needs Harry to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort’s defenses—critical information known only to Hogwarts’ former Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent). As romance blossoms around him, Harry remains aloof with far more important matters on his mind. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Still playing across the Philippines, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

“The Half-Blood Prince” is the full-fledged king of Philippine box-office!  The sixth installment of the “Harry Potter” saga rewrote the record books, posting a royal P104.77-million nationwide four-day opening weekend (July 16-19) in 310 screens.  This was announced today by Francis Soliven, general manager of Warner Bros. Philippines, the film’s local distributor.

That figure represents the all-time biggest four-day opening weekend in Philippine history (beating 2007’s “Transformers’ at P103.87-million).  “Prince” also broke the fastest time (four days) for a “Harry Potter” film to breach the P100-million milestone (outpacing 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” which achieved the feat in five days).

The incredible opening of “Half-Blood Prince” now makes the “Harry Potter” saga the undisputed most successful franchise ever in local history, with an accumulated gross of a staggering P959-million (surpassing the “Spider-Man” franchise’s P910.32-million overall take).

“The victorious streak of `Harry Potter’ continues with this sixth installment, and we couldn’t be happier with the results,” said Soliven.  “It has been an unbelievable run, and we know the best is yet to come with the final two `Harry’ movies in 2010 and 2011,” he added.

“Prince” bowed in 123 locations across the country, with SM Mall of Asia (including IMAX) as the box-office champion with a magical gross of P8.70-million. Close to its heels are SM North EDSA (including IMAX Digital) at P7.79-M, Trinoma (P5.68-M), SM Megamall (P4.11-M), Glorietta 4 (P3.86-M), Gateway (P3.67-M), Power Plant (P3.14-M), Eastwood (P2.98-M), Greenbelt 3 (P2.74-M) and Shangri-la (P2.54-M).

Completing the Top 20 cinemas are Alabang Town Center (P2.48-M), Robinsons Ermita (P2.33-M), Ayala Cebu (P2.09-M), SM Cebu (P2.08-M), Robinsons Galleria (P1.99-M), Festival (P1.91-M), SM San Lazaro (P1.79-M), Greenhills (P1.75-M), Market Market (P1.59-M) and SM Fairview (P1.57-M).

In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) suspects that new dangers may lie within Hogwarts, but Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching.  He needs Harry to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort’s defenses—critical information known only to Hogwarts’ former Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).  As romance blossoms around him, Harry remains aloof with far more important matters on his mind.  He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one.  Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Still playing across the Philippines, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

Warner Bros.’ “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will be shown in glorious IMAX-3D format at the IMAX Theater of SM Mall of Asia and Digital IMAX Theater at SM North EDSA which has chosen the movie as its opening film.

“Half-Blood Prince” has been digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® through proprietary IMAX DMR® technology.  Using IMAX’s revolutionary live action 2D to 3D conversion technology, the movie’s opening sequence has been transformed into IMAX 3D.

With crystal clear images, laser-aligned digital sound and maximized field of view, IMAX provides the world’s most immersive movie experience.

Emboldened by the return of Lord Voldemort, the Death Eaters are wreaking havoc in both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was, in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) suspects that new dangers may lie within the castle, but Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching.  He needs Harry to help him uncover a vital key to unlocking Voldemort’s defenses—critical information known only to Hogwarts’ former Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent).  With that in mind, Dumbledore manipulates his old colleague into returning to his previous post with promises of more money, a bigger office…and the chance to teach the famous Harry Potter.

Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts.  Harry’s long friendship with Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright) is growing into something deeper, but standing in the way is Ginny’s boyfriend, Dean Thomas, not to mention her big brother Ron (Rupert Grint).  But Ron’s got romantic entanglements of his own to worry about, with Lavender Brown ( Jessie Cave ) lavishing her affections on him, leaving Hermione (Emma Watson) simmering with jealousy yet determined not to show her feelings.  And then a box of love potion-laced chocolates ends up in the wrong hands and changes everything.

As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof with far more important matters on his mind.  He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one.  Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again.

Opening across the Philippines on July 16, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

© 2009 Warner Bros. Ent.  Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R.  Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent.  All Rights Reserved.

Producer David Heyman offers, “In the last film, we were watching Harry at a difficult stage—tormented by dreams, questioning himself and beset by personal demons.  Now he’s a year older and that brings a different set of issues and responsibilities.”

Harry actually has no idea who the Half-Blood Prince is.  All he knows is he was the previous owner of an old textbook, which Harry inherited when he enrolled in Professor Slughorn’s (Jim Broadbent) Potions class.  Director David Yates offers, “The book says it is the ‘Property of the Half-Blood Prince,’ but there is no name and no other record of him, so his identity is an enigma.  But whoever he was, he was obviously very smart; he was capable of taking the conventional recipes for certain potions and spells and making them significantly better.  He was an original thinker but also quite a dark thinker.  The things he came up with eventually lead Harry into some very intense territory.”

Reprising the role of the venerable Professor Dumbledore, Michael Gambon remarks, “The relationship between Harry and Dumbledore in this film goes beyond headmaster and student.  As Harry has grown from a schoolboy into an intelligent young man, their relationship has grown into more of a close friendship.”

Heyman reflects, “There is a line in the film where Dumbledore says, ‘Once again, I must ask too much of you, Harry.’  Does he feel guilt?  I don’t know if he feels guilt, but he knows that Harry is growing up, and I think this is all part of the education of Harry Potter.  Dumbledore knows that ultimately Harry is going to be the one who has to face Voldemort, and in introducing him to Slughorn and exposing him to some of Voldemort’s history and taking him on the journey that he does, he is preparing Harry for the final battle that lies ahead.”

Opening across the Philippines on July 16, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

In “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) gains possession of a book of potions that once belonged to the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.  The book’s multitude of personal notations give him an edge in class experiments, but it also reaches much deeper and darker.

In addition to the continued mystery and adventure that marks Voldemort’s deeply laid plot to bring destruction to Harry’s world, the Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) also experience a heightened sense of teenage longing and emotion.  Harry finds himself increasingly drawn to Ginny (Bonnie Wright), just as Hermione must come to grips with her feelings for Ron as Ron gains a girlfriend in the form of Gryffindor student Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave).

“The last film, `Order of the Phoenix,’ was a very intense sort of internal tale,” remarks producer David Heyman.  “It was a boy struggling with the attractions and pulls of good and evil.  `Half-Blood Prince’ has a much warmer glow to it.  There’s more romance; there’s more comedy.  It began in the fourth film, but it is really pushed to another level in this sixth film—this idea of people being pulled together and apart through interest in the opposite sex.  At the same time, there is a sense that Hogwarts isn’t the safe place it once was, as Harry suspects that danger lies within the castle.  As well as that, you have the building of the relationship between Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) and Harry.  They spend the most time together and Dumbledore’s preparing Harry to assume the mantel.”

As Harry grows increasingly confident and strong as a wizard, Dumbledore finds he must rely more and more on the young wizard to join him in fighting the encroaching evil brought by Voldemort and the Death Eaters.  “I think we really focus on the intimacy [that develops between Harry and Dumbledore] and Dumbledore preparing Harry for the ultimate confrontation between Voldemort and Harry,” Heyman describes, adding that the next films—based on the seventh book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”—contain what he calls a “spectacle of action.”  “The seventh book has non-stop events.  This is more personal and it’s got some great action, great thrills, but it’s a really human tale.”

Director David Yates jokingly describes “Half-Blood Prince” as romance, potions and rock ‘n’ roll.  “There are all these wonderful things in our story,” he says, an obvious tone of excitement in his voice.  “There’s a potion that gives you perfect luck.  You take it and everything goes right for you.  But it does heighten your senses somewhat and you get quite breezy with it.  Then there’s a love potion that makes you very tactile with everybody.  So, it’s got all those metaphorical values.  There are some really lovely comic beats here, which we didn’t really get a chance to do last time.”

Opening across the Philippines on July 16, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

© 2009 Warner Bros. Ent.  Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R.  Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent.  All Rights Reserved.

British actor Rupert Grint reprises his beloved character, Ron Weasley, in Warner Bros.’ fantasy adventure “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth installment in the highly successful “Harry Potter” franchise.

In the film, Ron discovers his newfound Quidditch talents, after thinking he had taken a good-luck potion.  “Ron is scared witless for the game,” says producer David Heyman. “So, Harry pretends to slip him some felix felices, a liquid luck potion. All of a sudden he’s imbued with fresh confidence, and he’s remarkable in the Quidditch match. He’s performing miracles. With that comes incredible delight and maybe a little bit of cockiness.”

In the following interview, Grint discusses his adventures as a first-time Gryffindor Quidditch player, and what he’ll do next after the “Harry Potter” series ends.

Question: Word is that in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” there is plenty of Quidditch for Ron this time round?

Rupert Grint: Yeah, I’ve never done Quidditch in the previous films before so this is my first Quidditch experience. Dan [Radcliffe] says it’s really painful and I know where he’s coming from because it’s quite uncomfortable, with the harness and stuff, and you’re getting slung about. There are two stages. One is the try-outs where Ron is not very good and keeps getting hit in the face. Another stage is where Ron takes the potion and thinks he is really, really good. It’s quite tricky but I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m always on a wire because the broom is quite high up, about 18 feet.

Q: Was getting into the flow of things for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” almost like coming back to school?

Grint: Each film is a little bit different, but it is a lot like coming back to school. It’s the same people you’ve worked with and we’re never away that long anyway. It’s easy to get back into the routine.

Q: Do you keep in touch with rest of the cast between films?

Grint: I usually try to, but we’re always quite busy, to be honest. I see the twins quite a bit, because I play golf with them. I usually win. I’m not bad and I have a handicap of 12.

Q: Word is that there is going to be a lot of kissing in this movie?

Grint: Yeah, and Ron gets a girlfriend in this one. When we did the kissing sequence, it wasn’t easy because I’m standing on a plinth and the whole room is watching. It was quite embarrassing and I was actually dreading it. It was weird and the girl who plays my girlfriend is really cool. It was fine after the first 10 takes. [Laughs.]

Q: Since the Harry Potter films have been such a huge part of your life it must seem strange that it’s all going to come to an end soon?

Grint: Sure. It’s quite sad because it’s been a massive part of my life. It’s hard to get my head around something that will have taken up 10 years of my life when it’s finished.

Q: How do you feel when for instance you catch the early Harry Potter films on TV?

Grint: I haven’t watched the films all the way through for ages but I’ve seen bits and pieces on Sky. It feels like a different person, to be honest; it feels like it all happened ages ago. It brings back a lot of good memories because it was all a good life and it brings back all those exciting times to me. I had barely done a school play before I started so it was very scary in those early films.  I never thought of it as a serious thing. It was all just fun for me back then.

Q: Do you think that you ever get used to all the attention that comes with the phenomenal success of the films?

Grint: I’ve gradually got used to it over the years. It’s more apparent when the films come out. It’s strange when people come up to you. People are always really nice though. It’s never really gangs of people; it’s usually one or two who come over. I don’t mind that at all. Once, I was in TGI Friday and a guy with a camera happened to be there. That was the only time I had any paparazzi, as such.

Q: Do you ever get called Ron?

Grint: People always call me Ron, especially the younger kids. My little cousins actually think I’m magic.

Q: Does being a movie star help overcome shyness?

Grint: I’ve always been a bit shy, but I do feel more confident now, yeah.

Q: After the eighth Harry Potter film is done, do you want to carry on acting?

Grint: I’d like to because I really enjoy it. When this is over I’ll see what happens. I enjoyed working on small movies like “Driving Lessons,” so maybe more stuff like that would be nice.

Q: When you are not on camera, how do you guys unwind?

Grint: Table tennis is a big thing; me and Dan are getting very good at it. I have a table in my dressing room and we play every day. It’s quite even because Dan has improved a lot. He has a really good serve. We’re at a professional level now. [Laughs.]

Q: And what about Emma Watson?

Grint: She’s at a different level to us so there’s no point in playing with her. She just embarrasses us.

Q: Was there ever any remote chance that you wouldn’t come back for this sixth Harry Potter film?

Grint: For me, there was no doubt. So long as they wanted me, I was coming back to do it. I really enjoy doing this and it’s really cool.

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Entertainment Company.

© 2009 Warner Bros. Ent.  Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R.  Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent.  All Rights Reserved.

Having changed the cinematic “Harry Potter” landscape with the universally acclaimed fourth installment, “The Order of the Phoenix,” director David Yates returns to helm the follow-up film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” In the fantasy adventure, Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) journey through time and space to discover the whereabouts of the pieces of the evil Lord Voldemort’s soul (Ralph Fiennes), even as Dumbledore faces several assassination attempts.

In the following interview, Yates discusses what’s it like doing the film, and why he describes the story as “love, potions and rock `n’ roll.”

Question: What’s it like coming back to work on your second Harry Potter film?

David Yates: It’s lovely; it feels like home. There’s a tremendous atmosphere here and it’s very relaxed.  We’ve got some lovely people. It just feels like being at home, really.

Q: Do you feel more relaxed or more terrified because you know what to expect?

Yates:  It’s kind of a bit of both. I felt really self-conscious making the last film. I didn’t realise how big it was until I got to the premiere and then got to America and saw how massive the release was and how huge the reaction was. That was when the penny dropped that this was such a big thing for so many people.

Q: Have you noticed a difference in the cast who have been off to do big projects in the past year?

Yates: Yeah, I have. They are getting better and better and Emma [Watson] seems much more confident this time and much more at ease generally. And Dan, having done “Equus,” he’s just finding moments and beats that are really surprising and lovely. So, they’re all getting better and more sophisticated.

Q: Are there practical lessons that you’ve learned from the last film?

Yates: You know, it’s all storytelling. In all honesty, I do the same thing I’ve always done. Whenever I make anything I want it to be as expressive and as good as it can be, so I wouldn’t say there is anything necessarily. I would say that I’m a lot more confident with visual effects. Obviously when I started, I’d never done a visual effects film. Now that all seems very easy. The good thing about this one is that it’s a funnier story. I joked with Mike Newell as he came off his film and said, “Oh, you’ve got adolescent love. I’m getting all the teen angst.”  “Order of the Phoenix” is all about anger and rebellion and displacement, which is all a bit intense. I love all that, but it’s nice now to be dealing with something that’s rock ‘n’ roll. It’s more fun.

Q: How quickly did you decide to return and direct “The Half-Blood Prince”?

Yates: I was in post-production. We were just finishing off “Order of the Phoenix” and we’d shown it to the studio and were just taking it to Chicago to test it with an audience.  They asked me and I’d already felt that I wanted to

continue. So, it was a good three or four months before the film was released.

Q: Shouldn’t that be the time when you want to run away from it all?

Yates: Funnily enough, it was about halfway through making the previous one that I thought, I’m only going to do one of these, this is crazy. But I got a second wind and really loved the last few months and the post-production. And everyone’s just delightful to work with.

Q: How would you describe this movie?

Yates: It’s love, potions and rock ‘n’ roll. There are all these wonderful things in our story. There’s a potion that gives you perfect luck. You take it and everything goes right for you. But it does heighten your senses somewhat and you get quite breezy with it. Then there’s a love potion that makes you very tactile with everybody. Rupert [Grint] gets overly tactile with Jim Broadbent at one point. So, it’s got all those metaphorical values. There are some really lovely comic beats here, which we didn’t really get a chance to do last time. It was just a very different beast.

Q: Are you conscious of a time when all the films will be watched back to back, so you have to keep a through-line?

Yates: Yes, and there is a through-line. We’re just putting in all sorts of little details between the characters, which hopefully will resonate through the films. There’s a line that goes right the way through to the end.

(Opening across the Philippines this July, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.)

© 2009 Warner Bros. Ent.  Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R.  Harry Potter characters, names and related indicia are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Ent.  All Rights Reserved.