Final Harry Potter release date announced (SPOILER ALERT, THANKS TO TAK :P)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/01/new.potter.date.ap/index.html
LONDON, England (AP) -- Harry Potter fans, the end is near.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last of seven installments of J.K. Rowling's mega-selling international phenomenon, will be published July 21 -- at midnight, of course, a time to be marked by celebrations and more than a few tears, as Rowling wraps up the magical adventures of the boy wizard, his friends and his enemies.

The author posted a brief announcement on her Web site Thursday, followed soon by releases from her British publisher, Bloomsbury, and U.S. publisher, Scholastic Inc.

Readers immediately rejoiced, with dozens of ecstatic messages posted on the Potter fan site, www.theleakycauldron.com, within minutes of the announcement.

"OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS!!!!" read one typical message.

"WAH!!! I think I'm going crazy!!!! We finally have a date!!!" added another fan.


Other comments were sadder, noting the series' conclusion.

"I can't wait to read the book, but at the same time, I'm afraid to read it," read a message from a fan named Christine, who identified herself as a "30-something" mom. "I can't stand the thought of anything happening to the characters that I've grown to love! What an odd feeling." (Are you excited? Disappointed? Chime in on CNN.com's Marquee blog.)

Potter readers have a lot to look forward to, and to fear. Rowling's stories have darkened considerably over the years and the author has said two characters will be killed off in Book 7.

"I don't always enjoy killing my characters. I didn't enjoy killing the character who died at the end of Book 6," Rowling said during a reading last summer at Radio City Music Hall, declining to name that person in case someone had yet to finish the book. "I really didn't enjoy doing that but I had been planning that for years so it wasn't quite as poignant as you might imagine. I'd already done my grieving when I actually came to write it."

The print run and number of pages have yet to be revealed, but judging from the suggested cover price, a meaty $34.99, $5 more than Potter 6, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the last book will likely match or exceed the 600-plus page length of previous releases.

"We have held the price for the past four years," Scholastic publicist Kyle Good told The Associated Press. "In that time, costs of production, paper, trucking, gas and security -- to be sure all readers can enjoy the book at the release time -- have all increased."

Many fans will pay much less for "Deathly Hallows," with Amazon.com quickly announcing the book would be sold for $18.89, a 46 percent discount. Price competition has been so intense over the years that many retailers have acknowledged they don't make money on the fantasy series, depending instead on customers buying other books along with Potter.

Since Rowling first introduced Harry and his fellow students at Hogwarts to the world 10 years ago, with a now comically modest promotional campaign, the books have sold more than 325 million copies in 64 languages and inspired four hit movies.

The fifth film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," is scheduled to come out July 13, just eight days before the final book's release.

Now I know I have to live at least until July 22nd.

Also, I found the bolded quotes particularly amusing.
«13

Comments

  • edited February 2007
    Harry Potter started ten years ago? Wow, it doesn't seem so long.

    Also, book 6 was depressing, like the whole way through. Maybe this one will be a little brighter, despite Rowling's mad killing spree.
  • edited February 2007
    Harry is kinda... brainless. like Link. Must be in a hero's genes.
    They're good books though.
  • edited February 2007
    Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I found the last 2 books to be inferior to the previous ones...
  • godgod
    edited February 2007
    it seems to me that since Order of the Phoenix came out J.K. Rowling has been writing angsty fanfics about her own work.
    But seriously, I really want to see how it ends.
  • edited February 2007
    ...Ok, What the hell, increasingly I have been feeling sentimental and nostalgic about things from my childhood. Just now I got a burst of it because harry potter was the first book I properly read outside of school.

    And it's been happening increasingly now a days, like I get pining sensations when I remember back to my N64 days.

    I'm only 16, why the hell is this happening already :(
  • edited February 2007
    I guess this means that come July I'm going to have to make good on my threat to finally pick up a Harry Potter book, which I swore I'd only do if I could read them all in fast succession.
  • edited February 2007
    I will be there at midnight, with all the other cool people, getting my book.
  • edited February 2007
    I still need to read Order of the Phoenix.
  • edited February 2007
    I'm still waiting for book 12 of the Wheel of Time. To make matters worse, the author of those books came down with something and may not have long to live. He had said he figures he'd need 30 years to finish all the writing he want to do yet, but if I recall he said that his median expected life expectancy would be about 4 years in his condition. But, he said book 12 should be the last for WoT. Then there were 2 or 3 more side stories for that. The rest were other things.

    Just be glad you are getting your ending! I've read 11 books, most over 600 pages to get where I am in my story and have been confronted with the possibility that the story may not get finished. I can only be happy to see that nothing like this has come up in a story as popular as the Potter books.
  • edited February 2007
    I just started the Wheel of Time series. I'm about halfway through book one. It is quite good.
  • edited February 2007
    It's a good series. Except for book 10. But book 11 makes up for it.
  • edited February 2007
    I think I've said this a long time ago...

    I predict that the final book is only going to be five pages. Harry is going to buckle from the pressure of it all. Crying, he will slowly put his wand in his mouth and cast Avada Kedavra.

    I want to see it in theatres.
  • edited February 2007
    In Book 7, Jack Bauer kills Harry. And like 50 guys.
  • edited February 2007
    My god, terrorist wizards!
  • edited February 2007
    "I don't always enjoy killing my characters. I didn't enjoy killing the character who died at the end of Book 6,"

    What, that's supposed to be a spoiler? It's about as much a spoiler as who gets killed in FF7: everyone knows, regardless of whether or not they know anything else about the story. ... But yet here I am, still respecting the "spoilers" anyway. Bizzare.
    mario wrote: »
    In Book 7, Jack Bauer kills Harry. And like 50 guys.

    Now that sounds like a book worth reading!
  • edited February 2007
    mjc0961 wrote: »
    What, that's supposed to be a spoiler? It's about as much a spoiler as who gets killed in FF7: everyone knows, regardless of whether or not they know anything else about the story. ... But yet here I am, still respecting the "spoilers" anyway. Bizzare.!

    I ALSO AM RESPECTING SPOILERS....I BEING GENERAL SALT, OF COURSE
  • edited February 2007
    So, do we call you General MacJake or Professor Salt? :p

    Anyway, while we're on the subject of series and the like, Lord of the Rings was just the three books, right?
  • jcjc
    edited February 2007
    Stef: the Harry Potter books are pretty good despite being popular. Also they are extremely quick reads, even the later books that are too fucking long.
  • edited February 2007
    god wrote: »
    But seriously, I really want to see how it ends.
    You'll have to tell me then, so I don't have to read that trash, the books are getting worse, I would compare the Harrt Potter series to Jurassic park, and Jurassic park 2 & 3. Luckily for all of us it's ending.

    unless jack bauer kill hary and like 50 other guys I will porbably not read it.
  • edited February 2007
    mjc0961 wrote: »
    Anyway, while we're on the subject of series and the like, Lord of the Rings was just the three books, right?

    The Lord of the Rings trilogy itself was just three books, but there are other materials that take place within the same world. The Hobbit, a direct prequel, is the most widely known, but there is also a Bible-like book called "The Silmarillion" which is kinda like the creation story for Middle-Earth. And I think there's also some smaller things, but I'm not certain.
  • edited February 2007
    THE HOBBIT IS NOT THE PREQUEL TO LOTR, BUT LOTR IS THE SEQUEL TO THE HOBBIT OMG.
  • edited February 2007
    I can never tell if you're joking or serious....

    But just in case, when I said prequel what I was thinking was that The Hobbit comes chronologically before LOTR. I guess prequel and sequel have some connotations that I didn't intend.
  • edited February 2007
    I am sorry for not understanding your meaning. Forgive me.
  • edited February 2007
    Perhaps some day, John, perhaps some day....
  • godgod
    edited February 2007
    Well, it does set up the whole Bilbo getting the ring part. And I've tried to read the Silmarillion so many times, but I get headaches about 50 pages in. Maybe I'll try reading it again after I'm done with the Discworld books I currently own.
  • edited February 2007
    Rowling picked a good day to release the book, haha. Assuming I go buy the book at midnight of July 20th, it'll be my final birthday present! whoohoo.

    Just gotta read the 6th book. And maybe re-read book 4 and 5. Its a shame. After the 3rd book, when I was like 9, I was really hyped up about the series. I went to a little fan site that had news about any new releases, BEFORE she had a website, before there were any movies, and I went to buy the 4th book at the midnight sale they had at the barnes n noble I live near... and then she had a kid. And then the next book was delayed. And after a while, I lost some interest. The interest came back breifly for book 5, but yeah. I think I just got tired of waiting. Plus, it's weird, reading a book about a kid thats about the same age as you. It started off when I was about 7 or 8 years old when I read the first book, but now I'll be 17 for book 7. And JK Rowling makes Harry seem like a whiny bitch. I'm not saying teenagers aren't whiny bitches all the time... it's just that I don't wanna read about a whiny bitch.

    Plus, getting older has also changed my standards, haha. I used to think Harry Potter was the most amazing series EVER!!! And now, while I still think they're good books, they're not the bestest yet.
  • edited February 2007
    Night Lord wrote: »
    Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but I found the last 2 books to be inferior to the previous ones...

    I think most people agree that Goblet of Fire was the best book. It was such a good book that its release seems to have been a big part of Harry Potter gaining so much more popularity. It may have just been a coincidence, but the movies started after the release of 4, and of course, that brought the series to everyone's attention, whether they'd read it or not. I thought the first book was good, 2 and 3 were ok, 4 was great, and 5 was pretty good, but not as good as 4. 6 would have been great if she left half of the angsty teen stuff out of it*. But I still like the series over-all, and I'm gonna pre-order the last book.

    *book 6 rant (probably not a spoiler): If you've just gone through five years of near-death experiences and your only hope of survival (and the only skill you'll need for a successful career) is magic, wouldn't you devote a little bit of time to studying. I can understand being an irresponsible teen who wants to blow off schoolwork to do awkward teen socializing, but when magic even plays a role in gaining the respect of your peers, ya think you'd try a little harder to become proficient. It's not like he's learning about accounting and thinking, "when will I need this?", he's learning the very skills that will enable him to accomplish his own desire for revenge. I just think his character starts to become unrealistic with his whining and general stupidity. Neville should be the star of the books.
  • edited February 2007
    It would be sweet if Deathly Hallows had sort of an FFVI vibe, where Harry wasn't the MAIN main character, but just ONE of the main characters, and there were, like, seven smaller books in it dealing with a different person's adventures up until the climax, which would culminate in the FINAL book of book seven. Voldemort would have different forms, and everyone would have an Atma Blade. There would be lens flare and motion blur. Everyone would be on cold fire.
  • edited February 2007
    It would be sweet if Deathly Hallows had sort of an FFVI vibe, where Harry wasn't the MAIN main character, but just ONE of the main characters, and there were, like, seven smaller books in it dealing with a different person's adventures up until the climax, which would culminate in the FINAL book of book seven. Voldemort would have different forms, and everyone would have an Atma Blade. There would be lens flare and motion blur. Everyone would be on cold fire.

    I liked that plot setup myself....WHEN IT WAS DRAGON WARRIOR IV FOR THE NES
  • edited February 2007
    HEY!..

    That game sounds pretty sweet.