Magic Moves

By John Freeman on May 30, 2007

Warner Bros. has announced it is moving up by two days the release date of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in the US and Canada, from Friday 13th July to 11th July. (It opens 12th July in the UK).

This will give the fifth Harry Potter movie a five-day total for its first weekend and it might well impact on the box office for Transformers, which opens 4th July. (Giant Robots versus wizards — yep, I’d like to see that battle!)

No word yet on whether this means there will be screenings in advance of 11th July, as was the case for Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, or if the IMAX version of Order of the Phoenix will be moved up to 11th July too.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.