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The whimsical spirit of the holidays transforms Universal Studios Hollywood into a winter wonderland bringing merriment and cheer to families and friends this festive season as the theme park ushers in seasonal favorites, “ Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter ” and “ Grinchmas ,” beginning Thursday, November 28 and running daily through Sunday, December 29, 2019. An annual family tradition, “ Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter ” adds holiday warmth and cheer to this beloved land as the quaint town of Hogsmeade village is enchanted with seasonal décor uniquely themed to each of the individual storefronts and a dazzling light projection spectacular brings the iconic Hogwarts™ castle to life. As night falls on Hogsmeade village, “The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts™ Castle” illuminates Hogwarts™ School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with colorful imagery and impressive dimensional animations that dance across Hogwarts castle in tandem to a musical arrangeme

As last minute shoppers begin searching for perfect Christmas presents, Universal Studios Hollywood is helping to take the guesswork out by assembling a list of some popular gift giving items and stocking stuffers from such fan favorites as The Grinch, Harry Potter, Minions, Jurassic Park and Hello Kitty and friends. Here’s a short list of some fun, inspirational items. For the naughty on the list, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures’ Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch movie takes center stage with an assortment of fun must-haves, including green faux-fur adorned hats, gloves and scarves as well as pajamas. Magic is always in the air during the holidays, making treasures and treats from “ The Wizarding World of Harry Potter ” some of the best gifts. From bespoke Christmas ornaments inspired by the Wizarding World to Honeydukes one-of-a-kind sweets, there is something for every Harry Potter fan this season. Other spellbinding collectibles that are sure to top any witch or wi

Who won and who lost at the box office this year? Regardless of your political persuasion, 2016 was a year of tumult and uncertainty. At least the movies gave us an occasional break from the headlines. Feel-good animated films triumphed at the box office this year, with Finding Dory at No. 1, while superheroes found a darker groove (the hard-R comedy Deadpool , the villain-driven Suicide Squad) and familiar franchises — Harry Potter, Star Wars — put down new roots. Before we toast the arrival of 2017, here’s a list of the biggest box-office winners and losers of 2016. WINNER: The Wonderful World of Disney Mickey Mouse had a good year. Five of the studio’s divisions (Disney, Marvel Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation, and Lucasfilm) managed to crack 2016’s list of highest-grossing films, with Finding Dory at No. 1 with $486 million, Captain America: Civil War at No. 2 with $408 million, and The Jungle Book, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, Moana, and Rogue One al

WARNER BROS. PICTURES’ ENTIRE HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE TO BE RELEASED IN IMAX® THEATRES FOR EXCLUSIVE ONE-WEEK ENGAGEMENT BEGINNING OCT. 13 Weeklong Engagement Marks the First Time All Eight Films Will Screen in IMAX Punctuates Global Fan Event on Oct. 13 Celebrating A Return to J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them In anticipation of the global IMAX release of Warner Bros. Pictures’ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them beginning the weekend of November 18, IMAX Corporation (NYSE:IMAX) and Warner Bros. Pictures today announced that all eight Harry Potter films will screen for the first time in domestic IMAX locations for an exclusive one-week engagement beginning October 13. The event, which will build on the growing excitement surrounding J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World franchise, marks the first time both Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will be digitally re-mastered into the immersive I

Magic: The Gathering is headed to the big screen. 20th Century Fox has closed a deal to acquire the screen rights to the hugely popular fantasy card game from Hasbro and will develop the property with an eye to launch a massive franchise on the scale of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings . The studio has enlisted Simon Kinberg , the Fox-based writer-producer who is also helping shepherd the X-Men and Fantastic Four universes at the studio, to produce the adaptation. Kinberg will also act as the franchise's engineer -- or supreme sorcerer, if you will -- overseeing the development of the movie series in concert with Hasbro execs. Magic was introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast, a company involved in the making of role-playing games that soon found itself at the forefront of the collectible-trading-card-game movement. Magic involves cards with a host of wizards and creatures, weapons and spells that players use to defeat each other. Cards vary in strength, and

Harry Potter can’t be real, your friends explain to you every holiday season, you can’t even order Butterbeer at restaurants not named The Three Broomsticks. Well, this week Starbucks proved if you wish for something long enough, it’ll come true and then your friends can’t make fun of you much anymore. Butterbeer , the beloved drink that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and so many others down regularly throughout the Harry Potter books, is coming to Starbucks, per a note at Dalebacar.com . The item won’t be on the menu though; instead Muggles will have to use a secret password (sound familiar?) to access the frothy beverage. The password being the exact recipe below. While it isn’t advertised, Starbucks will make the drink — so long as you provide them these instructions . -A Creme Frappuccino base. Whole milk is required for the right consistency. -Add 3 pumps of caramel syrup. -Add 3 pumps of toffee nut syrup. -Top with caramel drizzle Ten house points will be awarded to you if

Harry Potter director David Yates is attached to direct an adaptation of Emma Forrest’s Your Voice In My Head , which has been developed by Ruby Films. The project has been developed by Ruby Films with development funding from the BFI Film Fund. It is based on the memoir by UK writer Emma Forrest that explores breakdown and mania. Forrest has written the screenplay, which Alison Owen will produce. Warner Bros is part funding the film, set in New York, London and Istanbul. Yates says he is deliberately making a smaller-scale project in the wake of Harry Potter, having directed four films in the franchise. The final film, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has made over $1.3bn worldwide. “It’s about a young woman who self harms and she visits this psychiatrist who helps her to learn to live again,” Yates said. “It’s got very heightened, odd moments in it that are slightly trippy.” “Emma is a extraordinary talent who is bringing a beautiful, contemporary young female

It’s been rumored for some time and even today Time Warner boss Jeff Bewkes said the news was coming soon. Now Comcast’s Universal Parks & Resorts has confirmed that it will build a Harry Potter attraction inside its Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, as well as expand its uber-profitable The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction at its Orlando resort. It’s there that the year-plus-old Potter-themed attraction has helped boost revenue by 33% through the first nine months of 2011, and attendance is up 50% since Wizarding’s June 2010 launch, making the move to other parks a no-brainer. (Yesterday, Comcast CFO Mike Angelakis called the attraction at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure “a reset mechanism” for the park.) “It was a game changer for us and frankly for Orlando,” Universal Studios president Ron Meyer told the Associated Press after today’s announcement. “The expansion in Orlando will make it that much more of a must-see, and we’ll have the same experie

Anyone with reservations about The Hughes Brothers ' upcoming Akira might take some comfort from the fact that great efforts are being made to crack the script before the project goes before the cameras. Following drafts by Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man), Gary Whitta (The Walking Dead, The Book of Eli) and Albert Torres (Henry Poole is Here), the latest writer to dive into Katsuhiro Otomo's colossal manga is Steve Kloves. Kloves previously adapted Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys and is one of two credited screenwriters on something called The Amazing Spider-Man , but he's probably best known for having beaten every single Harry Potter novel (apart from The Order of the Phoenix) into movie shape. While mention of Harry Potter and Akira in the same sentence might initially cause a sharp intake of breath, Kloves' presence here makes a lot of sense: he's a writer known to Akira studio Warner Bros to be able to carve strong screenplays o

Jon Favreau Calls 2011 Box Office A Blood Bath Jon Favreau has seen Hollywood’s future — at least as far as summer 2011 – and it looks a lot like “Saving Private Ryan.” “It’s Omaha Beach, it’s going to be a bloodbath,” the filmmaker said of next year’s crush of big special-effects films, remakes and sequels. “There’s never been a summer like this next summer. It’s going to be bloody [for filmmakers and the studios]. As we were sticking thumb tacks in a calendar we realized that this is going to be looked back upon as Omaha Beach.” Favreau, the director of the “Iron Man“ films, is well known to moviegoers as an on-screen funny guy in movies like “ Couples Retreat ” or the sublime “ Swingers “ (which he also wrote), but he wasn’t joking a bit when he said Hollywood is going to be in “a pit fight” next summer because of a glut of high-profile releases that will translate to some big-name disappointments just because of the numbers game. Favreau has a sci-fi horse in the race, of c

Are You Ready For More DC Superhero Movies? In the past, Warner Bros. hasn't done too much with their partner, DC Comics . Sure, they've regularly put out films about Batman and Superman , but the line has really always stopped there. Despite having a cadre of superheros at their disposal, they've never seemed to be inclined to take full advantage of them. Then Marvel got into the movie business and now everything is changing.  At New York Comic Con, is reporting that DC Comics Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns expects two DC properties to hit theaters every year after the end of the Harry Potter franchise. The second most successful franchise of all time, the Harry Potter films have brought in nearly $2 billion at the box office since 2001 and each averages about $285 million. Naturally, the end of the series leaves a big whole in the pocket of the studio, and, apparently, they believe that their comic book rights are the perfect remedy. Next summer will be a per

Emma Watson What To Do After Harry Potter? What are you going to do when the Harry Potter films are over jump right into an Indie film. That is what Emma Watson is going to do. Emma Watson and Logan Lerman are in talks to star in indie coming-of-age drama " The Perks of Being a Wallflower ," set up at John Malkovich's Mr. Mudd. "Perks of Being a Wallflower" author Stephen Chbosky will direct from his own script with Lianne Halfon, Malkovich and Russell Smith producing. For Watson, the casting would mark her first feature role outside her work as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros.' eight "Harry Potter" films. Final pic, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II," is set for release in July 2011. She appeared in 2007 telepic "Ballet Shoes" and voiced Princess Pea in 2008's "The Tale of Despereaux." Lerman, who starred in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," has been cast as

Clash Of The Titans And Harry Potter Films To Be In 3D Warner Brothers with Legendary Films made official just now what everybody in Hollywood already knew: its upcoming slate will be filled with 3D titles. Its feature film Clash of the Titans will be released in 3D worldwide and simultaneously in 2D on Easter Weekend April 2nd. (Which prompted several studios to hastily move release dates so as not to compete.) Doing the visual effects work will be Prime Focus, which received an Oscar nod today for Avatar. Additional titles in 2010 that will be released in 3D (in addition to 2D) include Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore (July), Guardians of Ga’Hoole (September), and Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (November) -- and I'm told Part II as well at a later date Said Dan Fellman, President, Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros Pictures, in the announcement “We are experienced and have been successful in the conversion of 2D to 3D going back to such hits as The Polar Exp