Just wild about Harry

Warner Bros. has announced that the sixth installment of the beloved Harry Potter series will be coming to a theatre near you November 21, 2008. Yes, that is right, in a little more than two years you can revel in the wizardy goodness that is “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” Never mind that the film has no director or no cast yet. Trifles! It has a release date and that is what matters.

In other slightly older, but more immediately satisfying Potter news, the in-production fifth installment of the franchise, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” has announced a delectable new cast members. Namely, Helena Bonham Carter (you know, from “A Room With a View,” “Fight Club,” “Corpse Bride”) who has joined the endless parade of esteemed UK actors to hop on board (think Michael Gambon, Emma Thompson, Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Maggie Smith). "Order of the Phoenix" rises into cineplexes July 13, 2007.

Oh, and well-known authors Stephen King and John Irving have asked Potter creator J.K. Rowling not to kill off her best boy wizard in final book. Because, you know, they’ve never off-ed major characters in print.

Oh, and one more thing. If you want to see Potter’s privates, prepare your passport. Daniel Radcliffe will appear in a London stage as “a stable boy who has an erotic relationship with his horses.” The role requires him to appear naked and “symbolically blind six horses.” Yeah. I'm just going to let that one speak for itself.