First Look at HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

Over the past few days, as the DVD release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has drawn ever nearer—it’s due out tomorrow—snippets of that disc’s sneak peek at the next Harry Potter flick (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) have been making their way online.

It began with a trickle early in the weekend, with footage of Bill & Fleur dancing and snapshots of Harry and Hermione in Godric’s Hollow. And then, the full clip began to make its way across the Internet, with both The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet picking up on it.

The latest news is that the full sneak peek, complete with crew intro, has arrived. It’s embedded above, or available here. And, if that ain’t enough for you: The Leaky Cauldron has high-res stills of the preview.

It’s a good day to be a Harry Potter fan, huh?

Radcliffe To Bare All As HARRY POTTER?

Over the past week, Harry Potter fans have been treated not only to a glimpse at the first official photograph from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but also to the news that Daniel Radcliffe—Harry himself—will be appearing naked in the next Potter film. The news came straight from director David Yates himself.

In one scene, “a horcrux [carrying a piece of Voldemort’s soul] defends itself by producing nightmarish visions, and one shows Hermione and Harry embracing and kissing,” explained Yates. “It’s something intriguing and sensual for Rupert to react to, and Dan will be bare for that.”

Fun! I don’t know about you, but the one thing I’ve always missed in the Potter series is Harry’s wang. Will it be as impressive as his wand? Only time will tell.

Unless you’ve seen Equus, of course. Then you can tell. So, do tell.

UPDATE (12.03.2009): Harry will be appearing naked not once, but twice! This is according to the fine folks at Mugglenet (who also have another official photo from the upcoming film).

Deleted Scenes from HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE

Scenes deleted from this summer’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince film have turned up over on YouTube. All in all, they all feel to me like bits that should have been kept in the film, and that could have been kept in the film without sacrificing tone or rhythm or anything else.

Then again, I like extended cut versions of movies a whole heckuva lot. So, maybe I’m biased.

Half-Blood Prince Deleted Scene

The Italian arm of Warner Brothers has unveiled the first deleted scene from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This news comes to us from the fine folks at Mugglenet, and it is most welcome on this day where there has been very little to geek out about. I’m not sure that I’m as gaga about Alan Rickman’s performance here as are the kids at The Leaky Cauldron—they call it “breathtaking”—but I do think that this scene should not have been excised from the final cut.

What about you?

Cast Spells With Your iPhone, Harry Potter Style!

A new app for the iPhone and iPod Touch emulates the wand-wielding action of the Harry Potter film franchise, and we think it looks mighty spiffy. The Leaky Cauldron was the first to point it out to us, and we thank them for that.

Geek Force FiveCast 250: Reunions for Lost and Potter

In which ECC geeks out about the possibility of long-lost castmembers returning to Lost and the Harry Potter film franchise.

43 Principal Actors On Set at Once for HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

Last week, Mugglenet reported that 43 principal actors were due on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the filming of some undetermined scene of epic proportions. Their sources? The actors themselves, of course. Via Twitter, of course.

Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley) was the first to mention the size of what was coming up, with Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) following up. Mugglenet’s been keeping track of it all, and if this isn’t the filming of The Battle of Hogwarts, then I can’t even imagine what that event is going to sound like.

Felton promises, “This film will be EPIC!” and I think he’s got to be right. It might not be big enough to beat Iron Man 2 at the box office next year (as Mugglenet thinks it will), but it’ll be big. I mean, c’mon: 43 principals! It’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait to see who they’ve managed to bring back. How about you?

Harry Potter: The Exhibition Comes to Boston

I’ve been dying to see Harry Potter: The Exhibition since I first heard about it many moons ago. Well, it arrived at the Boston Museum of Science over the weekend, and Neville Longbottom himself is giving us a video tour. Or, well, the actor who plays him (Matthew Lewis) is giving us a tour. But you get the point.

The exhibition is in Boston until February 21, and we’d like to thank our friends at Mugglenet for linking this up. 

Geek Force FiveCast 243: Windows 7

In which ECC geeks out about the news that Windows 7 has become more popular than Harry Potter.

Geek Force FiveCast 230: Scrimgeour

In which ECC geeks out about what exactly Bill Nighy will be doing as Rufus Scrimgeour in the 7th and 8th Harry Potter films, and talks for a second about the December 8 arrival of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on DVD.