Harry Potter

Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes touted his company's digital initiatives for television and film while also promising to invest more in content in 2012 as the media conglomerate reported improved results for the final quarter of 2011, slightly beating analysts' estimates. Revenue for the New York-based company was up 5% during the fourth quarter and 8% for the full year to $8.2 billion and $29 billion, respectively. Net income rose a fraction of a percent to $769 million for the quarter and $2.89 billion for the year.

Time Warner 's third-quarter earnings grew sharply, surpassing Wall Street expectations on Wednesday with a little help from Harry Potter and some hit network shows. July's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" has made $1.3 billion in ticket revenues worldwide so far. The home video release on Nov. 11 will likely be one of the biggest of the year. "This was another terrific quarter for us, financially and strategically, putting us on pace to exceed our prior financial goals for the year," said Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes.

Strong sales for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" pushed up Warner Bros.' home video movie revenue by 29% amid an overall shrinking market, helping drive improved financial results for media conglomerate Time Warner during the second quarter ended June 30. The New York-based owner of Warner Bros., cable networks HBO, TNT and TBS, and the Time Inc. magazine group reported a 10% increase in revenue to $7 billion and a 14% rise in...

Judy Seckler DOWNTOWN -- Move over, Pokemon. Another pop culture phenomenon is set to make a big splash this weekend. Employees of bookstores all seem to agree no one can resist the adventures of Harry Potter, wizard-in-training at the Hogwarts boarding school for magic from J.K. Rowling's popular "Harry Potter" book series. Manager Judith Drury at Scribner's Bookstore in the Galleria expects huge street traffic, and many customers have already reserved copies for purchase.

Karen S. Kim NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- The animals of Harry Potter will visit Glendale Public Library's Grandview branch from 3 to 4 p.m. Thursday. Well, maybe not the actual animals of Harry Potter, but Wildlife on Wheels, a nonprofit organization that rescues injured wild animals, will bring children an owl, a toad and a snake. Wildlife on Wheels representatives will discuss the animals' roles in the popular Harry Potter series, teach children about the animals themselves and display the creatures.

Wednesday, July 11, the Potter franchise struck again. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" opened to record breaking box office numbers, with a $12 million midnight screening on Wednesday alone. In this fifth movie in the series of seven, Harry (Daniel Redcliffe) returns again to battle the forces of evil and the sinister Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) who has recently come out of hiding. Voldemort is building an army to battle the forces of good, in turn Harry, in conjunction with a secret wizard society called the Order of the Phoenix, builds his forces to do battle with the forces of naughtiness.

Steve Young GLENDALE -- You can't help but run into the young wizard, Harry Potter most every place you look. HP author J.K. Rowlings is just rolling in the dough now. And I'm thinking, why not me? I've made my living as a writer, mostly on television. Now that I'm over 30, they're telling me I'm too old to write for adult sitcoms, but seemingly not too old for children's books. You go figure. Rowlings was on welfare and without a success to speak of when she came up with the Potter idea.

Next Friday, fans all across America will wait in lines to buy a book at midnight. The book is the seventh and final in a series about a wizard-in-training named Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows completes the series that chronicles Potter's magical path from abused and lonely child to infamous wizard. The books have taken children and adults to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry where Potter met friends and discovered his destiny. In this seventh book Potter, along with his friends Ron and Hermione, will fight and hopefully destroy the evil Lord Voldemort.

Last Friday night wizardry was afoot as muggles and wizards of all ages lined Honolulu Avenue in front of Once Upon A Time bookstore in anticipation of the final chapter in the Harry Potter saga. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in the series, chronicles Harry's last adventure, ending with his climactic battle against the sinister Lord Voldemort. Once Upon a Time hosted a release party in conjunction with Gourmet-A-Go-Go, just down the block. As Potter fans waited for the magic hour of midnight, the time the books could officially be sold, they walked down to Leaky Cauldrin [a.k.

Families swarmed the lawn of the Americana at Brand on Saturday for the unbeatable combination of Lego toys and Harry Potter paraphernalia. The park at the center of the outdoor mall was the site of a Harry Potter Build-Off, a national competition in which Lego architects build sets inspired by J.K. Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter books and the mega-hit Warner Bros. movies. Families took pictures with a 9-foot-high Rubeus Hagrid, a benign giant from the series whose likeness was crafted out of Legos by an artist in the Czech Republic.

Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes touted his company's digital initiatives for television and film while also promising to invest more in content in 2012 as the media conglomerate reported improved results for the final quarter of 2011, slightly beating analysts' estimates. Revenue for the New York-based company was up 5% during the fourth quarter and 8% for the full year to $8.2 billion and $29 billion, respectively. Net income rose a fraction of a percent to $769 million for the quarter and $2.89 billion for the year.

Time Warner 's third-quarter earnings grew sharply, surpassing Wall Street expectations on Wednesday with a little help from Harry Potter and some hit network shows. July's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" has made $1.3 billion in ticket revenues worldwide so far. The home video release on Nov. 11 will likely be one of the biggest of the year. "This was another terrific quarter for us, financially and strategically, putting us on pace to exceed our prior financial goals for the year," said Chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes.

I have three words for Glendale Unified School District officials and those parents who seek to ban Truman Capote's masterpiece “In Cold Blood” from being added to the English curriculum. Get. Over. It. Yes, the novel depicts an almost unimaginable murder of an innocent Kansas farmer and his family by two hardened criminals. But it also seeks to delve into the minds of the perpetrators in order to define what motivates such horrific behavior. And ultimately, it shows the consequences of such criminal behavior.

Strong sales for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" pushed up Warner Bros.' home video movie revenue by 29% amid an overall shrinking market, helping drive improved financial results for media conglomerate Time Warner during the second quarter ended June 30. The New York-based owner of Warner Bros., cable networks HBO, TNT and TBS, and the Time Inc. magazine group reported a 10% increase in revenue to $7 billion and a 14% rise in...

Families swarmed the lawn of the Americana at Brand on Saturday for the unbeatable combination of Lego toys and Harry Potter paraphernalia. The park at the center of the outdoor mall was the site of a Harry Potter Build-Off, a national competition in which Lego architects build sets inspired by J.K. Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter books and the mega-hit Warner Bros. movies. Families took pictures with a 9-foot-high Rubeus Hagrid, a benign giant from the series whose likeness was crafted out of Legos by an artist in the Czech Republic.

Instead of watching “Lord of the Rings,” “Chicago” or “Gladiator,” Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra will re-create the films’ music with an 84-member orchestra. The orchestra’s spring concert “Lights! Camera! Music!” will be Sunday in Sexson Auditorium at Pasadena City College. The performance will feature music from film genres including action, historical adventures, space odysseys, comedies and musicals. The orchestra has a more than 50-year tradition for students in 10th grade through college.

GLENDALE — Sitting side by side at the Five-Star Saturday Glendale Stamp Show, the pair who call themselves the “muscle” and the “motivator” epitomize the future and past of the stamp-dealing business. There’s 23-year-old Garrett Williams, part of a generation chided by stamp collectors as having little interest in anything that can’t be plugged into an electrical socket. And then there’s his grandpa, Ralph West, whose decades in Southern California have done little to mask his Brooklyn accent.

If you want to see the best holiday pageant of the season, forget dropping $200 a pop at the Ahmanson Theatre for a touring production of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” For wit, heart, fun and generosity of spirit, go see Westminster Presbyterian Church’s “Nativity! The Musical,” a crazy hodgepodge of a pageant play that somehow manages to combine Borscht-belt one-liners, live ponies dressed like donkeys and pizza delivery boys with the classic Nativity tale.

Kyochon Chicken will open July 16 at the Glendale Galleria. The opening will mark the restaurant’s first mall location. Kyochon Chicken’s menu is influenced by the Korean culture. It accents their specialty wings entrees and side dishes with spicy hot, sweet and garlicky flavorings as well as using high quality canola oil. Throughout opening day, Kyochon chicken will offer free samples of its garlic soy wings, hot sweet wings, rice crispy chicken strips, spicy stir-fry chicken, soy sauce stir-fry chicken and steamed rice.

The summer blockbuster movie season is starting to heat up, with movies as “X-Men,” “Star Trek” and “Harry Potter” opening soon. What films, currently showing or not, do you recommend for people seeking “alternative” choices?   Since Hollywood’s glory days, a smaller percentage of Americans are going to the movies. That’s why Hollywood long ago stopped reporting tickets sold and switched to dollars made per weekend.