Several news sites are reporting this morning that JK Rowling has donated a staggering 1 million pounds (about 2 million US dollars) to the Labour Party. From the BBC:

Ms Rowling said she was motivated by Labour's record on child poverty and opposed a Conservative plan to give tax breaks to married couples.

Her donation will boost Gordon Brown as he tries to calm unrest among party members at Labour's annual conference.

Mr Brown said he was delighted to have the backing of "one of the world's greatest ever authors".

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Warner Bros. has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the upcoming Mumbai-based movie, Hari Puttar -- A Comedy of Terrors, because they feel it is too similar to the Harry Potter series. The movie is about a ten-year-old by and his family, who all move to England and is said to release on 12 September.

Warner Bros. spokeswoman Deborah Lincoln, of London, says:

"We have recently commenced proceedings against parties involved in the production and distribution of a movie entitled 'Hari Puttar.' Warner Bros. values and protects intellectual property rights. However, it is our policy not to discuss publicly the details of any ongoing litigation."

Hari Puttar, whose surname means "son" in the Punjabi language, was a comedic idea released at around the same time as the first Harry Potter movie. Mirichi Movies CEO, Munish Purii, says that even though that he cannot comment extensively at this time, he does not feel the characters are similar.

Today, August 24th, is Rupert Grint's 20th Birthday! He is the actor that plays Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter films! Have a very Happy Birthday, Rupert, from everyone at Darkmark!

Daniel Radcliffe was a guest at the New York Times' TimesTalks on 20 August. During his time there he spoke of his many roles, including Harry Potter, Equus, My Boy Jack, and many other productions.

Excerpt from SnitchSeeker's notes on the interview:

Dan stated that Sirius was in the script for Deathly Hallows in regards to 'The Forest Again' scene, but there is no guarantee at the moment on whether or not Gary Oldman will be back to play the part. He also mentioned that the shoot for the last films will be 14 months long, which will start next February.

Notes from the entire interview, provided my mods at SnitchSeeker, can be viewed by clicking here.

The Wizard Rock Festival, which is being held in New York City on 21 September, announced their final lineup of bands:

List of complete bands performing at the festival:

The Butterbeer Experience
The Cedric Diggorys
Celestial Warmbottom
DJ Luna Lovegood
Draco and the Malfoys
Fred and George
The Hungarian Horntails
Justin Finch Fletchley
Lauren from The Moaning Myrtles
Nagini
Oliver Boyd and the Rememberalls
The Princess of Hogwarts
The Remus Lupins
Split Seven Ways
Swish and Flick
The Whomping Willows

In addition to the sixteen performing bands, the Wizard Rock Festival will also feature "Enchanting Extras" such as Artist's Alley (which features illustrators Dave Roman and John Green) and Magical Merchants (including Harry Potter-themed apparel).

Tickets for this event can still be purchased for $20, but only at the designated website, which you can visit by clicking here. They are expected to sell out, so get your tickets early!

Scholastic has recently interviewed Tom Felton, the actor of Draco Malfoy. In the interview they talk about his music, his opinion of and how he plays Draco in the movies, filming the movies in general, and more.

Scholastic: Is there any one story or encounter that you remember that involved a fan approaching you as the bad guy?
Tom: Some people take it very seriously how I was making Harry's life not pleasant at school, and they would plead with me not to pick on him. But I don't know if they were taking it to the next level or whether they were actually confused whether it was real life or film — something along those lines. That was a little bit shocking, to be fair. I tried to reassure them that nothing was real, and me and Daniel were quite good friends, but it didn’t seem to sink in with them.

Today, August 16th, is the birthday of the actress who plays Luna Lovegood, Evanna Lynch! She turns 17 today. Happy Birthday to Evanna, from everyone here at Darkmark!

Entertainment Weekly has recently published an issue on upcoming fall movies and HBP was included, because at that time the old date was still on. However, we can still read the article online here. The article is mainly about how the movie will fare in theatres, making the movie, and how the actors felt about their roles in the movie. Daniel Radcliffe said this on how he did the scenes with Bonnie Wright:

He says he played the scenes by importing lessons from ''the Daniel Radcliffe school of flirting.'' Which means? ''Look at them until they notice you and hope for the best,'' he says.

Even though the movie has been delayed, at least the fans can look at these 10 new photos that have surfaced online.

Bellatrix in Great Hall
Bellatrix
Dumbledore & Slughorn
Ginny coming to the Slug Club
Harry & Dumbledore
Harry & Ginny

Ron & Lavender
Snape, Bellatrix, & Narcissa
Snape & McGonagall

Thanks to pipocacombo and jlestrange's blog at blogspot.

Harry Potter fans everywhere have been getting themselves really excited about the sixth installment of the Harry Potter films - and who wouldn't? - but Warner Brothers have delivered a massive blow. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince won't be released on it's planned date of the 21st November 2008 - it will be released on the 17th July 2009. This is from the press release:

In making the announcement, Mr. Horn stated, “Our reasons for shifting ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to summer are twofold: we know the summer season is an ideal window for a family tent pole release, as proven by the success of our last Harry Potter film, which is the second-highest grossing film in the franchise, behind only the first installment. Additionally, like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers’ strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films—changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of. We agreed the best strategy was to move ‘Half-Blood Prince’ to July, where it perfectly fills the gap for a major tent pole release for mid-summer.”

As you know, trailers have already been released in cinemas for the movie - and following the release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars in cinemas, a trailer for Half Blood Prince is with them too.

JessieCave.net has recently acquired two new headshots of Jessie Cave, the actress who plays Lavender Brown in the Harry Potter movies. You can view them here, in our galleries.

A signed copy of Deathy Hallows is going to be raffled for the Special Needs Activity Centre in Port Talbot, Wales, according to Wales Online. The book is estimated to be worth £700. The book was donated by a mother who has an autistic child, that met JK Rowling at Deathly Hallows launch.

People Magazine has a fashion poll on their website called Style Watch, in which you can vote on whether a celebrities' dress was a hit or miss. Emma Watson is on the poll for the dress she wore to the Cartier International Polo Day in Windsor, England. Right now the votes are at 50-50.
To vote on Emma's dress click here.
You can also view this picture of Emma in our galleries, here.

Back in June, we reported that JK Rowling was handwriting an 800 word prequel to the Harry Potter series, which would be auctioned off for charity. 10,000 cards went on sale at Waterstone's branches, which regular Harry Potter fans could buy. The prequel set a short story sales record when all 10,000 copies were sold by the end of the day.

To read the full article, click here.