The legal battle between “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and the creator of an unauthorized Potter encyclopedia took a turn yesterday when the judge overseeing the case suggested that the billionaire writer try and settle out of court with the defendant. Rowling is suing Steven Vander Ark and his publisher to stop the latter’s reference book, “The Harry Potter Lexicon”, from being published. The 400-page tome collects the minutiae of Potter’s magical world. Vander Ark was the curator of an online website where Harry Potter fans could read about the spells and creators found in Rowling’s books and the movie adaptations. Rowling herself praised Vander Ark’s efforts when they were done for free but now she is confronting him on the charge that he and his publisher are profiting from her copyrights.

In U.S. District Court Judge Robert Patterson has been reviewing the case and foresees that even when a verdict is reached by him the case will continue on for years in appeals court. The judge wants to see the two parties work something out without the help of the law. “I think this case, with imagination, could be settled,” said Patterson.

With three more “Harry Potter” movies still to be released and interest in the boy wizard expected to remain high for several years to come, the money that stands to be made by Vander Ark and his publisher could be substantial indeed. Rowling herself is a billionaire from creating the Harry Potter series and insists that the reason why she is blocking the publishing of the unauthorized lexicon is because she has plans herself to write one.

With the publication of the seventh and final Harry Potter book fans around the world have been feeling the blues since there are to be no more adventures of the boy wizard. But there may be a condolence prize coming after the release of the sixth movie, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. The Daily Mail is reporting that the crew of the movie have been told that the seventh book in the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, will be broken up into two parts and filmed as two separate movies.

“There’s so much to fit that the view is the last movie should be in two halves,” said the paper’s anonymous source. “There is a huge battle when Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, takes on Voldemort that needs to be done really well.”

The informant goes on to say that the producers of the series would like to commission someone like “Indiana Jones” director Steven Spielberg to make one of the “Deathly Hallows” pictures and send the series out with a big blast. “People are discussing all possibilities.”

Actor Jim Broadbent has won the role of Professor Horace Slughorn in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, the sixth movie in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling fantasy novel series. The story will find Slughorn rehired to his old posting as Hogwart’s Potions Master and Harry will discover that he has a history with his nemesis, the evil Lord Voldemort. “Slughorn is drawn back out of retirement because he’s got some secrets Harry and (headmaster) Dumbledore need in the battle against the Death Eaters,” explained Broadbent when asked about his character. “He’s quite star-struck as a teacher, and he’s drawn back into the fold because he likes to notch up celebrity students.”

The man who played Bridget Jones’ dad, Boss Tweed in “Gangs of New York” and the emcee of “Moulin Rouge!” is also playing pal to another well-recognized hero from film. Broadbent will be seen next year in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” playing a different professor of sorts, a Yale scholar who is friends with Indiana Jones. After finishing up on “Harry Potter” Broadbent will next step into the shoes of infamous American President Richard Nixon in a drama called “Dirty Tricks”. Brad Pitt, Sharon Stone and Meryl Streep will also star in that film.

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” broke box office records in America, Italy and France on its opening day. The film took in $44.2 million dollars in the United States on Wednesday including $11 million from midnight showings, the best-ever Wednesday opening for a movie ever. Audiences in Italy spent $3 million dollars to see the fifth “Harry Potter” movie which in turn made it the highest-opening ever for that country on a Wednesday. In France “Phoenix” grossed $5.9 million, not quite beating the dollar figure that “Spider-Man 3” earned on its opening day. Opening day records were also broken in Holland and Belgium.

Industry experts think that the new “Harry Potter” could beat the total earnings of the prior film, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, which earned $892 million worldwide.

Warner Bros. has moved up the release of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” by two days to take advantage of the buzz. The hotly anticipated fifth movie in the franchise will now play on movie screens starting Wednesday, July 11 instead of Friday the 13^th.

Plans have also been revealed for an amazing Harry Potter theme park to open in late 2009 at Universal Florida’s Islands of Adventure. “The Wizardring World of Harry Potter” will feature some of the franchise’s most famous locations including the village of Hogsmeade, the mysterious Forbidden Forest and Hogwarts castle itself. There will also be interactive rides, attractions, shops and even Harry Potter themed restaurants for fans of the magical series to dine at. Several of the staff involved in the movie series will also be lending a hand to help with the design and construction of the new park. Even J.K. Rowling herself has given the endeavor her nod of approval, saying “The plans I’ve seen look incredibly exciting, and I don’t think fans of the books or films will be disappointed.”

While young Daniel Radcliffe is busy reinventing himself as a mature actor in the stage play “Equus”, he isn’t giving up on the role that made him famous worldwide. Radcliffe’s publicist has told fans at his official website that a deal has been arranged that will see the seventeen-year-old finish off the seven part “Harry Potter” film series for Warner Bros. According to the site, Radcliffe’s deal guarantees that he will star in the sixth and seventh movies based on J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (the latter to be published on July 21.)

Warner Bros. will begin filming on “Half-Blood Prince” later this year and already has a release date announced, that being November 21, 2008, with the final movie arriving in theaters most likely in 2010. A director for the sixth movie has yet to be picked but both Chris Columbus (the director of the first two “Harry Potter” movies) and Alfonso Cuaron (the director of “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”) have both said that they would love to come back and make another screen adventure set at Hogwarts.

While Radcliffe’s short-term future plans seem to be solidified now the question arises where the contract discussions are with Harry’s two on-screen companions, Ron Weasley (played by Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson.) Both actors have said that they too would like to finish off the movie series but so far no official statement from Warner Bros. has been issued.

So, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix is now post production having cost Warner Brothers an estimated $150M to make. Release date for both the US and UK is 13 July 2007 and with what must be a fan base of 10s of millions is guaranteed to be yet another mega success for the Harry Potter money making machine.

In this, the fifth movie of the series, Harry returns to Hogwarts to find that the majority of the wizard community disbelieves the truth of his encounter with Lord Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic appoints the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, to maintain watch on Professor Dumbledore but her inadequate tuition leaves the young wizards unprepared to defend themselves against dark forces. This leads to Harry himself teaching a small group of students, ‘Dumbledore’s Army’, lessons on how to defend themselves in the battle that lies ahead.

The film comes out eight days before the release of the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows‘. This instalment is eagerly awaited by the hoards of fans desperate to find out who will stand as ultimate victor, will it be good or evil. The Leaky Cauldron, a popular Harry fan site, is running a visitors poll as to what this close sequence of film and book release will mean.