The Magic Never Fades

Written by Jon Williams

Recently, the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened at the Palace Theatre in London’s West End to rave reviews. Written by veteran playwright Jack Thorne based on a story idea he developed with director John Tiffany as well as Harry Potter creator and author J.K. Rowling, the play continues Harry’s story starting from the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which sees Harry sending his son Albus to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the first time. The plot then follows young Albus as he struggles to forge his own identity in the wake of his father’s heroic legacy.

Published in book form, the play’s script has already sold well over three million copies, fanning the flames of a Potter fever that never went entirely dormant. However, if you didn’t already have copies of the movies on your shelves, you (and your patrons) have been out of luck for quite some time. Until now, that is! Starting today, all eight Harry Potter movies are available for pre-order in a 2-disc Special Edition format on both DVD and Blu-ray. These new editions will release on October 4, just in time for the lead-up to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the spin-off movie coming to theaters on November 18.

As hard as it may be to believe, the Harry Potter craze has been ongoing for nearly twenty years. It was June of 1997 when the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the U.K. It came to the U.S. over a year later, in September of 1998, as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The next two books, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban, were both published in the U.S. in 1999. With the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which came out in July of 2000, the publication schedule was finally standardized internationally. From there, it was three years until the next book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, came in 2005. The events of that novel whipped fans into a frenzy, which paid off when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out in 2007, one of the biggest publishing events of all time.

It was after Goblet of Fire, with the books’ plots growing in complexity and length to match the increasing maturity of their protagonists and readers, that the time in between their publication increased. However, this is also when the movie series began. In 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released into theaters, starring Daniel Radcliffe in the title role, with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as his faithful friends, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. That film, along with the second, was directed by Chris Columbus; he stepped down for the third film in favor of Alfonso Cuaron. Mike Newell took over for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and then David Yates stepped in to direct the final four films: Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows, which was split into two installments in order to maintain all the action and drama of the final book.

It’s at the end of that book that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child picks up, carrying the story into a new generation of witches and wizards as it adds to the lore for a new generation of fans. Make sure you have all the magic on your shelves for patrons who can’t get enough of all things Potter. You can use the links above to find the audiobooks and new Special Edition DVDs and Blu-rays, and don’t forget to SmartBrowse ‘Harry Potter’ on our website to find the movie scores and a wealth of other supplemental material.

Hot This Week: August 15

Beloved director Garry Marshall's final feature, Mother's Day, takes over this week's movie listing less than a month after his passing. Four new albums make the music chart, headlined by the star-studded effort from DJ Khaled, who nudges Drake from his long-held spot at #1. It's an even bigger week for new titles in fiction with five, including the latest entry in Oprah's book club, Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad. In non-fiction, new titles from Glenn Beck and Jeffrey Toobin make their debuts.

DVD

1. Mother's Day
2. Criminal
3. Meet the Blacks
4. London Has Fallen
5. Kung Fu Panda 3
6. Miracles from Heaven
7. The Trust
8. Allegiant
9. Zootopia
10. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

CD

1. DJ Khaled, Major Key
2. Drake, Views
3. Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface
4. Jake Owen, American Love
5. Rihanna, ANTI
6. Fantasia, The Definition Of...
7. Hillary Scott & the Scott Family, Love Remains
8. Adele, 25
9. Blake Shelton, If I'm Honest
10. Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack

Fiction

1. Bullseye, James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
2. Sweet Tomorrows, Debbie Macomber
3. Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty
4. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead
5. The Black Widow, Daniel Silva
6. The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware
7. The Girls, Emma Cline
8. Smooth Operator, Stuart Woods and Parnell Hall
9. Dark Carousel, Christine Feehan
10. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr

Non-Fiction

1. Hillary's America, Dinesh D'Souza
2. Liars, Glenn Beck
3. Crisis of Character, Gary J. Byrne
4. Armageddon, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
5. Hamilton: The Revolution, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
6. Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance
7. When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
8. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
9. American Heiress, Jeffrey Toobin
10. Grit, Angela Duckworth

Hot This Week: August 8

The star-studded thriller Criminal debuts at the top of this week's movie listing, joined down the list by fellow newcomer I Am Wrath, starring John Travolta. Gucci Mane's new disc lands at #2 on the music chart, with Drake standing strong at #1. The new novel of suspense from author Liane Moriarty takes over the fiction list, while J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy is the week's only debut in non-fiction.

DVD

1. Criminal
2. London Has Fallen
3. Miracles from Heaven
4. Kung Fu Panda 3
5. Allegiant
6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
7. Zootopia
8. I Am Wrath
9. Deadpool
10. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

CD

1. Drake, Views
2. Gucci Mane, Everybody Looking
3. Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface
4. Rihanna, ANTI
5. Sia, This Is Acting
6. Adele, 25
7. Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack
8. Beyonce, Lemonade
9. Meghan Trainor, Thank You
10. Ariana Grande, Dangerous Woman

Fiction

1. Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty
2. The Black Widow, Daniel Silva
3. The Girls, Emma Cline
4. The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware
5. First Comes Love, Emily Giffin
6. The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
7. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
8. Heroes of the Frontier, Dave Eggers
9. Magic, Danielle Steel
10. End of Watch, Stephen King

Non-Fiction

1. Crisis of Character, Gary J. Byrne
2. Hillary's America, Dinesh D'Souza 
3. Armageddon, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
4. Hamilton: The Revolution, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
5. When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
6. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
7. Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Patriots, David Fisher
8. Grit, Angela Duckworth
9. Hillbilly Elegy, J.D. Vance
10. White Trash, Nancy Isenberg

Olympic Games Always Fascinate

Written by Jon Williams

The eyes of the world will turn to Brazil tonight as the opening ceremonies for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games take place there. There has already been plenty of talk leading up to this year’s games due to the less than ideal conditions in Rio, but for the next two weeks, the drama will hopefully be confined to the exploits of the athletes and teams as they compete for the gold in a myriad of events.

With all the excitement they generate, it’s no surprise that the Olympic Games are a much-explored subject in popular culture, with tales both true and fictional. On the true side, perhaps the most famous is Chariots of Fire, the 1981 film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, telling the story of two runners in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. The iconic, inspirational musical score by Vangelis is nearly as well known as the movie itself. Running is actually one of the most frequent Olympic topics; in the late ‘90s, two different movies (Prefontaine and Without Limits) explore the distance running career and tragically short life of 1972 Olympian Steve Prefontaine.

More recently, the movie Race depicts the struggles Jesse Owens faced in his quest to become a track and field legend, particularly with the 1936 Olympics being held in Germany under the rule of Hitler. Some footage of Owens is on display in Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia, a groundbreaking documentary of those same Games by a problematic figure. The 1936 Olympics are also the topic of the 2013 bestseller by Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat, a rousing story of that year’s U.S. rowing team. Likewise, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand (made into a 2014 movie) tells the tale of 1936 Olympian Louis Zamperini and his incredible later exploits during World War II.

As much as the Olympics are about triumph, too often they are also marred by tragedy. One Day in September (currently unavailable) won the 2000 Academy Award for Best Documentary for its look at the murder of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Games. The aftermath of that event was portrayed in 2005’s Munich, in which Eric Bana plays a Mossad agent assigned with tracking down the perpetrators. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill are reportedly putting together a movie that centers on the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta (a Games that, on the flip side, also provided such uplifting moments as Muhammad Ali lighting the torch and Kerri Strug sticking the landing that won gold for the women’s gymnastics team).

Thankfully, the Olympics have far more often inspired lighter fare. Just released on DVD and Blu-ray, The Bronze follows a former bronze-winning Olympic gymnast as she reluctantly coaches an up-and-coming phenom. Strangely, though, for most Olympics-related comedies, you have to turn to the Winter Games, which has inspired such movies as The Cutting Edge , Blades of Glory, and the mother of them all, Cool Runnings, about the fabled Jamaican bobsled team. And of course, we can’t mention Winter Olympics-related movies without listing Miracle, the story of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” U.S. hockey team that defeated the heavily favored Soviet team en route to an unlikely gold medal.

With the competition getting into full swing first thing tomorrow morning, appetite for all things Games-related is sure to be high. The titles listed here just scratch the surface of all the great Olympics titles available, so be sure to check out the collection on our website for more. You can also point them toward our selections of movies and audiobooks on our digital platform, hoopla digital.

Hot This Week: August 1

The original My Big Fat Greek Wedding was one of the biggest comedy hits of all time, and now its sequel is one of our hot summer movies. The new disc from Christian rockers Needtobreathe is the top debut in music, but it can't top the juggernaut that is Drake. Ruth Ware's The Woman in Cabin 10 is the new must-have thriller, while a new round of political books make the list in non-fiction.

DVD

1. London Has Fallen
2. Allegiant
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
4. Miracles from Heaven
5. Kung Fu Panda 3
6. Zootopia
7. The Perfect Match
8. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
9. Midnight Special
10. Deadpool

CD

1. Drake, Views
2. Needtobreathe, Hard Love
3. Twenty One Pilots, Blurryface
4. Rihanna, ANTI
5. Hamilton Original Broadway Cast Soundtrack
6. Adele, 25
7. Beyonce, Lemonade
8. Kidz Bop Kids, Kidz Bop 32
9. ScHoolboy Q, Blank Face
10. Sia, This Is Acting

Fiction

1. The Black Widow, Daniel Silva
2. The Girls, Emma Cline
3. First Comes Love, Emily Giffin
4. The Woman in Cabin 10, Ruth Ware
5. Magic, Danielle Steel
6. The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
7. The Games, James Patterson and Mark Sullivan
8. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
9. End of Watch, Stephen King
10. Before the Fall, Noah Hawley

Non-Fiction

1. Crisis of Character, Gary J. Byrne
2. Hillary's America, Dinesh D'Souza
3. Hamilton: The Revolution, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
4. Armageddon, Dick Morris and Eileen McGann 
5. When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
6. Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
7. Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Patriots, David Fisher
8. Grit, Angela Duckworth
9. Freedom, Jaycee Dugard
10. White Trash, Nancy Isenberg