Via omg.yahoo.com
By: Jill Sergeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Harry Potter" cast a spell at the People's Choice awards on Wednesday on a night that also saw big wins for singer Katy Perry at the start of the Hollywood awards season.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" -- the last installment of the hit movie franchise about the British boy wizard -- won four awards, including best movie and favorite ensemble cast.

Perry won five trophies, including best female music artist, favorite song for "E.T." and favorite tour headliner. But the perky "Firework" pop star pulled out of Wednesday's live TV ceremony at short notice, following her split with British comedian Russell Brand two weeks ago after 14 months of marriage.
The People's Choice is the earliest of Hollywood's glittering annual awards shows. But unlike the Oscars or the Golden Globes, the People's Choice winners are determined by fans and provide few insights to the likely winners of the movie industry's highest honors in February.

The "Harry Potter" stars did not make the trip from Britain to the awards show in Los Angeles so none of their wins were announced on the two-hour televised ceremony.
Female romp "Bridesmaids" won best comedy movie and Johnny Depp picked up the best actor award.
Emma Stone, 23, took the trophies for both movie actress and favorite comedy actress for her roles in civil rights era film "The Help" and "Crazy, Stupid, Love."
"I moved to LA eight years ago this week with my mom and it is so insane to be standing up here right now," Stone told the audience.

LIST OF WINNERS

LONDON (AFP) – Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling entered the election campaign Wednesday with a scathing attack on the main opposition Conservatives for their social policies.

Rowling, who wrote the first Harry Potter book while living as a single mother on benefits but is now a multimillionaire, suggested Tory leader David Cameron was "completely ignorant" about poor people's lives.

One of the Conservatives' manifesto pledges ahead of the May 6 election is a tax break for married couples. It amounts to just 150 pounds a year but Cameron said it was important for the message it sends.

"Nobody who has ever experienced the reality of poverty could say 'it?s not the money, it?s the message'," Rowling, a major donor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour party, wrote in The Times newspaper.

She added: "When you are two pence short of a tin of baked beans, and your child is hungry, it is the money. When you find yourself contemplating shoplifting to get nappies, it is the money.

"If Mr. Cameron?s only practical advice to women living in poverty, the sole carers of their children, is 'get married, and we?ll give you 150 pounds', he reveals himself to be completely ignorant of their true situation."

Rowling has made a fortune out of the Harry Potter books and films and in 2008 donated one million pounds to the Labour party, which is currently locked in an increasingly close race with the Tories ahead of election day.

She is one of a number of celebrities who have entered the political fray since campaigning started.

Cameron last week launched his plans for a new community scheme alongside actor Michael Caine and also went jogging with former cricketer Ian Botham.

Courtesy of afp.com and news.yahoo.com

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It appears Dorothy Gale is, once again, not going to be in Kansas any more. With the "Harry Potter" franchise winding down, Warner Brothers has set their sights on building another franchise geared toward young adults based on one of the most popular films of all time, "The Wizard of Oz."

Warner Brothers has had two separate projects in developmentover the past year centered around wide-eyed Dorothy Gale from Kansas -- a role made iconic by Judy Garland in 1939 -- who finds herself swept off (literally) to a magical land full of eccentric creatures called Oz. The box-office take of"Alice in Wonderland" -- $133 million domestically, and counting -- makes this project seem even more attractive.

Warner Brothers' New Line division has a version of the film written by Darren Lemke -- who helped write "Shrek Forever After" -- and produced by "Twilight" producer Temple Hill.(It's only fitting that "Twilight" would somehow be connected to a potential teen hit.) This version would not have any musical numbers and would be more faithful to "Oz" author L. Frank Baum's source material.

The second version would be set closer to the present and most likely be even darker. Especially considering that it's written by Josh Olson, who is best known for writing the screenplay for the bleak Viggo Mortensen thriller, "A History of Violence."

"Oz" is tempting for Warner Brothers for quite a few reasons. First and foremost, it could possibly fill the void left when the "Harry Potter" franchise ends. "Potter," of course, attracted an audience that skewed to a younger adult crowd; the same demographic "Oz" would target.

L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" -- the book that "The Wizard of Oz" is based on -- is just the first story in a series that spans 14 books. All fourteen books are now part of public domain. The original film, however, is not in public domain. In other words: Any reproduction of an element that was solely a part of the film's story and not the book will have rights fees still associated.

 After spending almost half of his life playing the boy-wizard in the "Harry Potter" franchise, series star Daniel Radcliffe says he's sad to see the sun setting on his time at Hogwarts.

"It will be very sad when it comes to a finishing," the 20-year-old actor, who is currently finishing work on "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which will be released as two movies, told MTV News.

Daniel has already had to say goodbye to a few of his co-stars, like Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), who has already "disapparated" (wizarding lingo for vanishing) from the movie set.

"Yeah, we've had a few people finish off their stories in the film, and they've been going home," he continued. "It is odd [seeing them go.]

 

"I did have a moment the other day, in the makeup room that I have been in for 10 years now," he explained. "I did walk in and go, 'Wow, this is [hitting me]. One day - in about four or five months from now - I'm gonna walk in here for the last time.' Especially since, after we're done shooting, they're redoing the entire studio, tearing down and starting again."

The young actor said he's glad that the franchise has helped invigorate the U.K.'s film industry - including a massive renovation of Leavesden Studios - where the "Potter" series has been shot by Warner Bros.

"A big investment is going into Leavesden [Studios], and England will finally have a third film studio. They've always had Shepperton and Pinewood, but to have Leavesden? That will do wonders for the film industry in England, which is always a struggle to keep going." Daniel said. "What's been amazing about 'Potter' is that 'Potter' has been the major film in England for the last 10 years. [The films] have given a lot of people jobs, myself included

And though Daniel is sad to leave behind his wand and cloak of invisibility behind, the young actor has his sights set on the future.

"It's also very exciting [to be finishing the 'Potter' series]," he added. "And I'll hopefully have something to go onto shortly afterwards."