With seven novels and eight movies, the Harry Potter franchise is one of the most successful of all time. In fact, the Harry Potter books are the most successful series in the history of publishing.

With that in mind, it has always seemed strange that the books were not available at the most popular online bookstore of all time: Amazon. Well, that’s about to change.

That’s right, starting June 19, all seven Harry Potter books will be available to Kindle owners via Amazon’s Kindle Lending Library. According to Amazon, the company “has purchased an exclusive licence from J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore to make the addition of the addition of these titles possible.” Wonder how much that cost?

“We’re absolutely delighted to have reached this agreement with Pottermore. This is the kind of significant investment in the Kindle ecosystem that we’ll continue to make on behalf of Kindle owners,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. Well, Kindle owners who also happen to be Prime members anyway.

Sadly, you can’t actually purchase the books and own them via Amazon’s store. You can only borrow them. Which, to be honest, is kinda annoying.

Still, if you’re a Harry Potter diehard fan who’s always wanted to read the books on your Kindle (that is, via legal methods) then this deal might just be the right one for you.

Click through for the full press release from Amazon.

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At first, NBC’s Grimm didn’t exactly blow us away. The performances were pretty wooden and the stories, while sorta interesting, still left something to be desired. Fortunately, the show has vastly improved over the course of its first season and has become one of our favorite shows.

As its Friday and Grimm is on tonight, we’ve got previews for tonight’s episode to share with you. This episode promises to be a good one as the final confrontation with the Reapers comes to Nick and his friends. Plus, Nick needs to explain Monroe to Juliette and explores his Aunt’s trailer for better tools to defeat the Reapers.

All the action begins tonight at 9/8C on NBC. Click through to check out the previews.

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The recent trend of Fairy Tale re-imaginings is going to be around for at least a few more years as Disney announced today that one if its most intriguing in-development projects is moving full steam ahead.

Maleficent is a live action re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty story, but from the perspective of Maleficent herself, played very appropriately by Angelina Jolie. Originally the movie was being developed by Brad Bird and there was even a time when Tim Burton was attached to direct, but recently the project had been rather dormant.

That was until today’s announcement of course. Disney has confirmed that Robert Stromberg will be making his feature debut with this film, which is now set for an March 14th, 2014 release date. Stromberg is a production designer that was a major contributor on Avatar and has worked with Tim Burton and Sam Raimi in the past. With a resume like that it is a safe bet that the film will look stunning, and with Angelina Jolie still perfectly cast in the title role this film has much going for it.

There was a time when this project looked dead in the water, but this new niche sub-genre has been gaining a ton of momentum as of late. Even the poorly marketed Mirror Mirror ended up gaining some admirers. Hopefully re-done fairy tales has some more creative heft to it now that the Twlight aesthetic has grown so stale.

Last week saw the debut of the monster hit The Hunger Games. This week that film held well enough to keep an iron grip on the weekend box office. Raking in an estimated $61 Million over the weekend, the super sized block buster is now over $250 Million in just over a week.

The movie did drop over 60% from it’s opening last weekend, but in comparison to films like the Twilight series that is a decent hold. Especially when you take into consideration that films like these are notoriously front loaded, the second weekend take for The Hunger Games is impressive.

Coming in at number two this weekend was Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to the 2010 film Clash of the Titans. With a total of $34 Million, Wrath brought in only just better than half of the original’s open in the similar weekend two years ago. Given the current trend of sequels performing at levels similar to the reception of the previous film, this low number had to be expected.

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The current big trend in H-Town is revisiting fairy tales and giving them new spins. People should know better than to complain about this trend, because retooling fairy tales is the basis for most of modern storytelling, so this always seemed like a natural place for Hollywood to go.

Early on, one such project seemed like the worst, pandering tripe imaginable. Snow White and the Huntsman seemed like a hallow, Twilight meets Lord of the Rings mash-up with a recognizable name. Taking all the worst parts if Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood to forge one super stinker of a picture.

Somewhere along the line, the stars converged and this movie actually turned the corner on it’s perception. With each passing trailer the movie looks more and more like an epic adventure worthy of a mass audience.

Now a brand new trailer has hit and it continues the trend of making the movie look better and better. It has scope, it has visual flare, it has Bob Flippin’ Hoskins as one of the seven dwarves! Snow White and the Huntsman might not just be good, it might actually pretty fantastic.

Check out the new trailer after the jump.

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One of my favorite things to cover in my weekly film score review is compilations. These sets are the most easily digestible forms of film music, and represented my entry into the world. It was the combined ‘Best Of’ albums of John Williams, James Horner and Danny Elfman that captivated me so much as a child. Now I take great pleasure in shining a light on these sets today, hoping that some non film score fans give them a shot.

In the world of film music compilations there is a top dog who has been releasing stellar sets over and over again. Silva Screen Records has been nailing it with re-recorded compilations of some of today’s most recognizable franchises. Mostly using the excellent City of Prague Philharmonic, these sets have been some of the most fun I have been able to review in my many months of writing about film music.

Today’s set is no exception, The Complete Harry Potter Film Music Collection is a well crafted, well performed and generally a great listen from start to finish. The set smashes together musical highlights from the eight film series that takes you on a journey from the optimistic sense of wonder in the first film all the way through the dark and dangerous end. It is a musical time-capsule that follows the decade long franchise.

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Not long ago, the gaming world was given the epic fantasy adventure of the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game featured over 250 hours of gameplay for those looking to explore every dungeon and complete every quest. It was a task that many, though knowing they could never fulfill to its entirety, flocked to.

Just a few months later, gamers were told about a new fantasy adventure, different both in visual tone and gameplay mechanics that would rival that scope. In a recent interview when asked about the length of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, developers stated that the fastest speed run of the game by one of the QA testers who had already competed the game previously and knew locations of every major event in the game at just over 200 hours.

Originally started out as an MMO from former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios, Reckoning split off in to its own single player action RPG adventure. With executive game designer Ken Rolston (Elder Scrolls III: Marrowind, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion), artwork from Todd McFarlane (Spawn), an epic 10,000 year world history from R.A. Salvatore (Forgotten Realms) and music from composer (Goldeneye, Viva Pinata), Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning had the most impressive pedigree for a new IP in recent memory and quite possibly the most hype to live up to.

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The second stretch of filming for the two-part Hobbit adaptation is set to begin later this month. Even though there has already been over one hundred days of shooting, the final roles are still being cast for parts in the later portions of movie two.

Deadline is reporting that the great Billy Connolly has been cast as Dain Ironfoot, the leader of a fierce band of Dwarf warriors and cousin to Thorin Oakenshield:

We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of Dwarves, than Billy Connolly, the Big Yin himself. With Billy stepping into this role, the cast of The Hobbit is now complete. We can’t wait to see him on the Battlefield!

It is hard to call this perfect casting before we see Connolly in action, but if it is possible we here at The Flickcast are somehow now even more excited for the final Hobbit film. The next two years are going to be very big for Billy Connolly who has yet to really break out here in the states.

Aside from his role in 2013′s Hobbit finale he will also be providing a pivotal voice in the next Pixar film, Brave.

With the recent resurgence of fairy tale themed shows such as NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s own Once Upon a Time, the Disney-owned company is now prepared to launch their second fabled show in the form of a live-action retelling of the children’s classic Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.

The pilot will be written by Jonathan E. Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho with Steinberg acting as executive producer with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile. It is also speculated that the series, if picked up, will air after the networks already highly successful Once Upon A Time. This version of the tale is intended as a period piece and will feature a hardboiled princess who develops a connection with a wild beast. No word yet on casting.

As if one Beauty and the Beast show wasn’t enough, the CW has also ordered a reboot of the CBS-produced version which ran on the network from 1987-1989. It starred Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Vincent, a lion-faced creature who wanders the New York sewers and occasionally quotes Shakespeare.

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There have been a lot of Hobbit related stories in the last few days, including the debut of the first teaser for the film. Now in addition to that first footage we are also getting the first one-sheet for the film, just in time for the Christmas cinema rush.

The poster does a great job evoking the sense of starting a grand adventure, and the focus on just Bilbo in Bag End is appropriate. Compared to the first Lord of the Rings one-sheet that focused on Frodo and the ring, this poster feels right as the beginning of the whole saga. The dutch angle and harsh lighting might seem a rather odd choice at first, but then you realize how off putting an uncomfortable leaving the Shire is for Bilbo and it all makes sense.

Everything we have seen from this movie up to this point has been amazing, it is finally starting to feel like there is a new Peter Jackson directed Tolkien film coming in less than a year. This poster helps set the tone for a two year adventure that brings us back into the glorious world of Middle Earth.

You can see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey next year and the full poster after the jump.

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There are a lot of big films coming out next year, but the granddaddy of them all has got to be The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The last time Peter Jackson rolled out a Tolkien-based film he brought in over a billion dollars and the largest Oscar sweep in the history of the award. Suffice it to say it’s big news when the first footage hits the web.

The Hobbit is a prequel story to The Lord of the Rings and will be split into two films, each releasing over the next two years. In case you are unaware of what happens in the story, here is a synopsis:

“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.”

Check out the full teaser after the jump.

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2012 is a big year for Ringers, obviously the first part of The Hobbit hits screens, but now they have the arrival of Lord of the Rings LEGO sets and games to look forward to. LEGO has announced that starting the summer of 2012 they are going to be in the Lord of the Rings business.

“Only LEGO, with their expertise in the construction category, is capable of doing justice to the incredibly imaginative environments depicted in the world of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the two films based on THE HOBBIT… These films give life to amazing worlds and characters and we are thrilled to bring fans these products that deliver an imaginative play experience befitting of these beloved properties.”

LEGO has been working with Warner Bros. properties for the last few years with the successful LEGO Harry potter and LEGO DC Universe lines, now one of the most respected film franchises of all time will get their LEGO due. The most exciting aspect of this news is the confirmation of LEGO Lord of the Rings video games. The first game announced is based on the upcoming Hobbit film due out next year.

Check out more details about what to expect from new partnership after the jump.

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