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.

Those who live in Los Angeles or the surrounding areas have probably been to the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park at least once in their lives. Whether it was for the Haunted Halloween Nights last month, or to check out the fun and exciting rides and attractions, most people (locals in particular) probably think they’ve seen all the park has to offer. They’re wrong.

In just 4 months, Universal Studios Hollywood will unveil their new Transformers ride, which is only one of the huge attractions coming to the park. Also coming soon, you can see a smaller version of “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter”, which is currently thrilling attendees at Universal Studios in Orlando.

The story picks up where Part I left off. If you really need to know, you can always rewatch the last movie (Heaven help you), but I’m a casual fan and had no trouble jumping right in. Harry and co are holed up in the Weasley family safehouse with Mr. Ollivander (John Hurt) and one of the goblin bankers of the Wizard World’s enormous vault Gringott’s. The group needs him to break into the vault and destroy a chalice that holds part of the soul of Lord Voldemort (or “Horcruxes” for the Potter fans)—and break in (and escape) they do. I’m pretty sure the entire sequence is the most accurate movie representation of the US’s financial collapse we’re likely to see.

From there they travel back to the wizarding school Hogwarts to destroy another Horcrux and oust Snape as the acting Headmaster. At the same time, Voldemort’s army (why was the wizarding world so scared of him before? It appears the whole of them were his allies?) prepares to march on Hogwarts while Harry scrambles to finish up the tasks that will ensure Voldemort’s total destruction. I won’t dwell on recapping because 1) it’s not particularly necessary and 2) anyone reading this will likely already know, so we may as well just get right into the review.

For all the complaints that were and could be (justifiably) leveled against Part I, Part II is a rather wonderful return to form, evoking the grandeur of the previous Potter films but furthering it with higher stakes and a more serious tone. Many have lauded the later Potter films for their “darkness,” and while I didn’t quite agree with them then, the credit is now well deserved.

As sad as it may be the inevitable is about to happen. The final Harry Potter film adaptation of the phenomenally successful book series is set to arrive this week.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will mark the end of the saga and bring to a close one of the most successful film franchises in history. To commemorate that milestone, some talented folks have put together a little restrospective of the series and its characters.

In this video you get to see the progression of Harry, Hermione, Ron and the rest of the characters as they go through all the films. It’s really pretty interesting to see how things have changed over the years.

Check out the video after the break. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 Opens on Friday.

Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• Jamie Foxx is no Will Smith, but that didn’t stop Quentin Tarantino from getting him to play his slave (in a non-offensive way) in Django Unchained.

• We’ll be getting the final film in a mere weeks, but that hasn’t stopped J.K. Rowling from keeping the Harry Potter franchise top-of-brain with the newest marketing ploy, Pottermore.

• Pixar is being pretty secretive about their newest film, Brave. The first thing we’re getting, however, is a glimpse at the very stylized characters of the film.

• We know that Entourage is a pretty douchey show, but this new poster makes us feel like they may just know themselves, and feel really bad about it.

• A Russian company called Stoyn has helped make every 80s fanboy’s dream come true by releasing Pop Culture Popsicles. We have a feeling the Darth Vader flavor may taste more like plastic than anything else.

• The very first images of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy have hit the web. Strangely, they look identical to Peter Jackson’s last trilogy about a ring…

Harry Potter has been a generation defining cinematic event. Never before has a film franchise gripped the collective imaginations of so many for nearly an entire decade. Since 2001 there have been 8 Harry Potter movies, all of them have been well received, some are bordering on classic of an age. Today Warner Bros. released the latest and likely last trailer for the final chapter.

Apple has the new trailer and it delivers on just about every note. Showcasing large battles, epic moments and even some love sprinkled in for the ladies, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is primed to be the most exciting Potter movie yet.

The trailer plays heavy on the idea that this is not just the last movie in a series, but it is the finale of one the biggest things ever on the big screen. There are elements of past films in the trailer that really sell the notion that something bigger than a standard blockbuster is at play here. Also seeing as many of the side characters as possible getting screen time in the trailer is such a fitting way sell the best cast fantasy franchise this side of middle earth.

Check out the trailer after the jump.

We’re only a few days away from the big premiere of the next Harry Potter film and leave it to the Internet, specifically to the various torrent sites, to spoil it for Warner Brothers. Thirty-six minutes of the new film have leaked onto the ‘net and studio execs, who I’m sure are concerned, must be high-fiving their decision to only provide a small portion of the film to the press to screen. The footage is watermarked and obviously from a DVD screener, generally sent to the press prior to a film’s official release, however Warner Bros is not confirming this at this time.

For those with even a cursory knowledge of how torrent sites work, they’re probably quite busy getting a solid look at the film before the world-wide release later this week. According to TorrentFreak.com, this is not the first time ‘Deathly Hallows’ has made a splash on the torrent scene. In 2007 a scan of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book was posted online before it hit the book stores, and was then quickly transcribed by fans. Someone had managed to get their hands on the American edition of the book and had photographed each page of the book and uploaded it to BitTorrent.

Flash forward a few years and dozens of torrent sites are  offering up the lengthy “preview” of the film. No surprise really, considering TorrentFreak reports that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince scored a spot on its “most pirated movies” list with nearly 8 million downloads last year. Industry watchers are speculating whether the leak will have any affect on ticket sales, which seems remote unless the initial half hour of the film is disastrously bad. Instead, it may have the opposite effect, whetting movie-goers appetite for the full movie.

Wired.com is already reporting an official statement by the studio, who is vowing to find and prosecute those responsible.

“Last night a portion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was stolen and illegally posted on the internet. This constitutes a serious breach of copyright violation and theft of Warner Bros. property. We are working actively to restrict and/or remove copies that may be available. Also, we are vigorously investigating this matter and will prosecute those involved to the full extent of the law.”

What do you think? Will a little more than a half hour of the film have any bearing on opening night box office sales? Let us know your opinion in the comments section.

Previously, we brought you a teaser for the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One but sadly, that video has since disappeared. Guess it wasn’t ready for the light of day. But now, thanks to the magic of the Internets, we can bring you the new full trailer for the film in all of its glory.

In this trailer we get a look at what our favorite cast of characters has been up to. Harry, Ron, Hermone and the rest, including the “Big Bad” Voldemort, are all back for another go around. And this time, with Dumbledore no longer in the picture, the stakes for the young wizard and his pals are even higher.

In fact, it looks like we’ll finally see that big fight between Harry and Voldemort we’ve all been waiting for. What will happen and how will it all end? You’ll just have to wait until the movie comes out.

Until then, check out the new trailer after the break. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One hits theaters on November 19th. Part Two arrives in July 2011.

With the screen adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows getting split into two films, the first of which hits theaters next November, we’re just now getting a glimpse at the first scenes from the film.

The book was claimed to be too epic in size by Warner Bros. to be released as one film, so it will be split between two films on November 19 of 2010 and July 15 of 2011. This is the final chapter in the book’s series, and according to IMDb, the premise alone is pretty heavy.

Voldemort’s power is growing stronger. He now has control over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to finish Dumbledore’s work and find the rest of the Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord. But little hope remains for them, so everything they do must go as planned.

Check out the first featurette and teaser for the film after the jump, in which producer David Heyman and director David Yates discuss working on the project. The next films also star John Hurt (Alien, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) reprising his role as Mr. Ollivander.

Back in 2001, legendary director of “family friendly” films Chris Columbus teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring the works of J.K. Rowling to the silver screen with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. They managed to do so with such amazing prestige and results that the rest of the films were sure to follow in line. This trend stayed true for a few more years with Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban. The movies were getting better and darker as the titular character grew older. Sadly, with the latest installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the only thing the audience gets this time is awkward emotions and a sense of loss.

With The Half-Blood Prince, which is based on the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, the viewer is treated differently. Rather than open their minds to a secret world of magic and wizardry, they are already inundated with such things We have all just gotten over the loss of Harry’s “uncle”, Sirius Black, and the very first battle is waged between good and evil. This movie should carry on the excitement and those feelings, right? Sadly, not in this case.