The stars of the sixth Harry Potter film walked up the red
carpet in London Tuesday to a rapturous welcome from thousands of
fans who braved pouring rain for the world premiere of the new
movie.
The pre-release buzz suggests
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince will add a sizeable chunk to the $US4.5 billion ($5.65
billion) in box office receipts already earned by the Potter movie
franchise.
The film opens to the public in Europe on July 15, and in the
United States and Japan two days later, after being moved back from
its original release date of November 2008.
There was controversy just hours before the premiere, when
London police charged Jamie Waylett, 19, who plays side-kick
Vincent Crabbe to villain Draco Malfoy in the movies, with
illegally growing cannabis plants.
One of the main actors, Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley,
attended the premiere after making a swift recovery from a mild
case of swine flu last week.
"Swine flu is nothing really, I found out. It's just like normal
flu, it's just that you are in bed for a while," he told AFP on the
red carpet.
"Initially the words swine flu was kind of scary, but it was
easy."
Grint took his place alongside co-stars Daniel Radcliffe, who
plays Harry, and Emma Watson, better known to fans as the nerdy
Hermione Granger.
Radcliffe, 19, said he would miss the character when the Potter
films come to an end in 2011, but also admitted he was looking
forward to being able to pick and choose other projects.
"It's going to be very, very sad to finish these movies but at
the same time it will be exciting, there's more stuff to move on
to, so I'm not purely depressed about finishing them," he said.
The trio have appeared in all six films so far, after being
plucked from obscurity, and have spent nearly half their lives on
the set or preparing for the big screen versions of the
phenomenally popular J.K. Rowling books.
Fans, some huddled under umbrellas in pouring rain, had gathered
in London's Leicester Square hours before the premiere, and said
they were enjoying growing up with the characters.
Becky Foreman, 16, from Rochester in southern England, and her
four friends were wearing homemade copies of Harry's trademark
wire-framed glasses.
She said: "I think all the actors have developed their character
so well. They had quite an easy job because J.K. Rowling described
the characters so much in her book and you know so much about
them.
"So everyone knows what to expect, but it's amazing how the
characters come alive."
Rowling herself signed autographs and copies of her books for
fans before heading into the premiere.
The actors wore white ribbons on their wrists at the premiere as
a mark of respect for murdered cast member Rob Knox, who was
stabbed to death outside a bar last year just days after completing
the film.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald
You can view images from the red carpet opening in our image gallery above.
You can also view the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie trailer here on TheVine.