Harry Potter Movies

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JK Rowling, author of the much successful movie, Harry Potter, earned £3 million A WEEK last year. Rowling was a 43-year-old single mom living on social welfare benefits just 10 years ago, is now a a multi-millionare and still growing. The book has sold over 375 million copies worldwide and is currently at the center of the film making industry. Forbes magazine has also awarded her as the world’s highest paid author. Even if you combine all the other nine contenders’ income, it wouldn’t sum up to what she earned. A staggering 160M Pounds. She has creative control over the Harry Potter franchise and is said to have negotiated share cuts from the movies. Rowling also receives royalties from toys, figures and other paraphernalia and of course, video games. The writer is said to be writing another book for children, but she did not disclose details yet.

J.K. Rowling testified before a full packed courtroom in a lawsuit to block the publication of a Harry Potter lexicon as she tells the judge that the book amounts to a “wholesale theft” of almost 20 years of her writing career. She claimed copyright infringement last year upon suing Michigan-based RDR Books to stop publication of Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon.” Steven Vander Ark is the one behind the popular lexicon website and RDR wanted to publish a printed version of the website and charge 24.95 dollars. Rowling said that the printed version is just a copy or rearrangement of her own material that it almost amounted to plagiarism. But RDR defended that the lexicon would serve as a reference guide to organize and discuss the complicated world of Harry Potter.

Michael Rosen, UK’s Children Laureate has made a few comments about J.K Rowling in his tour to Scotland while promoting literacy among students. He said that Harry Potter does deserve credit for encouraging a generation of children to read but he feared that Harry Potter’s success may prevent youngsters from discovering other books and authors. He also said that JK Rowling is more of an adult writer leaving you hanging in the air at the end of each chapter with no idea what is going to happen next. And according to him children cannot cope with that. But there are some who disagreed to what he said and this includes the chairman of the panel of judges that chose Rosen to be Children’s Laureate. She said that it is true that children should not end with J.K. Rowling books alone but the point is, children have begun reading because of her book.