No film about Harry Potter this year? What a shame! But here’s a recent press release from Warner Bros. updating the status of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth movie in this popular franchise:

BURBANK, CA. – Helena Bonham Carter, an Oscar nominee for The Wings of the Dove, who most recently starred in the hit film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, has joined the all-star cast of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Bonham Carter will play Bellatrix Lestrange, Sirius Black’s cousin and a Death Eater, who is one of Lord Voldemort’s followers.

It has also been announced that composer Nicholas Hooper will create the film’s score, reuniting him with director David Yates for whom he has scored multiple film and television projects, dating back more than 15 years.  Hooper won a BAFTA Award for his work on the Yates-directed television movie The Young Visitors.  Their other collaborations include the telefilm The Girl in the Café, written by Richard Curtis; State of Play, which earned multiple honors, including seven BAFTA nominations; The Way We Live Now; and The Tichborne Claimant.

Bonham Carter joins a cast of returning Harry Potter veterans, including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who are reprising their roles as close-knit teen wizards Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.  The stellar cast also includes Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, David Thewlis, Fiona Shaw, Richard Griffiths, David Bradley, Robert Hardy and Mark Williams.

As Bellatrix Lestrange, Bonham Carter is only one of several newcomers to the Harry Potter film franchise, also including: Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge; George Harris as Kingsley Shacklebolt; Natalia Tena playing Nymphadora Tonks; Kathryn Hunter in the role of Mrs. Figg; and 14-year-old actress Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna Lovegood.

The fifth film adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novel series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is being directed by award-winning British filmmaker David Yates (The Girl in the Café, Sex Traffic, State of Play) and produced by Harry Potter film series producer David Heyman, and David Barron, from a screenplay by Michael Goldenberg (Where the Wild Things Are, Peter Pan, Contact).

The behind-the-scenes creative team is lead by director of photography Slawomir Idziak, production designer Stuart Craig, editor Mark Day, costume designer Jany Temime, creature effects supervisor Nick Dudman, special effects supervisor John Richardson, and visual effects supervisor Tim Burke.  

(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be released on July 13, 2007, by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.)

You’re welcome, Harry Potter fans.