November 3, 2001
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
Fans eager for a sneak peek
at the big-screen antics of Harry Potter and Anakin Skywalker got their
chance when "Monsters, Inc."
opened at theaters nationwide Friday. Lucasfilm Ltd. created an exclusive
teaser trailer for "Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones" to accompany
the new animated Disney/Pixar film.
About 150 moviegoers--ranging
in age from preschool to retirement--turned out for a matinee screening
of "Monsters, Inc."
at 600 N. Michigan Loews Cineplex. The trailer for "Star Wars" elicited
little response beyond a few clapping hands.
"I thought it was pretty
cool," said David Lawrence, 18. "I didn't know the trailer would be shown
at this movie, though. It was a
nice bonus."
In the 30-second trailer,
images of stars Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson and Ewan McGregor flash
on the screen to the sound of
Darth Vader's trademark heavy breathing. A second teaser for the "Star
Wars" prequel (which will open next May) will debut Friday at
www.starwars.com. A longer trailer is expected to precede "Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer's Stone," which opens Nov. 16.
A "Potter" trailer also
was shown before "Monsters, Inc." "That wasn't a big deal," said
Samantha Eng, 15. "I saw that on the
Internet a while ago. I wish they'd come up with something new."
No one left the theater
after the previews. A sign at the entrance warned that refunds would not
be given for patrons purchasing
tickets for "Monsters, Inc."
Inexplicably, the trailer
that received the biggest response was for the little-hyped Pixar animated
film "Ice Age." The audience
squealed in delight and laughed as a hapless squirrel raced a avalanche
to save his beloved acorn.
After the trailer ended,
a teenage boy familiar with rabid fans attending movies just to see high-profile
trailers joked to his
friends, "Let's leave now."
Rolling away the stone on film tidbits
November 8, 2001
By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
It's just eight days before
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" opens nationwide. Are you ready?
If not--or if you want to bone up
on all things Potter--check out the following Internet sites:
Reading is fundamental!
Let your fingers do the trolling at the official Potter book site: www.scholastic.com/harrypotter.
The kid-friendly site
provides CliffsNotes-like versions of each book for all you silly parents
who don't know what the kids are talking about. There's also a cute discussion
chamber where the kiddies can ask pressing Potter related questions. Kiersten,
13, asks: "In 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,' Harry has to go
through a series of obstacles to get to the precious stone. If you could,
what challenge would you make up for the protection of the stone?"
There are a ton of images,
facts and gossip from the books and film at www.hpgalleries.com/. There's
a cool gallery of the various book jackets that were used for different
countries. Harry looks like he's about 6 years old on the Lithuanian cover.
His face doesn't even appear on the cover of the
Czech Republic edition.
The message forum at "All
Quidditch All the Time" (www.quidditch.cohas) attracts an excitable following
of fans. During a discussion about Emma Watson, who plays Harry's gal pal
Hermione, one male got a little too enthusiastic about the young actress.
The response? Spider-we033@aol.com said it all: "Yo, sick boy. Emma
Watson is 10 years old!"
If you think there's going
to be some kind of romance between Ron and Hermione, you're wrong, wrong
wrong! How do we know? 'Cause we read www.harrypotter.ws/ --which ferrets
out fact from fiction.
Besides having the cutest
name in the world, Mugglenet (www.mugglenet.com/) offers fun, chatty info
with easy-to-navigate links. It loads pretty quickly, too, even without
cable modem or DSL.
Fans have put up some of
the most creative Potter Web sites. Check out www.geocities.com/the-pottersite.
We're not sure how old the creator is, but kudos for a sparkly, fun site
with a thorough selection of collectibles for kids to point out to their
parents just in time for the holidays.
Read more about Harry Potter
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