The June arrival of Order of the Phoenix has some publishers possibly rethinking release dates of upcoming books. Quotage: In July 2000, the big titles coming out at the same time as Potter IV created a perfect storm that picked up publicity, production and sales of other books in its tempest — and resulted in …read more!

According to the BBC, Amazon, Borders and Waterstones are announcing record pre-orders for the 5th Harry Potter book. Other bookstores have mentioned phone lines being tied up and a large amount of people popping in to check on the book. Surprising? Hardly. Waterstones has also announced a day of special activities and massive in-store events …read more!

Thanks to Dennis for making sure we didn’t overlook this NME piece about musician Ian Brown making a cameo in the film, despite his agent denying it. Who will he play? With a face only a mother could love, perhaps Stan Shunpike of the Knight Bus or Walden Macnair, Deatheater and Executioner of Buckbeak….

No, not a pirate…that’s Yarrr. Yet Another Rumor: The Daily Mirror is reporting that Dinotopia actor David Thewlis has been cast in the role of Professor Remus Lupin in PoA. I have to admit, I like this rumor a lot more than I did AICN’s mistake that Timothy Spall was going to play the kind …read more!

FYI: Yesterday this site received nearly twice the amount of hits we usually get in a day – though not as many as the day of the auction – and today we’re already where we usually are twelve hours from now. Excited much, guys? Heh. So are we. Anyway, wanted to point out that our …read more!

Other films in the running include Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Spider-Man. (See the full list at Ananova.)

Reader Paul sent us this link for CovertoCover, publishers of the UK audio book. They’re taking pre-orders for Order of the Phoenix already.

We’re looking into who will be doing the various audio books. I’m trying to find out from Scholastic if Random House’s Listening Library won the contract for the US version of the books on tape and, in turn, if the fabulous Mr. Jim Dale will be doing said recordings. We’ll keep you posted.

In yet another book release article, the Daily Telegraph mentions TLC’s charity bid. “Last year,” the article reads, “a card on which Rowling had written 93 words providing an outline of the plot of the long-awaited fifth book fetched £28,680 at auction. The words, such as: “Ron, broom, sacked, house-elf, new, teacher, dies, sorry”, caused …read more!

Order of the Phoenix can be pre-ordered at Barnes and Noble for $17.97 ($17.07 “Reader’s Advantage” price). Amazon US also set the price at $17.97, while Amazon UK’s pre-sale price is 50% off (£16.99 list cost, £8.49 pre-order cost). Chapters.ca has set the pre-order sale price at $31.50CDN (regular price at $45.00CDN). All sites, of …read more!