Harry Potter comes to town

Returning to film importing, prestigious film distributor New Imperial Talkies is to present 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', the first Harry Potter movie to be released in Sri Lankan theatres. Fantasy Adventure starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane and Ralph Fiennes will be released at the Liberty cinema from July 20.

Released in 2005, this is the fourth film in the popular Harry Potter series, begun with the novel by J.K. Rowling. Directed by Mike Newell, it is rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy, violence and frightening images. In the US the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction, but lost to Memoirs of a Geisha.

The film concerns Harry Potter's fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he comes across many an unforeseen incident.

Beset by nightmares, Harry Potter is all too happy to escape his disturbing dreams by attending the Quidditch World Cup. But something sinister ignites the skies at the Quidditch campsite--the Dark Mark, the sign of the evil Lord Voldemort. It's conjured by his followers, the Death Eaters, who haven't dared to appear in public since Voldemort was last seen thirteen years ago--the night he murdered Harry's parents.

Harry longs to get back inside the safe walls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where Professor Dumbledore can protect him. But Dumbledore announces that Hogwarts will host the Triwizard Tournament, one of the most exciting and dangerous of the wizarding community's magical competitions. One champion will be selected from each of the three most prestigious wizarding schools to compete in a series of life-threatening tasks in pursuit of winning the coveted Triwizard Cup.

Ministry of Magic official Barty Crouch and Professor Dumbledore preside over a candlelit ceremony as the enchanted Goblet of Fire selects one student from each school to compete. Amidst a hail of sparks and flames, the cup names Durmstrang's Institute's Quidditch superstar Victor Krum, followed by Beauxbatons' Academy exquisite Fleur Delacour and finally, Hogwarts' popular all-around golden boy Cedric Diggory. But then, inexplicably, the Goblet spits out one final name: Harry Potter. Suspecting that whoever entered Harry's name wants to put him in grave danger, Dumbledore asks Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, the eccentric new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to keep his magical eye trained on the teenage wizard. Events take an ominous turn when someone is murdered on Hogwarts grounds. As they edge closer to the Triwizard Cup, Harry soon finds himself hurtling toward an encounter with true evil.

With the box office record the film became not only the highest grossing international and worldwide release of 2005, but one of the few films to have ever passed $600 million in international box office receipts. It has joined five other titles that have passed the $600 million mark, including Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Dead Man's Chest, and the first two Harry Potter films.