A real-life ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’

Yes, you read it right, a real-life ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ is set to open in the UK where students can learn spells and ‘encounter magical creatures’.

Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex has organised the magical three-day event, to give muggles the chance to experience what it would be like to be a witch or wizard. Students can enrol from 11th — 13th August, 2017, when the 15th century castle opens its doors to the public.

They aim to recreate the magical school from Harry Potter as closely as possible, so students will be sorted into one of four houses before competing against each other. They will take part in lessons to learn spells, potions and other kinds of witchcraft, and even have the chance to ‘encounter magical creatures’ (unfortunately just actors in costumes).

There’s a big banquet at the end to celebrate the house that emerges as the winner of three days of competition. The experience is for over 18s only and it’s not cheap. The three nights will set you back between £440 to £450.

Paramount theme park planned

A theme park set to rival Disneyland could be open within five years. Paramount hopes to build a 50-ride theme park near Dartford, Kent, England, costing around £3.5billion.

It would be twice the size of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and would also house a 2,000 seat cinema. It would attract 50,000 people a day and would be inspired by Paramount films, BBC productions and Aardman Animations.

The park will include nods to Paramount’s most iconic films like Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and The Godfather. The project is still in the planning stage, but they hope that it will get government approval for the site on the Swanscombe peninsula, with work starting in 2019.

Also on the cards is a theatre with West End-style shows, along with an indoor water park, clubs, restaurants, shopping and an art-house style cinema.

Is The Matrix reboot on the cards?

Warner Bros. is looking to revive its long dormant Matrix franchise with a new film according to a report.

The Hollywood Reporter, citing sources, noted that the studio has shown interest in having actor Michael B. Jordan to star. It remains unclear how involved the original trilogy’s creators, the Wachowski sisters and producer Joel Silver, would be involved.

The original, released in 1999, that starred Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Ann Moss and Hugo Weaving, launched a trilogy that grossed nearly $1.8 billion worldwide. Reeves discussed the possibility of one day revisiting the series while promoting his latest film John Wick: Chapter 2.

“They would have to write it and direct it. And then we’d see what the story is, but yeah, I dunno, that’d be weird, but why not?” he said.

Published in Dawn, Young World April 8th, 2017