Published: 20 July, 2007, 10:46
Edited: 20 July, 2007, 10:46
Moscow has gone “Harry Potty”. The long awaited premiere of the film has driven the young wizard's fans wild. One of the biggest Harry Potter fan clubs in Russia has even booked a whole movie theatre to be the first ones to see it.
If you google search for “Harry Potter”, 97 million pages come out. Many of these are fan club web sites. But they are not just people who like the book or the movie, they are people who write fun fiction stories about their favourite Harry Potter characters and invent role play games based on the book – or even create all kinds of artworks. Just days before the final book about Harry appears on Moscow's bookshelves fans say that the end of the story is not the end of their devotion!
“We think that even after the release of the last book our fan club will stay alive for many years to come,” believes one of the fans.
“Our members are very creative, they have a rich imagination and are very devoted to Harry and the other characters,” echoes another.
Even though members of the club have known each other for a long time through the web and nicknames, for many the premiere is also a chance to meet each other in person. For others, gathering to watch films together has already become a good tradition, but this is the first time the fan club booked the whole theatre.
All 560 seats in the cinema were booked three weeks before the premiere.
“First we got worried and wanted to increase security. But these guys turned out to be really nice. They look intelligent and absolutely peaceful,” said Ilya Shestakov, movie theatre director.
The fifth Harry Potter film differs from the previous four. Its characters are grown up and they start facing adult life and its difficulties, from broken hearts to death. And even those who read the book more than once are gazing into the screen as if they haven't got a clue of what is going to happen. The fans say that the book and the film are two separate masterpieces. They consider the movie more than just an illustration to the book, and enjoy its magic and video effects.