HARRY Potter casts his spell over Cyprus this coming Friday as the sixth film based on the series by JK Rowling premieres at cinemas islandwide.
But while local cinema promoters expect high attendance, they doubt it will get close to matching the huge crowds of dressed up fans which flocked to cinemas when Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince went on general release in cities such as London, New York and Tokyo last Wednesday, July 15.
“We are of course expecting a lot of people to come and see the film,” says K Cineplex Marketing Manager, Andri Constantinou. “But after the first few Potter films, there has been about a ten per cent decrease in audience numbers at our cinemas each time. Only in the fifth film did the numbers pick up again.”
The two year gap between the fifth and sixth movie has been the longest Potter fans have waited between screenings. The franchise’s sixth installment directed by the British David Yates cost £150 million to produce and has been dubbed as the darkest film of the series yet.
Here on the island all the action will be unfolding at K Cineplex as well as Rio and Orasis cinemas. K Cineplex have confirmed that dedicated fans can now get hold of tickets in advance if they so wish.
When Harry Potter fever first swept over the UK on July 8, loyal aficionados rushed to catch the stars appear in Leicester Square for the official premiere despite the pouring rain. First public cinema screenings then followed across the globe on July 15.
Setting a new record for the boy wizard, the movie brought in a hefty $58.18 million in worldwide box offices during its first day in theatres in comparison to the $44.2 million for the movie premiere of the last film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Upon opening at midnight last Wednesday in New York, hundreds of anxious fans lined the crowded pavements of Times Square to watch the film at the Regal Theatre. This venue alone devoted an impressive six screens to the new blockbuster.
In Tokyo, fans were dressing up and walking the streets as the movie characters days before the premiere with wizards in long gowns and pointed hats particularly prominent.
But is a mid-summer release in Cyprus with so many families away from the island on holiday the most auspicious time. Constantinou remains confident. “On the contrary, we’ve got plenty of school kids coming here during the holidays,” she says.
As Harry Potter now begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book mysteriously marked as the property of the Half-Blood Prince and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort’s dark past.
Promising lots of action and a budding romance, there is also an unexpected death of a major character.
All the usual suspects are part of the action once again with main star Daniel Radcliffe as Potter accompanied on screen by Emma Watson as Hermione Granger, Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Michael Gambon as Professor Albus Dumbledore.
“I love all the special effects and mystery; I’m really looking forward to the premiere,” says 13-year-old Sasha Nicolas from Limassol. “I know it will be good because I’ve never been disappointed in the past. I think the films are brilliantly made.”
But not all avid fans of the books are equally enthusiastic about the movies.
“I was so disappointed after seeing the very first film. I felt they destroyed the book and took out so much of the humour that made it so good – it’s just too Hollywoodised,” says 19-year-old Hannah Finnigan from Nicosia. “I still keep going to watch them at the cinema though and always hope they’ll get better because the directors keep changing; it just seems to have become more of a teen drama than it should be.”
Thirteen-year-old Mark Bailey from Limassol shares her disappointment calling the films a bit “cheesy” but will still be getting together with all his classmates to watch it very shortly after it opens here.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, earned more than £700 million at the box office globally, and if opening receipts are anything to go by, The Half-Blood Prince is set to be equally successful.
There is then one more story in the JK Rowling series to follow, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which will be divided into two upcoming films released in 2010 and 2011. But whether local crowds will still prove to be under the famous wizard’s spell remains to be seen.
