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Harry Potter fans relieved by latest fix in Hallows I

December 8th, 2010 Posted in Opinion

By Courtney Rhodes

LOGAN—Part one of the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise hit theaters this weekend with a big bang. After bringing in $24 million on Thursday from midnight screenings, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One ended up scoring a total of $61.2 million for Friday (including the midnight showings), giving it the fifth highest opening for a movie ever, and surpassing the $58.2 million opening for the previous episode, The Half-Blood Prince.

Hallows I scored a franchise-best with $125.1 million for its opening weekend, while the film took in $330 million worldwide, according to Warner Brothers.

To accommodate the hundreds of Potter fans in Logan, the Westates Theatres University Stadium 6 offered 48 hours of Harry Potter, with showings every three hours starting at 12:01 a.m. Adults, children, students, teacher and professors lined up to be among the first to see the new film.

Some showed up eight hours before the movie began. While the line for the midnight and 3 a.m. showings wrapped around the outside of the theater, many people entertained themselves by dressing up as characters from the movie or warming up with the previous films on their laptops. After 10 years of Harry Potter, one might assume that fan following would have slowly declined over the years, but instead, fans of the books, the movies, or both have been steadily growing—the proof can be seen in the millions of dollars in grossings every film has made, even as each episode has gotten darker and darker.

Big-budget sequels to kids’ movies don’t get much grimmer than Hallows I, which begins with torture and a huge scary snake, features the deaths of major characters, constantly reminds the audience that others are being massacred, and generally has the main characters feeling hopeless about 90 percent of the time.

Although Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is going to be the darkest movie of the franchise, the film is getting raves as one of the best yet.

Director David Yates, who has gotten steadily better at these films since his shaky start with Order of the Phoenix, is one of the contributing factors to this movie’s success. Those who criticized the plot holes or missing pieces from the books in prior installments will find that those issues have been resolved with this film. Hallows I follows the book more closely than previous films, with the exception of the original Sorcerer’s Stone.

The other contributing factors to the success of this film are the lead actors—Daniel Radcliff (Harry), Emma Watson (Hermonie) and Rupert Grint (Ron)—who fans have watched grow up on the screen. Audiences have seen the trio’s awkward phases play out in much bigger ways than normal children would experience, and this had a great effect on the films as well.

Now that Radcliff, Watson and Grint have grown up, the characters and the emotions they give are more realistic and are easier for the audience to connect to. Overall, this film showcases their acting abilities rather than the film riding on its on credentials with fans for success.

If you are a fan, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One is everything you’ve ever wanted in a Harry Potter film. This is a great prelude to finale of awesome franchise millions of people have grown up with or have grown to love.

The movie does leave the audience wanting more, however, and the final installment will not be released until July. If the Part Two is anything like Part One, tickets should be bought three months in advance, and we can expect to camp out for a midsummer midnight showing.

TP

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