Community Corner
Fans Flock to Cortlandt Town Center for Harry Potter Midnight Screening
Hundreds of Harry Potter diehards showed up at Cortlandt Town Center early Friday morning to see the final installment of the successful film series.
Hundreds of fans flocked to the Cortlandt Town Center’s United Artist Theater on Thursday night to witness the final battle between Harry Potter and He-Who-Shall-Not-be-Typed.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final installment in the Harry Potter series, was showing at the theater as part of nation-wide midnight screenings.
The screening, of course, was bittersweet for many fans. While the wait is finally over, so too is the series.
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“I’m gonna miss Harry,” Said Alyssa Hugel, 11, of Croton on Hudson, who has been attending Harry Potter midnight screenings with friends and family since she was five years old.
Hugel’s mother, an equally big fan of the series, had no problem making an exception as far as her bedtime was concerned.
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Moviegoers began to pack the theater well before the scheduled 12:01 a.m. start time in hopes of grabbing a good seat – a necessary strategy considering the showing quickly sold out. The theater played Potter in nine regular and 3D theaters for the occasion, all of which sold out.
“It’s an experience,” said Lena Quinn, 14, of Croton on Hudson, a veteran of Harry Potter midnight screenings. “We get here at like 7, then we always go to dinner, and then show up here really early.”
Quinn and her friends were among a number of fans that took their Harry Potter fandom a step further by dressing up as their favorite characters. Some wore robes, some drew Harry Potter’s trademark scar on their foreheads, and some simply fashioned makeshift wands out of sticks.
The series, which follows the tales of young wizard Harry Potter, sprouted out of author J.K. Rowling’s best selling book series of the same name. “Deathly Hallows” is the culmination of the franchise’s eight movie, eleven-year run.
The films have netted over 6.3 billion dollars in worldwide box office receipts, so far. The previous films currently claim seven of the top-30 spots among the highest grossing films of all-time, with “Deathly Hallows” expecting to follow suit.
Not to be outdone, the books have become the highest selling series of all-time with over 400 million copies sold, according to Forbes.
Decked out in his Draco Malfoy costume at the showing last night, Peter Collins, 18, of Cortlandt Manor, was one of many who decided to sacrifice a good night’s sleep in order to attend. Despite having to be up early for work Friday morning, he decided the lack of sleep was worth the trade-off of seeing Emma Watson reprise her role as Hermione Granger one last time.
While movies typically debut on Fridays, there was some ambiguity as to the actual date of the screening thanks to a confusing marquee, which read: “12 AM JULY 14.” As a result, some families – and reporters (yours truly) – showed up to the theater a night before and were disappointed to find out they were 24 hours early.
The book series may have ended in 2007, however, the reality of it all coming to an end is just now starting to set in for many Harry Potter diehards.
“It’s certainly an end of an era,” Collins said.