POTTERMANIA THEN AND NOW
As eighth Harry Potter instalment is released, we look back on the hype of 2001, when first movie came out
Whether a book or a movie premiere, each new Harry Potter release drew legions of kids worldwide who lined up wearing pointy hats and wizards’ cloaks, anxious to find out the newest twists in the fantasy. Outside Mabel’s Fables bookshop on Mount Pleasant Rd., the air would be electric with anticipation as Potterheads and Wizkids counted down the seconds to the midnight hour for each new launch. The novels captured the imaginations of children who lived and breathed the adventures of Harry, his friends and foes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hype surrounded the release of each book, and later the blockbuster movies. The books were kept under lock and key and available for sale at the stroke of midnight, when sealed boxes were ceremoniously opened for the consumption of ravenous young readers. The scene was to be repeated Saturday at midnight, at Toronto’s Bad Dog Theatre, when the latest release — Harry Potter and the
Cursed Child — went on sale worldwide. Jeremy King was 9 when he fell under the spell and he read the books into his teens. Now the inventory manager at Mabel’s Fables, he was also among the fans who flocked to movie theatres to watch breakout stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and Emma Watson (Hermione). The first movie came out in Toronto in November 2001. Fast forward and the kids whose noses were buried between the covers of Harry
Potter are more likely to be transfixed on what’s happening on Twitter. At 25, King says he’s curious about the newest book, but not with the same ardour. He wants to know how Harry “has transitioned from wild superstar at school to parent.” Unlike the seven earlier tomes, the newest is a play aimed at big kids who grew up with Harry. (The play is currently on an exclusive run in London’s West End where audiences at advance shows are sworn to secrecy.) King admits his zeal began to wane in his mid-teens. “Book seven ( the Deathly
Hallows) was like closing a chapter,” King says of his changing tastes as he matured. But waiting for the latest story to hit the streets conjures up memories of his early connections to the young wizard. “At 9 or 10 (years old), what kid didn’t want to wake up with an owl tapping on the window with a letter,” says King, referring to Potter’s messenger, Hedwig. “And I thought it was so cool that Harry lived at school with friends.” King says he was drawn to the series because author J.K. Rowling created characters and locations “that were so real. You could imagine being one of those students and getting lost in the magical adventures.” King was 13 when he attended the midnight launch for the release of the Order of the Phoenix and remembers standing outside Mable’s with other kids and their parents as a television crew documented the scene. Erin Grittani was working as a camp counsellor outside Montreal when the first
Harry Potter book was released in Canada in 1998. “I was totally swept up in the hype and dreaded the thought of kids coming to camp who’d read the book spoiling it for me,” says the education manager at Mabel’s. “It was a legitimate fear.” Grittani, 35, got hooked on the fantasy as a young adult imagining herself part of Slytherin, one of four student houses at Hogwarts. “They have a certain cunning I really like,” she says. Her favourite character is Prof. Severus Snape, potions master at Hogwarts, and played on screen, just as she imagined him to be, by the late Alan Rickman. Because the target readership is older — roughly 20 to 35 — “a different buzz” surrounds the latest release, says Grittani, who was fielding many calls and messages on social media from people interested in the launch. She says of The Cursed Child: Potterheads who grew up with Harry “will lose their minds for this.”