Warner Bros. crackdown puts Dark Mark over Potter festivals

PHILADELPHIA — Warner Bros. is cracking down on local Harry Potter fan festivals, saying it’s necessary to halt unauthorized commercial activity. Fans, however, liken the move to Dementors sucking the joy out of homegrown fun, while festival directors say they’ll transform the events into generic celebrations of magic.

“It’s almost as if Warner Bros. has been taken over by Voldemort, trying to use dark magic to destroy the light of a little town,” said Sarah Jo Tucker, a 21-yearold junior at Chestnut Hill College, which hosts a Quidditch tournament that coincides with the annual suburban Philadelphia festival.

Philip Dawson, Chestnut Hill’s business district director, said Warner Bros. contacted his group in May, saying that new guidelines prohibit festivals’ use of any names, places or objects from the series. That ruled out everything from meet-and-greet with Dumbledore and Harry to Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.

“It was very quickly apparent (we) weren’t going to be able to hold festivals like years past,” he said. The late October festival drew about 45,000 fans last year to the neighborhood’s cobblestone streets. This year, they will have a “wands and wizards” family night and pub crawl and other magic-themed events — and people can still dress as their favorite characters.

“We want to make the best of it,” he said.

Chestnut Hill isn’t the only community to receive cease-and-desist letters. Festival directors around the country, including in Aurora, Ill., and Ithaca, N.Y., were also told the new guidelines would prohibit much of the Potter-themed activities, which are typically free events.

It’s all about protecting the trademark.