Warner Bros. casts Dark Mark over Harry Potter fan festivals

PHILADELPHIA — Warner Bros. is cracking down on local Harry Potter fan festivals around the country, 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 transfigure 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-year-old 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. reached out to his group in May, letting it know 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 historic neighborhood. This year, they will instead have a “wands and wiz- ards” family night and pub crawl and other magic-themed events — and people can still dress as favorite characters.

Chestnut Hill isn’t the only community to receive ceaseand-desist letters from the entertainment company. Festival directors around the country also were told the new guidelines would prohibit much of the Potter-themed activities.

It’s all about protecting the trademark.

“Warner Bros. is always pleased to learn of the enthusiasm of Harry Potter fans, but we are concerned, and do object, when fan gatherings become a vehicle for unauthorized commercial activity,” the company said.