Junior Mallory Thompson may be studying abroad in Paris this semester, but that won't stop her from seeing her favorite wizard in action on the big screen.
"I'm actually leaving tomorrow morning to go to London for the Harry Potter 4 premiere," Thompson wrote in an e-mail. Back on this side of the Atlantic, her classmates are doing much the same. In what has become a nearly annual tradition, millions of fans across the country, including hundreds of Duke students, donned their robes and braved the cold to be among the first to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when it opened in theaters nationwide Friday at midnight.
At Southpoint's Consolidated Theatres, the sold-out show played to a mostly college- aged crowd that waited in line for hours to see the film.
While there was nary a child in sight, a select group of students went all out, sporting elaborate home-sewn Potteresque costumes, complete with Gryffindor patches and magic wands.
Still, despite a spirited turnout and a handful of campus parties, fans said most Duke students just aren't as crazy about Harry as the rest of the world. "I have friends at other schools who have been talking about it in classes all day. We certainly haven't been doing that," said Duke sophomore and Harry Potter fan Julia Torti. Sophomore Claire Teigland, self-professed huge
Harry Potter fan and the creator of the Facebook group, "Harry Potter is my Hero," was looking forward to the film but refused to dress the part. "No, I've never dressed up. I'm not going to be weird," Teigland said. She has no problem, however, admitting she is a huge fan of the literature."I've read each of the books at least five times each, and I listen to them on road trips all the time," she said.
Sophomore Samantha Harrington, who said she is organizing a post-movie Quidditch match Friday night, said she wasn't surprised by the lack of on-campus enthusiasm. "[Harry Potter films] aren't necessarily a collegiate type of subject matter," she said.Tiegland agreed that Duke students are not the targeted audience. "Pre-teens and teenagers enjoy it the most," she said. "I don't think the frenzy going on here is very big."
Even die-hard Potter fans, like Harrington, admit finding fault with the films. "I'm a huge critic of the movies. The books are always the best things ever, and the movies are just some fun on the side," Harrington said.
Since the release of the first book in 1998, the Harry Potter series has captured the hearts of millions across the globe. The series has made the author of the series, J.K. Rowling, the wealthiest woman in England.
The three previous films have grossed a combined $829 million and made international superstars out of its mostly previously unknown cast.
Although earlier films focused on Harry's youth, The Goblet of Fire is the first in the series to receive a PG-13 rating and involves a more mature Harry entering puberty and competing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
The movie has received generally good reviews from critics across the nation.
It seems that for many Potter fans, though, it's the books, not the movies, that cause the bigger stir. "People who are less of Harry Potter aficionados get more excited about the movies," Teigland said. "It's the people who don't know that books as well thatenjoy the movies even more. [To fans],the third Harry Potter movie was viewed as a letdown."
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