Friday, July 15, 2011

the end of an era

So, last night Harry Potter 7 Part II aired at midnight on about 20084466 screens at Oakdale's Carmike Cinema alone, not to mention on screens nationwide.  On July 13, before the movie had even been released for public viewing, the movie had already sold more than thirty-two million dollars worth of tickets.

Honestly, it wasn't even that good.  There were some filming bloopers, some unedited moments, the screenplay was mediocre compared to some of the other movies -- part I, for example.  Hilarious moments abounded, yes, but the second part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is not exactly supposed to be funny.

But we grew up with Harry Potter.  I read the first book mere months before my 11th birthday, all in one sitting in the blue vinyl recliner in the living room of a house we rented for barely one summer.  I spent the entire fall planning out my trip to Hogwarts when I got my acceptance letter, delivered by owl, on the morning of November 25, 2000.  It never came, but the annual adventures of Harry Potter & Co. arrived like aging clockwork.  I devoured each book as if it was the latest letter from my adventurous wizarding alter ego, or a friend on the run in exotic countries and planets galaxy-wide.

OK, maybe I'm taking it to the next level (I will gladly accept Harry Potter nerd-hood), but I'm not the only one and anyway my peers had the unique experience of having our adolescence shared and in some instances defined by a book series.  It's like J.K. Rowling planned it.

...Wait...

Anyway, it's done now, and since Harry's cohort is now over driving age, over drinking age, and considerably over the legal age to use magic outside of Hogwarts,  we'll be hard-pressed to find something else to look forward to.  Car-rental age?  Careers we love?  Our desperate thirties?  ...For Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, etc. to actually be old enough to have three kids catching the Hogwarts Express?  Maybe in 15 years WB will release the box-office smash "Harry Potter: Epilogue."

We'll just have to wait and see...

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