Potter’s world to be built yet again

THE MAGIC of Harry Potter continues to cast its money-spinning spell with rumours of a third theme park spin-off from JK Rowling’s tales of the boy wizard.

NBC Universal, which spent five years building the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida is believed to be in talks to create another Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros is still working on its own tour, The Making of Harry Potter, which opens at the Hertfordshire studios where the films were made in March next year.

Yesterday, a spokesman for NBC Universal said the company will not be commenting on the details of the deal, which were leaked to the Wall Street Journal.

However Steve Burke, executive vice-president of Comcast, which owns a majority stake in the company, said in September that the attraction had created “a gigantic sea change in the profitability” of Universal Orlando, with numbers up fifty per cent.

The Los Angeles attraction would be along the lines of Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opened in 2010, with a Hogwarts Castle and rides based on Harry’s adventures with his friends.

NBC Universal is expected to announce the plans for the new theme park before the end of the year.

Families have flocked to the original Wizarding World, where vistors can tour Hogwarts castle, shop in Hogsmeade and eat in the Three Broomsticks.

Visitors can also fly with Harry, ride on a dragon, sample Butterbeer and eat exploding sweets.

Creator JK Rowling worked closely with the theme park creators, saying: “I said right at the beginning, either we do it right or we don’t do it at all,”

At the opening of the theme park she said: “The teams at Universal and Warner Bros have done it right, so I am so happy.”

Actor Daniel Radcliffe, who this week was revealed to top the Rich List of stars under 30, having amassed a £30 million fortune from his role in the films, said the theme park brought the books and films to life. The actor said: “I remember when I was shooting the films when I was younger and I absolutely wished this world could be real and that I could be a part of it.

“It’s amazing that people finally get to do that and realise everything they’ve seen on screen.”

US commentators say the idea of rolling out more Harry Potter theme parks reflects a wish by Warner Bros to keep making money from what has become the highest grossing film franchise in history.

According to reports, the Walt Disney Company was also in talks about introducing a Harry Potter theme park – however Universal won the deal because of its success in Florida.

The company is also believed to be considering sites in Japan and Singapore.

The Harry Potter book series has sold about 450 million copies worldwide, and the eight films have made more than £4.9billion at global box offices.

One of the difficulties Universal will face in Hollywood will be a lack of space – with existing rides having to be dismantled or remodelled in order to make room for more Harry Potter rides.

Disney signed a partnership in September to create attractions based on 20th Century Fox’s 2009 blockbuster Avatar.

• Eye-witness account: So convincing, all that’s missing is the stars themselves

WHEN park bosses signed a deal to open a Harry Potter-themed attraction at their resort in Florida they must have known they were onto a winner.

The queue to get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal site in Orlando on the day of its official opening in June last year was so long it would not be surprising if it could be seen from space.

Men, women and children stood for hours in temperatures upwards of 35C in a line snaking round the park’s other attractions, knowing that when they reached the front of that queue, they would have to queue again to actually get on a ride, and again for the next and the next. Even on a normal day, officials warned that thrill-seekers could have to wait up to five hours to get a seat on the main attraction – the Forbidden Journey ride inside the impressive model of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

During my visit to the site, few seemed to be complaining about the long waits – they relished it, debating feverishly about what they would find inside. And most were not disappointed. Painstaking attention to detail was paid to the creation of the attraction, based on the fictional village of Hogsmeade from JK Rowling’s books.

With shops including sweet-sellers Honeydukes and Olivander’s wand shop alongside the rides and stalls selling the no-longer purely fictional beverage Butterbeer, the only thing missing was the actual characters themselves.