Pasty, vein-lined and beaming, the face of wizarding evil never looked more excited than on Tuesday night. Shrouded in a black cloak and caked with face paint, 15-year-old Andie Lafontant -or, Lord Voldemort by her dress- waited giddly with more than 1,000 other Harry Potter fans for the midnight show of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” at Evanston’s Century Theatres.
With both a movie and the final book coming out this summer, this is the year for Harry Potter – and don’t the fans know it.
Lafontant, a Wilmette resident, and her friends arrived at the theatre as early as 6:30 p.m. just to be first in line. Many came soon after, bringing books from the series to re-read in preparation for the July 21 release of the seventh book or pump themselves up for the movie. One fan even brought a Macbook to watch the fourth movie with as he waited for the show to begin.
Chicago pharmacist George Luebking showed his Potter pride by attending the midnight show and making the movie a birthday treat as he turned 45, despite having work at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“We’re here because we love Harry Potter,” 16-year-old Matt McCambridge said simply.
Starting on July 11, the Evanston Century Theatre will show “Harry Potter” on three of its screens at every hour, said Gabriel David, the theatre’s assistant manager. Most movies would not require so many screens, but then again, most movies do not command the fanbase Harry Potter has, he said.
“It’s pretty nuts,” David said. “It’s weird – well, not weird. It’s… different, that’s for sure. But it’s expected when with the fans and fanatics. It’s unusual for movies to get crowds this big. It’s not unusual for Harry Potter. ‘Spider-man 3’ got big crowds, (‘Pirates of the Caribbean’) got a decent crowd, but here people are lining up as early as 8 o’clock.”
What makes Harry Potter different in the movie and book world – what makes it a phenomenon – is the series’ ability to relate to both children and adults, said Rich Izzo, the service manager at Evanston’s Borders.
“We’ve had books like the Lemony Snicket series, where there’s some excitement, but nothing like Harry Potter,” said Izzo, who has been in the book business for eight years.
Raja Burrows, however, credits the hype to “dorkdom.”
“Dorkdom will never die,” Burrows said. “It’s something to get excited about. I love being in the middle of the line of a midnight show, seeing people and being like, ‘I’m more of a fan than him,’ or ‘Oh man, they’re way hardcore.’ There’s a lot of coolness in negativity and angst nowadays, especially with emo music, but I think this is something that is always really positive, this sort of hype.”
Reach Jennifer Chen at [email protected].
