Arts & Entertainment

Movie Magic: Cranberry Cinemas Prepares for Onslaught of Harry Potter Fans

Grab your wands and get ready, the final Harry Potter film premieres tonight.

There’s no business like show business – particularly when it comes to Harry Potter. That's something Jessica Levine knows for a fact.

The head manager of  said tonight’s midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 -- the final film in the seven-part series -- is sold out. And keep in mind that's with simultaneous showings of the movie in three separate screening rooms.

“It has the potential to be the biggest opening weekend of all time,” Levine said of the film’s national debut.

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Pine-Richland teens looking to celebrate the premiere tonight can head over to for a Harry Potter Release Party from 6 to 8 p.m. 

Guests are encouraged to dress as their favorite characters for the "celebration of wizard proportions."

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"We'll watch Potter movies, drink butterbeer and have Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans eating contests," according to the library's website.

The last in line of one of the highest-grossing film franchises ever, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 was 10 years in the making. Since the 2001 debut of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – the first in the Potter movie series based on the books by J.K Rowling – the films have earned more than $6 billion in box office revenue.

According to database website Box Office Mojo, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 already has broken records with advance ticket sales of $32 million.

Likewise, tickets for Thursday's premiere at Cranberry Cinemas sold out early. Two of the three simultaneous midnight showings at the theater will be in 3-D, Levine said. The other will be in the standard 2-D.

The lobby opens at 10:30 p.m. – Levine recommends getting there early -- and when those doors open, Harry Potter fans will be treated to an early preview of the wizarding world. The cinema’s staff has been hard at work since Wednesday evening transforming the lobby into a few of Harry’s favorite haunts.

Thanks to brick wallpaper found at  – and some creativity by assistant manager Caroline Hudacsek – a hallway leading to the screening rooms will resemble King’s Cross Station, the place where students catch the magical Hogwarts Express to the witchcraft and wizarding school.

Hudascsek even hand-painted signs directing moviegoers to Platform 9 ¾, the train pickup that’s invisible to Muggles -- that's regular humans, for those of you not familiar with Potter terminology.

Making use of an old cardboard X-Men display, Hudacsek also crafted a giant cauldron and covered it with the Deathly Hallows symbols.

Tonight, she will fill the makeshift pot with “bubbles” (green balloons) and moviegoers will be able to win prizes, including a full-size Harry Potter poster, by guessing the number of balloons she used.

There also will be a costume contest with more prizes. For those who weren’t able to score tickets to Thursday’s midnight showing, Levine said the décor would remain in place throughout the weekend.

“It’s going to be very fun and very festive,” she said.

Cindy Cusic Micco contributed to this story.


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