Harry Potter and the Theme Park of Gold
As the Harry Potter novel sequence comes to an end (the seventh and final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will come out in July), author J.K. Rowling has given her O.K. for a U.S. theme park based on the series:
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has given her blessing to a US theme park based on the hugely popular schoolboy wizard, to be built in Florida, officials said Thursday.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is expected to open in Orlando in late 2009, as a joint venture between Warner Bros Entertainment—producers of the Harry Potter films—and Universal Orlando Resort.
"The plans I've seen look incredibly exciting, and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," she said, according to a statement received in London….
"Our primary goal is to make sure this experience is an authentic extension of Harry Potter's world as it is portrayed in the books and films," [the park's production designer] said.
Rowling is a billionaire based on her royalties from the various income streams issuing from the Potter books. Beyond the immense popularity of the franchise in all its iterations and variations, one of the most attractive things about the whole megillah is that Rowling has never played the role of celebrity refusenik, of dissing that which made her famous, of withholding material from her fans, of crapping on the parade of spinoffs that kids desire, etc. We can debate the lasting literary merit blah blah blah of the books until Harold Bloom's angioplasty drilling crew is finally rescued from somewhere deep within his Hagridian frame, but is there any other creator in recent memory who has delivered the goods for her fans like Rowling has?
