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POA wows LA fans -
Summary:
POA wows the LA fans on its first day
Article:
Thanks to Wizardnews
Quote:
Faster than a flying Golden Snitch, San Fernando Valley's "Harry Potter" fans flocked to the opening Friday of "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," the third film in the adventure series about a boy wizard.
Fans of the fantasy books by British author J.K. Rowling praised everything in the latest movie, from its special effects to the new characters and the film's darker tone courtesy of Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron.
"It was awesome!" said Whitney Young, 17, of Hollywood. "The new director made it a lot better (than the first two films.)"
"This was the best one of all of them," said her friend, Vanessa Shakib, 16, of Encino as they left the Mann Valley West theater in Tarzana.
Whitney particularly liked the Dementors, soul-sucking guardians of the wizard prison Azkaban: "They were really scary! I think they did a good job of making them look scary without looking cheesy."
In the book, the third in a series of seven, 13-year-old Harry Potter returns to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn that convicted killer Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban and may be coming to kill him.
Harry Potter fans David Castelli of Barstow and Cindee Mora of Northridge said they simply had to see the film on opening day.
"I was here at 7 a.m. but they were closed -- I was the only car in the parking lot," said Castelli, 20, as he and Mora, 16, played cards before the next showing at the Winnetka Pacific complex in Chatsworth.
"There's no waiting for Harry Potter," Cindee agreed.
Inside the theater, Precyous Newton, a supervisor for M3 Solutions, was selling Harry Potter T-shirts, wands, a Sorting Hat puppet, a Harry Potter Playstation game and Harry Potter dolls. Sales were brisk, with fans buying items before and after the film.
"I think every generation has a cult following for a movie," said Newton, who has read a few of the Potter books herself.
The films and books' appeal is not limited to children.
Meredith Ponedel, 48, of Van Nuys bought tickets for herself and two other female friends Friday at the Mann Valley West theater in Tarzana. Ponedel said the trio planned to bring bring boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans -- a favorite wizard candy -- to a showing later Friday evening.
"Try the vomit-flavored one," Ponedel chortled. "It's really gross."
LA Daily News