Business buys up Harry Potter

12 April 2012

THOUSANDS of children may have to wait weeks to see the new Harry Potter film because of corporate block-bookings.

Some cinemas have already sold the equivalent of 10 screenings for Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, which has its premiere in London on Sunday and opens nationwide on 16 November.

The grown-ups' love affair with boy wizard Harry Potter could mean that screenings at London's biggest cinemas are sold out before the first spell is cast. Odeon, the country's biggest cinema chain, has sold more than 100,000 advance tickets, including 20,000 for its 2,000-seater Leicester Square cinema. At least eight companies have also inquired about hiring its Leicester Square screen.

Other cinemas have sold another 200,000 tickets, and UCI, which will screen Harry Potter in 180 of its 369 screens, has organised a series of 'adults only' screenings, with advertising and media companies the prime customers.

UGC, which is showing the film on 127 screens, said 'business to business sales' were part of its strategy.

But one child who is not worried by all this early success for the movie is its star, 12-yearold Daniel Radcliffe. He says: 'I'm just going to enjoy it. I might do this film and then disappear, or never act again.'

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