***image1:left***.The chance to enter the world of Harry Potter again? Priceless.Now, get out your Mastercard and start charging, because Harry Potter is back.
The second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will be released Friday - and Christmas is right around the corner.
Once again, Harry is attacking on all fronts, including toy stores, book stores and movie theaters.
Lancastrians can go see the new movie at Elizabethtown's MoviE-Town, Ephrata's Main, and Manor Regal Cinemas.
At Regal Cinemas, 1246 Millersville Pike, the first show begins at 10 a.m. and 20 more shows follow on Friday alone. Despite the huge number of screenings, some of the shows at the Regal are said to be sold out through the weekend.
Nationwide, the movie will be showing on more than 8,200 screens, the most ever for a title.
It's going to be a huge Christmas movie, says Steve Saunders of MoviE-Town theaters, where the 161-minute movie will be playing on three screens.
But I do think it might be a little less popular than last year. There hasn't been a new book out in a while, and this movie is a little darker than the last one so maybe some of the younger kids won't be coming to see it. (See Roger Ebert's review in This Weekend.)
It will be hard to beat last year's numbers.
The first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, released a year ago, earned more than $320 million worldwide, making it the biggest grossing movie of 2001.
And it isn't just on the silver screen that Harry will rule.
We're expecting Harry Potter to be a hot item this Christmas, says Shawn Hoober, of the Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Ephrata. Wal-Mart has sold a lot of Harry Potter items.
Everyone has.
Last Christmas, Harry Potter toys became the third most popular sellers after LEGOs and Barbie.
And when LEGO and Harry Potter got together for several special sets last Christmas? They blew Barbie out of the water.
This year, LEGO has released several more Harry Potter sets that allow buyers to recreate the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
They are rather expensive, but they are selling really well, says Sue Lesh, a manager at Borders Book Shop. (The Chamber of Secrets LEGO set is retailing for $70.)
LEGOs at a bookstore? If it's got Harry Potter's name on it, you bet.
Borders, which has several displays devoted to the young wizard, is also selling puzzles, figurines, calendars, student planners and a slew of companion books, such as J.K. Rowling's biography.
Over at Barnes and Noble Booksellers, plush toys and dolls are expected to sell briskly, along with blank journals, bookmarks, posters and stickers.
And the books are still selling extremely well. This holiday season, the newest edition is a paperback boxed set, which Richard Butler, of Barnes and Noble, expects to be a strong seller.
When the fourth book came out in paperback, you would have thought everyone in the world already had it in hardback, but it sold really well, Butler says. They published a mass-market paperback, geared more toward adults, and that helped spur sales. If this movie is anything like the last one, we'll see a big jump in sales of the books, yet again.
But even with release of the second movie and all the Christmas toys, the Harry Potter juggernaut isn't at full power. That won't happen until author J. K. Rowling publishes her much-delayed fifth book. When that will be is anyone's guess.
Almost from the time the fourth book came out, people have been asking about when the next one was coming, says Butler. Kids - my daughter included - read the fourth one in a day or two and wanted the next one to come out right away.
I'm sure with the holidays coming, people will be asking about the new book, says Lesh. I've been here six years and there has been nothing like Harry Potter.
For now, the movie will have to suffice. That and all the Harry Potter-related items you can buy.
The very long list includes Harry Potter toothpaste, $6; shampoo, $7; wizard chess game, $15; lunch pail, $15; mug (not muggles) set, $35; umbrella, $10; Hermione Granger wig, $12; trivia game, $10 and the Mandrake lollipop digger, $4.
And don't forget Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean, featuring such delightful jelly bean flavors as grass, ear wax and pepper, which retails for $14 for three bags.
Perfect to munch at the movies or put into a Christmas stocking.
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