Harry Potter Fans Unite in Global Protest

There is nothing more loyal than a Harry Potter fan. Warner Brothers Pictures understands that to the tune of a record-breaking 1.8 billion dollars in world-wide box office receipts. Now, these same movie executives will get to experience the unusual sensation of having Harrys loyal fans united in protest -- against them.

September 3, 2003 -- There is nothing more loyal than a Harry Potter fan. Warner Brothers Pictures understands that to the tune of a record-breaking 1.8 billion dollars in world-wide box office receipts from the first two Harry Potter movies alone (see below). Now, these same movie executives will get to experience the unusual sensation of having Harrys loyal fans united in protest -- against them.

"I have been fascinated by the Harry Potter books for three years now," says SaveGOF spokesperson Amanda Caskey (a.k.a Andaxia Moonstar). "So when I learned that screenwriter Steve Kloves had been asked to submit a single 2½ hour screenplay for the fourth movie, to be based on the epic-length novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I became extremely upset. I have known for months that there had been discussions on whether to make two movies from this huge novel... and now theyve actually decided to make a single short movie? It will never work!"

Right then and there, like Hagrids baby dragon, the movement to save Goblet of Fire (savegof.com), was hatched. Harry Potter fans spanning the globe -- from Brazil to Pakistan -- quickly united in an unprecedented e-mail, petition and letter-writing effort with one goal in mind: to convince the decision makers at Warner Brothers to not let Harry down, to not let his creator J.K. Rowling down, and to not let his devoted fans down. Give the impressive book its due -- make the movie longer! Whether it becomes an epic-length single movie like Titanic, or split into two movies like the Matrix sequels, the fans do not care. What they are united in saying is: "TAKE CARE OF OUR GOBLET! We will not accept a 2½ hour hack-job treatment."

"Many critics dismiss the Harry Potter books as disposable, mass-market childrens stories, but thats not true," says adult Potter-fan David Balsam (a.k.a C.H. Snorkack). "These books are ART, and deserve to be treated as such in their movie versions. All we are asking is that they take a good hard look at the story. There are so many intriguing plot points and twists; you just cannot do this book justice with a 2½ hour film treatment... period. They have done such a good job on the first two movies, we know that they will revisit this decision and ultimately decide to expand the scope and breadth of the Goblet of Fire movie. But just to be sure, we are going to let them know... in no uncertain terms... that we expect more from them!"

So now it rests in the hands of the fans. SaveGOF asks them to use the power that they have to influence the movie executives. Says Balsam, "Only a really impressive show of support for Harry will force them to change their minds. Start a SaveGOF campaign at your school! Post messages on all the Potter websites! And of course sign the petition and write letters to Warner Brothers. All the information is available at www.savegof.com ."

Well, the jury is still out. But one thing is for certain: Harry's movie future might yet get a big boost... with a little Fan Magic!

(Source for global box office information: http://www.imdb.com/Charts/worldtopmovies world-record gross for a movie+sequel.
Link to original story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/tv_film/newsid_3151000/3151231.stm

The name Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is © Scholastic Books (US) and Bloomsbury Publishing (UK). All material related to the Harry Potter films is © Warner Brothers. The Harry Potter name and trademarks are the property of AOL/Time-Warner Entertainment Company. The names Andaxia Moonstar" and C.H. Snorkack" are aliases, primarily used for online correspondence and chat purposes.