The beginning of the end

We were the kids who waited for our letters from Hogwarts when we turned 11. We each had our Cho Changs whom we lusted after or tried to make someone jealous by dating a star athlete. As Harry was taking his OWLs, we were graduating high school.

We grew up with Harry Potter. Literally.

So as we watch “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I” when it opens at midnight, we will be doing more than watching one of the closing installments of a franchise; we will be starting to say goodbye to a little piece of our childhood.

This movie marks the beginning of the end for a multi-billion dollar franchise that encompasses seven novels, eight movies, a theme park and a fan base that consumes Harry Potter paraphernalia like a Dementor hunts for souls.

It is undoubtedly one of the most enduring phenomena of the century.

Simply looking at the volume of academic writings on the series is enough to prove that.

Of course this isn’t all just going to disappear when the movies stop playing, but it’s naive to think that “the end” will not have a profound effect, not just on the fans but also on the phenomenon’s creators.

The movie franchise
Excluding revenues from Part I of “The Deathly Hallows,” the film franchise has amassed more than $15 billion worldwide, with $7 billion of that coming from retail products. That is in addition to more than 400 million books sold in 67 languages, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Although box office figures are always ballooning due to rising ticket prices, one thing is for certain: delivering eight blockbuster deals in a decade is something no other franchise has accomplished yet.

Producer David Heyman told the Economist last December that when filming ended this past May, more than 800 people will no longer have a job.

The final two movies still include much of the original team who worked on the first movie in 2001.

The producer and lead designers have stayed put throughout, and the largely adolescent cast has stayed intact without major scandal. Even the sets have remained largely unchanged, with some of them staying in the studios for nearly 10 years.

In its own right, the movie franchise has become part of the model for how to create an on-screen sensation: base it on something already well-known (like a book) and have little-known but well-respected directors head the endeavor.

But with the end of the Harry Potter film series, it will be hard to replicate the same kind of box office success that they achieved with the Harry Potter franchise.

The underground franchise
The Library of Congress has nearly 100 books about the world’s favorite wizard. From lessons on spirituality and moral choices to international relations and feminism, other authors have found a way to look at almost anything through the lens of Harry Potter.

But perhaps even more impressive is what the fans have to say. Websites like MuggleNet mix Harry Potter announcements and fanfare with rumors and even instructions on how to make your own cauldron cakes.

Meanwhile, sites like FictionAlley encourage fans to re-write and fill in Rowling’s original stories — like what would happen if Fred hadn’t died. In that case, Neville ends up marrying Ginny and Fred and George were in charge of planning the bachelor party.

Supported by fans who crave more Potter content than what Rowling or Warner Bros. can give, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the production of unofficial content proliferate in the absence of official content from the franchise.   

J.K. Rowling
With the Harry Potter saga coming to a close, billionaire writer J.K. Rowling recently admitted to Oprah how intense the pressure that came with being the mind behind it all really was.

Once the final film is released, the author who was once on the verge of homelessness told Oprah she will continue to dress better than in her pre-Potter days, but that the habit of worrying about money will most likely not go away.

Rowling also said that Harry’s universe continues to play inside her mind.

“It’s still all in there. They’re all in my head still. I mean I could write — I could — I could definitely write an eighth, ninth, tenth — I could — easily,” she told Oprah. “I’m not going to say I won’t. ... I feel I am done, but you never know.”