JOIN USCity potterheads excited about ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’
This weekend is all about revisiting Hogwarts and the world of Fantastic Beasts. Potter heads clearly can’t keep calm as the new movie, ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald’, has hit the theatres.
JK Rowling has kept fans, irrespective of their age, hooked for years to her magical world of wizards, witches, wands, spells and magical creatures that evolved into a highly lucrative worldwide franchise. Though she has penned both the series, ‘Fantastic Beasts’ doesn’t have that much of a fan following.
“If you were to compare them to the Harry Potter series, Fantastic Beasts books do not sell that much. There is only a very specific set of people that buy these,” says Mayi Gowda, proprietor of Blossom Book House.
He says that 90 percent of the buyers of Fantastic Beasts books are Harry Potter fans. Adding that the orders for the books have increased in the past week, Mayi says he is hopeful for more sales in the coming weeks.
Krishna Gowda, owner of Bookworm store in Church Street, says that he has seen no surge in sales. “Mostly students are coming for the book. Though there aren’t many, the buyers seem to be pretty excited,” says Preetham, an employee at the store.
“Nothing compares to the Harry Potter craze though. I remember opening in the shop at 5 am on the days Harry Potter books used to release; people used to queue up for the book,” he recalls.
Merchandise related to the books is selling well, with people mostly preferring to shop from online stores like Amazon, WBShop and Hottopic. The availability of such products at retail stores is limited.
Ronald, co-manager of the Entertainment store (a merchandise store), says, “We just have a couple of mugs for the Fantastic Beast series as there has been no demand for this series specifically.”
Fans are thrilled to head to the theatres and be a part of the magical world all over again this week. Here’s what they told Metrolife:
Surender, medical student
“I haven’t read the Fantastic Beasts series but I am a huge Harry Potter fan. So a part of me will always want to go back to the wizardry world. The first part of the movie was brilliant. The visuals were stunning, the creatures beautiful and the Harry Potter music gave me goosebumps every single time. I can’t wait to see Hogwarts again. Obviously, the main highlight of the movie will be the epic battle between Dumbledore and Grindelwald. I can’t wait to see how Dumbledore gets the Elder Wand. But at the end of the day, it is about rekindling those childhood memories which will forever be associated with the magic of Rowling.”
Shreyas Barhaghar, finance officer
“I became a fan of the book since I read ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, when I had to write a book report for my English class. The Fantastic Beast book was part of my library collection. I expect the movie to be very good. It’s a five-part series that will build up to the best duel known to witches and wizards; the one between Albus Dumbeldore and Gellert Grindelwald. JK Rowling has confirmed that they were involved romantically, so it’s a very interesting angle. But I think ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’ will probably focus on his back story and how he came into the possession of the Elder Wand. I never thought I would hear the Harry Potter track on the big screen again; it is nostalgic. I’m excited to know about the Demiguise and Bowtruckles, which were only mentioned in passing previously.”
Jayeeta M, senior manager
“I’ve been a fan of the Harry Potter world since my 10th standard. I took to it quite late but once I started, I was hooked. Very few adaptations do justice to a well-loved book. The first movie of the Harry Potter series is one such — it set the tone for the rest of the movies to come and was, and still is, an absolute delight to watch. I can’t wait for the new movie. Honestly, I don’t want my experience to be ruined by negative reviews. I hope Bowtruckles makes a comeback; I would love to have Pickett for a pet. I’d like to see whether this world get a better interpretation in this film — there’s a lot of scope for it.”
Siddharth Varma, learning and development business associate
“The first part of the Fantastic Beasts series was great. I loved the storytelling and it was a pure joy to watch all those creatures come alive on screen. To be honest, I’d like to go in with zero expectations in order to really have fun watching them. But then again, the first movie did really well, so I hope these movies don’t fall flat like most sequels do.”