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Tuesday 3 January 2012

Harry Potter Tour Aims To Keep Magic Alive

Lucy Cotter, showbiz correspondent
A new Harry Potter tour is opening this year, ensuring the magic of the wizard continues - and the money keeps rolling in.
Warner Brothers has invested around £100m converting the original film sets into a tourist attraction in Leavesden, near London.
The 6,000 people expected to visit it every day will be able to walk around the Great Hall, look in on Harry's dormitory and marvel at Dumbledore's office.
John Richardson, the special effects supervisor, said it has been quite a challenge.
"On Harry Potter, we kept everything so now all those things are going into the studio tour," he said.
"We're having to re-build them to work not just for three weeks but for 52 weeks a year and just to keep working."
It has been 14 years since Harry first appeared and, since then, JK Rowling has written seven books, which have sold more than 450 million copies.
There have been eight films which have grossed around £4bn at the box office, making it the most successful film franchise of all time and transforming the lives of its cast forever.
Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry, said it is strange to leave it all behind.
"It feels like - I don't know if people cry when they leave school, but it's the end of an era and it feels like we're suddenly moving beyond our adolescence," he said.
JK Rowling has finished the books but has recently launched a website, Pottermore, to continue the story. She has dedicated it to the millions of wizard fans.
"I'm still receiving hundreds of letters every week and Harry's fans remain as enthusiastic and inventive as ever," she said.
The Making Of Harry Potter tour is expected to open in March.

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