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Off to see the wizard
© St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Bay area multiplexes showing Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone pulled a magic trick of their own Friday, making long box office lines mostly disappear before they could ever form.
Unless, that is, you were one of Harry's young fans waiting to see your favorite literary character come to life on the screen. "It was like Christmas," said 7-year-old Nick Morse, whose mother Mari let him miss school Friday to catch the first showing at Regal Hollywood 20 in Port Richey. "I got up at 7 o'clock." Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the film version of J.K. Rowling's wildly popular book, is showing hundreds of times each day at more than two dozen theaters around the area. Some multiplexes reported they had sold out some Friday evening shows by midday, and Web sites selling advance tickets were so busy they couldn't be accessed Friday evening. But Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone may be the first blockbuster that doesn't look like one outside the theater. Most theaters are showing the film on multiple screens in staggered schedules, spreading out the audience. Assuming moviegoers continue purchasing tickets in advance, that strategy could well prevent the kind of lines that greeted hits of the past. At the Citrus Park Town Center in Hillsborough County, where the movie was showing on six screens, business was brisk, although none of the showings had sold out by evening. In St. Petersburg, Muvico BayWalk 20 general manager Ed Taylor did have some sold out shows, but figured he could accommodate the demand. "We've got a little planning on our side," he said. The film is playing at 3,672 theaters in the U.S. on more than 8,200 screens -- both new records for film distribution. By Monday, film industry observers expect Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to challenge the opening weekend box office record of $72.1-million set by The Lost World: Jurassic Park in 1997. While some cities reported brisk business at showings just after midnight Friday, Tampa Bay moviegoers had to wait until a more respectable hour -- say, 10 a.m. But truancy was not a big problem in Tampa Bay, school officials reported. Perhaps most kids were inspired by their hero Harry Potter, who never skipped a day of school in his literary life. But some just couldn't wait. "I'll do the skipping for Harry," said Spencer Bradham, 13, a student at Back to Basics private school in Clearwater. Playing hooky isn't a habit for Spencer. "This is the first day I've missed all year," said Bradham while his nanny-escort, Teresa Mott, 31, nodded in agreement. Mott had five children in tow and another four joining her later for the 11:30 a.m. show at AMC Woodlands 20 in Oldsmar. "They all called in sick with "Harry Potter-itis,' " Mott said. Other parents used Friday's matinees as rewards for academic achievement, and several credited Rowling's books for improving their children's reading habits. Eleven-year-old Ricky Hawley missed classes at Coachman Middle School in Clearwater to be the first kid on his block to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. "He's an "A' student who never takes a day off from school, never calls in sick and we don't take him out of school for vacations," said his mother, Leigh Ann Hawley. "He's reading because of Harry Potter. We don't encourage him to miss school for any reasons, but we do encourage him to read." Shelley and Bryan Jeter of Tampa took their children, Jessella Jaramillo, 12, and Cody Robinson, 10, to the noon showing at AMC WestShore 14 in Tampa. "We planned this months and months ago," Shelly Jeter said. "I promised these guys that on opening day we would get tickets to the first show we could find." One Clearwater family attended Friday matinees as a break from home schooling. The Radoll family -- including 5-year-old daughter Mary, dressed like a pupil at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- use Rowling's books for reading lessons. "We definitely found it to be a book that caught our son's attention. It made reading something that just opened up to him," said Rob Radoll, 44, of his 11-year-old Riley. "We're going to see it twice today." But others had a difficult wait. Friday night at BayWalk, 11-year-old Stephanie Tate walked past a band playing Black Magic Woman in the main square and into a sold-out 8 p.m. showing. Her mother had bought tickets online. "I wanted to see it earlier, but I had to go to school," Stephanie said. "It was torture." Blockbuster or no, at 2 1/2 hours, Harry Potter poses challenges any parent of small children can understand. Kathy Vonthaden arrived with at Citrus Park Town Center with her child and some of her child's friends, ranging in age from 7 to 4. "I don't know if they'll sit through it all," she said. -- Times staff writers Kent Fischer, Babita Persaud and Mike Brassfield contributed to this report.
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