Theme park to ride on Harry Potter's magic
Last Updated: Thursday, May 31, 2007 | 11:59 AM ET
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Writer J.K. Rowling has given her blessing to a theme park inspired by her creation, schoolboy wizard Harry Potter.
The Florida theme park will be a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment, which created the Harry Potter movies, and Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando.
Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Warner's next Harry effort is a theme park in Orlando, Fla.
(Warner Bros./Associated Press)
"The plans I have seen look incredibly exciting and I don't think fans of the books or films will be disappointed," Rowling said of the park, scheduled to open in 2009.
The theme park, called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, aims to recreate the Hogwarts Academy experience with attractions and rides based on Harry Potter locations.
"Our primary goal is to make sure this experience is an authentic extension of Harry Potter's world as it is portrayed in the books and films," said Stuart Craig, the Oscar-winning film production designer who has been hired as lead designer for the theme park.
The Harry Potter films are estimated to have earned $3.5 billion US so far for Warner, and the fifth film in the series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will open in July.
"Over the years we've received thousands of letters from fans around the world wishing they could visit Hogwarts and the wonderful locations described in each of J.K. Rowling's beloved stories," Warner chief executive Barry Meyer said in a statement released Wednesday.
The theme park announcement comes just as Harry Potter fans face the bittersweet experience of reading the last book in the series.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh Rowling book, will be published on July 21.
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