The London premiere of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," was rocking Tuesday as author J.K. Rowling made an appearance, along with the many young stars of the fifth installment of the seven-part series.
Young female fans of Daniel Radcliffe chanted "Harry, Harry" as they clamored to get a look at the young actor and the rest of the cast. Many of the fans stayed the night to get a good look at the entourage.
To add some theater to the festivities, organizers created the feel of the Ministry of Magic, the setting for a lot of the upcoming film.
All of this is as much a prelude to the film as it is to the upcoming release of the much anticipated final book of the seven-book series, which will be released on July 21.
While the movie is admittedly darker than previous films in the series, and some critics say they are confused over the plot, it probably won't matter to fans. Similar things were said about "Lord of the Rings," which has a strong fan base as well.
It is a good marketing strategy here, where the buzz of which two characters in the final book will die, along with the release of the movie will play off each other off and on during the next several weeks. They should each feed off of each other and generate great success and profits for the book and the movie.
So far Rowling has sold over 325 million copies of the first six books worldwide. Nothing will happen to change that success, it should only increase over its past success.
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