Warner Bros. Distributes Guidelines for Harry Potter Parties
Warner Bros. and Scholastic distributed memos about guidelines for themed parties marking the release of the next and supposedly last Harry Potter book. While Warner Bros.’ guidelines attempt “to help organizations run themed events in a way that avoids fans being exploited and helps everyone to enjoy the Harry Potter books, films, and events in the spirit in which they were created,” many book sellers and organizations planning parties, as they have done in the past to celebrate the release of another book in the series about young wizards going to a magical academy, feel frustrated by the recent communication from the company. What complicates things a little more is that Scholastic, the publisher of the book, owns rights to certain bits of the world of Harry Potter and Warner Bros. owns other bits because of the movies and movie merchandising. It seems as if the companies are trying to keep the lines between the books and the films clear (as clear as they can be when the movies are based on the books) and limiting how booksellers might earn money on such events. According to a Boston Globe article, some people are changing their event plans. Will scaled down parties mean fewer book sales?
