I was fortunate enough to have won a contest and was invited to attend the trailer premiere fan event for the upcoming Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts special, which will be airing New Year’s Day on HBOMax.
Summing up what happened, the event consisted of the fans who won being invited to the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California, where the fans were brought to a screening room and were treated to a screening of the original Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I make it a yearly tradition to rewatch the series so needless to say I was excited to watch the movie again, this time being on a screen bigger than my TV or laptop. After watching the movie, the trailer for the HBOMax special was shown to the audience and then the group members were each given a bag with the Harry Potter branding on them and featured some Harry Potter branded items. Finally, the group was escorted to the Action and Magic Building on the Warner Brothers lot which features props and costumes from both the Wizarding World and DC Comics movies.
As for the trailer itself, which at the time of writing this I don’t believe has been released to the public, it mainly featured the cast members that you can see on the poster plus Helena Bonham Carter. The trailer showed the alums that are on the poster walking through the Great Hall of Hogwarts, interspliced with footage that will be from the actual special of the cast members discussing how Harry Potter has changed their lives, what the movies mean to them, and general behind the scenes stories. There isn’t much else to discuss with the trailer as most of the information received was very quick and stories that are best left to see the cast members discussing for themselves, as it would do no justice to just summarize them. Also, I, unfortunately, can’t show any video or pictures because filming wasn’t allowed, and this rule was very much enforced.
It was an interesting juxtaposition to watch the original movie and then almost immediately see the cast 20 years later in the trailer for the upcoming special. Doing this, however, truly made me realize just how much I need to see a new Harry Potter story with the original cast returning. Not to say new adventures can’t happen with new characters, but there is just something so magical about this original cast, which is why this upcoming special is such a good idea and hopefully a sign of more to come with the original cast.
With the special launching in only half a month, I expect and hope that fans who weren’t able to attend the event get this trailer with haste. Either way, the trailer makes me even more excited to watch the special New Year’s Day on HBOMax and I think fans of the Wizarding World will be delighted once the special releases. I know I am excited just to see all these fantastic actors reuniting to discuss one of the best and most successful film franchises of all time.
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Joel Tapia is a contributing writer at All Ages of Geek. You can follow him on Twitter @tapioca621