Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
It's the end of an era for fans of the Harry Potter series. At midnight, the eighth and final Potter movie will be shown on movie screens all over the country.
Some young adults grew up right alongside the boy wizard. After all these years, Harry Potter Alliance Salt Lake City Chapter President Allison Grigg is proud to call herself a Harry Potter geek.
"I've been reading since I was nine, and I'm now twenty, so, quite a while. We're the ‘Potterheads.' That's what it's called."
My apologies. Potterhead.
Grigg already knows how the story ends, though she still can't promise her emotions won't get the best of her.
"I think it is going to be really sad. I think I'll cry at the end," she said.
While there may, one day, be movies released based on the content on J.K. Rowling's Pottermore website, for all intents and purposes, the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" signifies the end.
A moment of silence...all right, that's enough.
Finding a major blockbuster storyline is a bit easier in the movie world than it is in the world of books. Megaplex Theaters Senior Vice President Blake Andersen says they have their eyes on the second and third installments of "Avatar" being released, as well as the fourth chapter of the "Mission: Impossible" series. Plus, the fifth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie is scheduled to come out some time in 2013.
These franchises have already proven their worth. Anderson also says moviegoers have shown a massive amount of interest in the upcoming Avengers and Justice League movies.
"We're sad to see [Harry Potter] go, but, on the other hand, there is always something out there in the theater and film industry that brings this kind of attention," Anderson said.
But, if he was forced to predict the next set of books to become a major Hollywood blockbuster movie franchise, he would guess a certain series by author Suzanne Collins.
"I want to say ‘The Hunger Games,' just because of the interest that has been expressed and the emails and the calls that we're getting. I think that could be the next big one."
Interestingly, "The Hunger Games" is the first title that Margaret Neville, a Kid's Room buyer for The King's English Bookshop, thought of, too. It follows 16 year-old Katniss Everdeen, who was compelled to enter a post-apocalyptic reality TV show where she and 23 other young people fight to the death. Neville says adults and young teens seem to like the book series, just like with Harry Potter.
But, 'The Hunger Games' it isn't exactly a kid-friendly storyline.
"Hunger Games has had a lot of interesting press and will give congressmen in some states, and parents in some regions, fits because it's the kids killing kids thing."
But, she doesn't believe there will be another book series that appealed to as many different age groups and demographics as Harry Potter did.
"It was a phenomenon. Maybe that's why [J.K. Rowling] hasn't written another book, because, what do you do to go after Harry Potter?"
The fourth installment of the Eragon books is set to be released in the fall, and Neville thinks there's the possibility it could reignite interest in more Eragon movies, but, she doesn't believe that series has the wide appeal Harry Potter does.
