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By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama
Learn more about kids' entertainment on MSN's Mom & Pop Culture
Two years ago, it was Harry Potter's world: The seventh and final book was making its way to stores, and the fifth movie -- "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" -- was due in theaters around the same time.
Since then, though, a book and movie called "Twilight" has sucked all the oxygen out of the Potter pop-culture atmosphere.
More: Get the latest Harry Potter buzz at Superfans
Not only was one in seven books sold in the U.S. last year written by the Twilight author, Stephenie Meyer, the movie version of the first installment was a huge hit despite its shakier-than-Jell-O cinematic merits.
Even the Harry Potter movie people seemed scared of the popular vampire franchise, pushing back "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" eight months from its original date because the "Twilight" movie was due out close to the original Potter premiere.
All this leaves some observers wondering: Has the boy wizard lost his magic?
On the one hand, it's fair to say that fans were definitely annoyed to have to wait an extra eight months for a look at the most dramatic Harry Potter tale yet adapted. At the Web site of a British newspaper, an international assortment of earnest readers made their dismay clear. Some suggested a boycott of Warner Bros., the studio behind the movies.
Here's a sampling, with the original grammar, spelling and punctuation intact:
"I think that the boycott idea is AWSOME because i've been waiting like 2 years for this movie to cocme out and i think that warner bros is being very VERY MEAN!!!!!!!! They even put out the trailer which made us even more excited to see it, now i am just mad! i think i will boycott warner bros!!"
"This is redicules. you always reales the movies in November. I say that if you whait thislong no one will like this company so i say that you reales it by March. Whos with me?"
"i cant wait to see it was well gutted that it dint come out when it was suppose too."
But on the other hand, there is reality. Harry Potter still has passionate fans. The Web site, TheLeakyCauldron.org reports more than 75,000 members in its online discussion community. These fans not only have no plans to boycott Warner Bros. for delaying the movie, some of them also traveled to Boston a couple of months ago for "LeakyCon," a convention that raised money for charities and featured the musical stylings of an astonishing number of Harry Potter tribute bands.
(There are a lot of these bands, by the way, and you can find listings on Wizrocklopedia.com, which promotes the broader wizard-rock phenomenon, something I am not clever enough to have made up. Some of the Potter band names are hilarious. I'm particularly fond of Colin and the Creeveys, 50 Points from Slytherin and The Mrs. Weasley Overture.)
The event, put on by TheLeakyCauldron.org, wasn't just about bands, though.
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