Harry Potter and the death of an industry

The wizard has cast a spell on British film. But he vanishes soon

To audiences, Harry Potter films are rip-roaring fantasy adventures that come along every one or two years. Kids and adults alike are always keen to climb aboard the Hogwarts express. Even critics are generally fairly well-disposed to the films, which combine cracking storylines, highly inventive special effects and vivid character performances. To the British film industry, Harry Potter movies have a rather more serious meaning. The franchise may be in the hands of a US studio (Warner Bros) but its transformative effect on the British film landscape can't be underestimated. Predictably the latest film has gone to the top of the box-office charts. Since the first Harry Potter adventure (The Philosopher's Stone) started shooting at Leavesden Studios almost exactly 10 years ago, the fast-growing boy in the specs has provided British actors, technicians, visual effects houses, publicists and exhibitors with a veritable and long-lasting bonanza.

The statistics are startling. The most recent Harry Potter (The Half-Blood Prince) grossed more than $900m at the international box-office in 2009. Its predecessors posted similar numbers. The first six films are calculated to have grossed more than $5.4bn in international box-office – and these are all movies made in Watford.

Read more at: Independent.co.uk