NEW YORK — The lead actor in the Broadway play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” has been fired after a misconduct complaint.
The production says the complaint about James Snyder was lodged in November by the actress Diane Davis who plays his wife.
Snyder was suspended and then fired at the end of an independent investigation.
The production says Davis has chosen to take a leave of absense.
Details of the misconduct were not shared.
SS Rajamouli’s pan-Indian film RRR is currently minting gold at the box-office. The film, which was released in five Indian languages, is a fictional tale based on real life heroes Alluri Sitarama Raju and Komaram Bheem who fought for adivasi rights and stood up to the might of the British empire. While there is no historical record of the two of them fighting together, the film explores the idea of them meeting and uniting for a cause.
Soon after the film hit theatres though, it came under criticism from a section of the audience for casting the two activists in the mould of Hindu mythological characters. In the final sequence, Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan), who took to wearing saffron robes as a sanyasin and indulged in guerrilla warfare against the British in real life, transforms into Lord Ram of the Ramayana, accompanied by the chanting of Sanskrit verses. Komaram Bheem (Junior NTR), a Gond tribal activist who fought against the Nizam of Hyderabad and British rule in real life, is depicted as both Hanuman, Lord Ram’s faithful devotee, and Bheem of the Mahabharata, who is known for his physical strength. In doing so, the film combines religion with nationalistic fervour, thereby misrepresenting the legacy of the two men. The depiction has been welcomed by the audience in many theatres with cries of ‘Jai Shree Ram’.
Speaking to TNM, Srinivas SV, Professor of Film and Cultural Studies at Azim Premji University, says that historical distortion aside, the intention behind such a reimagination may have been to make a film that appeals across the country.
Jai Shree Ram…
Hello @AskAnshul Bhai..#RRR Scene.. pic.twitter.com/AsZ7B5Cw2M
— SOUTH MOVIES (@southmovies123) March 26, 2022
“Since Rajinikanth’s Enthiran in 2010, there has been a renewed interest in making pan-Indian films in the south. It was a large-scale production aimed at the national market. You cannot make such a huge film unless you crack the language barrier. There have been films since then like Baahubali, 2.0, KGF, Pushpa and so on. Different industries are trying this out and drawing in talent from multiple industries to target audiences across the country. Hindi is obviously a big part of it. RRR is among these films, and the question you may want to ask is if such a representation was done under the pressure of having to address the Hindi market which seems to have a preference for very aggressive nationalism,” he says.
Film critic Sankeertana Dantuluri says that she found the dynamic between Ram and Bheem to be unequal: “As far as the first half goes, the fictionalised characters stay fictional. Bheem pretending to be a Muslim man also felt like a nice touch—one minority [Bheem being an adivasi man] can trust another, but the way Bheem interacts with Ram is dubious. Ram sits comfortably in a chair and Bheem comes with his plate and sits down at his feet—the intention could be to show that an adivasi man is more comfortable with the ground. I am not sure if it’s just me, but Ram is positioned above Bheem is what I felt it looked like.”
She goes on to add that she found the recasting of the activists as Hindu mythological figures to be “confusing”: “The mythological turn in the second half is so confusing. I understand a Telugu commercial filmmaker’s inclination to bring Hindu mythology into the mix. Even a filmmaker like Sekhar Kammula couldn’t resist naming his lead pair Ram-Sita in Godavari. It could be just as harmless here, but a sloka-esque bit plays when Ram Charan comes out dressed as Alluri Sitarama Raju—all accessorised, I might add—and it’s about god and not the freedom fighter. The same happens when Bheem comes out of the water. Rajamouli is probably trying to amp up the moment, but it translates to him taking the populist route. He said in an interview that he wanted the country to know about these Telugu freedom fighters, but RRR tells the viewer nothing about them. If anything, they are crammed to suit the film’s narrative.”
RRR comes close on the heels of another Blockbuster, Vivek Agnihotri’s Hindi film The Kashmir Files, which was released in theatres on March 11. The only well-known actor in the cast of the film is Anupam Kher, but it became a massive hit, earning Rs 100 crore in just eight days. The film is a fictional story inspired by real events surrounding the forced exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their homeland in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. While several Kashmiri Pandits have applauded the film for portraying their real life trauma, others from the community have distanced themselves from its factual inaccuracies and palpable anti-Muslim propaganda (as Dr Nitasha Kaul wrote for TNM, “This movie emphasises the exceptionalism of Kashmiri Pandit suffering and the ubiquity of Kashmiri Muslim barbarity.”)
The BJP has been promoting the film aggressively; just a day after its release, director Vivek Agnihotri, actor Pallavi Joshi (who is married to Vivek and has acted in the film), and producer Abhishek Agarwal met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who appreciated the team for making the film. That the PM should meet the team so promptly, and a few days later use it to attack his political opponents, speaks volumes about the importance given to the film by the ruling party. Following this, several states with BJP-led governments made the film tax-free.
It was a pleasure to meet our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi Ji.
What makes it more special is his appreciation and noble words about #TheKashmirFiles.
We’ve never been prouder to produce a film.
Thank you Modi Ji @narendramodi @vivekagnihotri #ModiBlessedTKF pic.twitter.com/H91njQM479— Abhishek Agarwal (@AbhishekOfficl) March 12, 2022
However, nobody from the BJP has so far condemned the open calls for violence against Muslims that have been made in theatres across the country.
Chats of “Desh ke Gadd@ro ko, G0li m@ar0…” After watching the moviepic.twitter.com/3ehoP1uL9V
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) March 14, 2022
[English Caption]
From Barwani, Madhya Pradesh.
A Hindu extremist monk Swami Jitendrananad spewing venom against Muslims and asking Hindus to pick up weapons in a movie theater where Hindutva propaganda movie The Kashmir Files was being played. pic.twitter.com/zxXBksM5Bn
— HindutvaWatch (@HindutvaWatchIn) March 23, 2022
Sudarshan Vahini Chief Vinod Sharma who was arrested in Jantar Mantar Hate Speech case, after watching Kashmir Files said, “Gift at least one ticket to one Hindu woman so that she is not trapped in Love Jihad by these pigs (Muslims)”. pic.twitter.com/8Y2QAknozO
— Kaushik Raj (@kaushikrj6) March 22, 2022
Professor Srinivas points out that the cries for ‘Jai Shree Ram’ during RRR are probably influenced by the trend prevailing in theatres after the release of The Kashmir Files. “RRR was conceived years ago, and these cries of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in theatres were not happening at that time. This sloganeering is happening on a massive scale with The Kashmir Files and it’s possible that it will die out. If irrespective of what Rajamouli thinks the film becomes an object of mobilisation, we have to accept that,” says Srinivas.
The success of The Kashmir Files shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has closely followed the saffronisation of Bollywood after the BJP came to power in 2014. Nationalism, Hindu honour, historical Hindu icons, Hindu suffering in the past and contemporary military strength have all become popular subjects for filmmakers in Bollywood. Simultaneously, there has been a subtle and increasingly not-so-subtle othering of the Muslim community through a rhetoric that emphasises the brutality of Islamic invaders and their zeal for forcibly converting the native population.
‘Ghar Wapsi’ (Returning home) is a pet project of the Sangh Parivar (the family of Hindu nationalist organisations that came out of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; the BJP represents the Sangh in politics) that was openly advertised soon after Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014. The focus of the project is to ‘reconvert’ people from other faiths to Hinduism on an assumption that their ancestors had left the Hindu fold either by force or devious tactics.
In an article titled ‘Bollywood: ‘Othering’ the Muslim on screen’ published in Frontline magazine, authors Pranav Kohli and Prannv Dhawan write, “Since 2016, the [Hindi] industry has produced a number of historical epics such as Bajirao Mastani, Padmaavat, Manikarnika, Panipat and Tanhaji. However, Bollywood’s turn to history is not a turn to history per se but a turn towards Hindu history. The recent wave of historical fiction in Bollywood focuses on highlighting stories that have “never been seen before” but are actually just Hindutva versions of familiar histories. In their rhetoric and packaging, the Hindutva gloss on history is presented as a kind of exclusive scoop—sensationalist historiography for the masses, as it were. These supposedly forgotten epics are ‘revived’ for celluloid and used to retrospectively construct the Hindu fold. Erasing the complexity of medieval politics as exemplified in constant internecine conflict between medieval monarchs, these films homogenise Hindu monarchs by juxtaposing them against Muslim ‘invaders’.”
In The Kashmir Files, the protagonist, a Kashmiri Pandit student, delivers a rousing speech towards the end about the suffering of his people — and this includes a reference to Sikander Shah Miri, a Muslim king who invaded Kashmir in the 1300s, and is said to have destroyed temples and shrines. The film artfully links medieval history, from a time when the geographical contours of what we now identify as one nation was ruled by various kings, to modern history where the political and social contexts are completely different. In the cinematic rendering of history, the brutal, destructive rulers are always Muslim while the benevolent, brave kings are always Hindu. The trend has caught on in the Marathi film industry too. Marathi filmmaker Digpal Lanjekar’s popular historical films, the latest being Pawankhind, are on the same premise. The teaser of upcoming Marathi film Har Har Mahadev, directed by Abhijeet Deshpande, hails Chhatrapati Shivaji as the king who stood up against injustice at a time when the dishonour of women and the destruction of temples were not considered to be crimes. The voiceover in the trailer is by far right wing MNS leader Raj Thackeray.
Watch: Teaser of Har Har Mahadev
In the south Indian film industries, however, historical dramas haven’t followed the Hindu-Muslim binary corressponding to Good and Bad that has become the norm in Bollywood in the last decade. These films tend to include a ‘good’ Muslim character even if it is a tokenistic gesture – like Baba Khan in Sye Raa, which is based on the resistance led by Narasimha Reddy against the British in 1856. Malayalam cinema, which caters to a demographic that has a higher percentage of Muslims in the population when compared to other states, has produced historical dramas that have Muslims in the lead. Mohanlal’s Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham has the actor playing a Muslim character, Kunjali Marakkar, who fought against the Portuguese in the 16th century. Nivin Pauly’s Kayamkulam Kochunni is based on a Muslim highwayman who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor in the early 19th century. However, a film on Variyankunnath, a prominent leader of the Malabar Rebellion of 1921, ran into controversy after right wing groups objected to it. Though director Aashiq Abu and actor Prithviraj withdrew from the film, the production company has said that it intends to go ahead with it.
The authorship of We or our Nationhood Defined, published in 1939, has been controversial as the book itself. It was said to have been written by MS Golwalkar, the second chief of the RSS, and the book reportedly made him an influential figure in the organisation since it was the first text that laid out the Sangh’s ideology in great detail. The book, which envisions the building of a Hindu Rashtra and calls Hindus a ‘race’ while calling people belonging to other religions as ‘foreigners’, also glorifies Germany for its anti-Semitism, fascism and treatment of minorities. Golwakar later claimed that the book was actually authored by Ganesh Damodar Savarkar, one of the five founders of the RSS and older brother of VD Savarkar, and that he’d only translated it from the original Marathi. In 2006, the RSS disowned the book. However, the core ideology of the RSS stems from this text and the Islamophobic, Hindu pride rhetoric that has become mainstream and normalised now can be easily traced back to the book.
The RSS’s open admiration for German dictator Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in its early years is no secret. Interestingly, both these leaders extensively used cinema as a means to control the masses.
In an email interview with TNM, Dr Frank P Tomasulo, Core Certified Professor of Graduate Film Studies, National University (San Diego), lays out several characteristics that defined the fascist films from Germany: “The Nazi cinema of Germany, as distinguished somewhat from the fascist cinema of Italy, was very much involved with (1) a cult of personality around Adolf Hitler (especially in the documentaries), (2) the use of German tropes – the eagle, flags and banners, buildings from the First Reich, the Holy Roman Empire – as well as mythological references to Germany’s Nordic heritage to instill patriotism for the Fatherland, (3) lines of organised masses in parades (Cf. Triumph of the Will, (4) displays of the inferiority of other races (especially in Jeu Seuss) – including comparisons to rats and other vermin, (5) stereotypical representations of Jews as cunning, unclean, and deceitful; Gypsies as thieves; Communists as subversive and unpatriotic, and (6) cinematic techniques that glorify Der Fuehrer and the new German state (post-Weimar): moving camera to show that Deutschland is “on the move again,” low camera angles on Hitler and other Nazi leaders to make them appear powerful, backlighting to lighten the hair colour of dark-haired Nazis to make them appear more Nordic and fair-haired, and use of the telephoto lens in crowd scenes to suggest that admiring gatherings of das Volk [common people] were solidly close together in their support of the Third Reich.”
German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl’s documentary Triumph of the Will, which was commissioned by Adolf Hitler and released in March 1935, is till date cited as a prominent example in any discussion on fascist propaganda films. The director, who was considered to be a ‘cinematic genius’ for her film techniques, was a favourite of Adolf Hitler. Triumph of the Will is on the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, which was attended by more than seven lakh Nazi party sympathizers. The previous year, Hitler had become the Chancellor of Germany, and the first concentration camp for communists and his political opponents was set up in Dachau. By the end of his reign in 1945, there were over a thousand concentration camps in Germany and other parts of German-occupied Europe.
Though Leni later distanced herself from Hitler and claimed that she was “apolitical” and was not a Nazi herself, it’s impossible not to view her work in the political climate in which her films were made.Tirumph of the Will begins with the following text [translated to English from German]: “20 years after the outbreak of the World War/ 16 years after the beginning of German suffering/ 19 months after the beginning of the German rebirth/ Adolf Hitler flew once again to Nuremberg to hold a miltary display over his stalwarts.”
Describing the film in his essay ‘The Mass Psychology of Fascist Cinema: Triumph of the Will’, Dr Tomasulo says, “…Hitler repeatedly stressed that one could not sway the masses with arguments, logic or knowledge, only with feelings and beliefs. True to form, the documentary establishes a “cult of personality” around its “star”, a mystical aura associated with Nature, religion, and a “folkish” family-based patriotism.” Dr Tomasulo goes on to discuss how the film projected Hitler as a messiah of the masses, mixing religious imagery with patriotic fervour and nationalistic ideals.
These films found ready resonance with the audience because the “German national character” (as writer, cultural critic and film theorist Siegfried Kracauer put it) was conditioned by decades of “education, rituals (saluting the flag, the Sieg Heil salute) customs, symbols (the swastika), geography (i.e., the Heimat) and, especially, the nations’ history (wars, unification, military conquests and defeats), books (Goethe), music and popular song (the Horst Wesel song), opera (Wagner), theatre, art and, finally, cinema (Riefenstahl). Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels ensured that German culture was Nazi culture and relied on the nation’s glorious mythic past to demonstrate the ongoing greatness of Deutschland (“Deutschland Uber Alles”),” Dr Tomasulo points out. In Nazi Germany, only films that were in line with the state’s ideology could be released.
In 1930s Italy, Mussolini established a gigantic film studio, Cinecittà, which produced numerous fictional films called “white telephone films” because the presence of white telephones indicated a bourgeois household. Unlike Nazi Germany, which specialised in dramas and horror movies, Dr Tomasulo says, the films that came out of fascist Italy were mostly comedies.
“In this case, the propaganda value was not in direct support of the fascist regime but, rather, as a distraction for the mass audience – akin to the “bread and circuses” of ancient Rome, which took the public’s awareness away from politics. Another fictional genre was the Roman Empire and gladiator epics, which depicted the “glory of Rome” so as to extend that ancient grandeur (and military success) to the contemporary rule of Mussolini,” he says.
Italy, too, produced films that glorified masculinity and violence in the guise of nationalism.
“On the documentary side, Italian cinema churned out numerous films that glorified Italian youth (especially boys) and how they might improve their physiques and conditioning. They extolled the many beachfront health camps set up by the regime, supposedly to get the youth in shape – but mainly used to train them for future military service, under the guise of physical well-being. More noxious and propagandistic was the epic Scipione l’africano, which was commissioned by Mussolini shortly before Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia. Benito Mussolini commissioned an epic film depicting the exploits of the ancient general Scipio. Not surprisingly, the movie won the Mussolini Cup as the greatest Italian film at the 1937 Venice Film Festival, which also became a venue for fascist-sponsored cinema,” Dr Tomasulo says.
In India, where the Hindi film industry is the largest, the BJP has been cognizant of the power that cinema has over the people. In December 2018, PM Modi met with a delegation ‘from the film and entertainment industry’ – though this was an all male, all Bollywood delegation – and followed it up with two more meetings with Bollywood within a space of a month. After the first meeting, a reduction on Goods and Services Tax (GST) for film tickets was announced, a move that was highly appreciated by the film industry. In January 2019, the PM met several A-list stars and filmmakers from Bollywood to discuss how the industry could contribute to “nation building”.
Several stars like Akshay Kumar and Kangana Ranaut, who have publicly praised the PM and are known to amplify the BJP’s political stances and ideology through their choice of films, interviews and social media interactions, have reaped the benefits too. In April 2019, just days before the fourth phase of the General Elections, PM Modi gave Akshay Kumar a ‘non-political’ exclusive interview —the ‘tough’ questions included how the PM liked to eat mangoes. The interview happened after the Election Commission refused to allow the release of PM Narendra Modi, a biopic, before the elections were concluded. Kangana Ranaut was permanently suspended from Twitter in May 2021 for hate speech and violating Twitter’s policies repeatedly. Later that year, she received her fourth National Award from Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Director Vivek Agnihotri, who made The Kashmir Files and received a warm welcome from the PM, is known to have coined the term “urban naxals” to refer to anyone who expresses “anti-national” opinions (meaning, questioning the government).
The fact that films promoting a certain narrative are becoming money-spinners is a huge encouragement for Bollywood filmmakers to persist with the trend. In January 2019, Uri: The Surgical Strike became a massive hit, earning over Rs 300 crore at the worldwide box-office.The film, which presents a fictionally dramatised account of India’s response to the attack carried out by Pakistani insurgents in 2016, was released three months before the General Elections were set to begin in India. Uri underlines the idea that India under the current leadership is a ‘new India’ which will not put up with such insults.The film’s release was also around the same time that PM Modi revealed what he had told the soldiers going in for the strike. While the Opposition attacked the PM for politicising an army operation for votes, many of his supporters were exultant to see how India had responded “effectively” to the attack on the big screen.
In contrast, films like Mulk [2018] which deal with the widely prevalent Islamophobia in the country are rare in Bollywood. Films like Raazi [2018] and Sardar Udham [2021] that have handled complex subjects without devolving into chest-thumping hypernationalism are also too few and far between.
Meanwhile, Adipurush, an adaptation of the Ramayana and a mega budget film directed by Om Raut who made Tanhaji, is expected to release in 2023. The pan-Indian film, made on a budget of Rs 500 crore, will come out the same year that the long disputed Ram temple in Ayodhya is expected to be inaugurated. The temple has been the RSS’s dream project for over 30 years, and has had a constant presence in the BJP’s manifesto.
The next General Elections in India will be held in 2024.
Also read: How BJP and its affiliates are using Shivaji statues to mobilise BCs in Telangana
Danielle Partis
News Editor
Friday 5th November 2021
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Harry Potter: Magic Awakened has generated over $228 million across Google Play and the Apple App Store in the two months since it launched, according to data from Sensor Tower.
The mobile title, published by NetEase, launched in selected Asian territories (China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao) on September 9, and is already the second-highest grossing mobile game using the Harry Potter IP.
For comparison, Jam City’s Hogwarts Mystery is the highest-grossing, and has generated $342 million in lifetime revenue globally since its launch in April 2018. Harry Potter: Puzzle Spells, from Zynga takes third place, and has made $135 million globally since its September 2020 release.
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite has made significantly less — since its launch in June 2019, Niantic’s AR game has generated $39.4 million, with $4.1 million of the total made in 2021. For context, Niantic’s flagship, Pokémon Go, is closing in on $1.1 billion in revenue this year alone.
It’s the biggest launch for a Harry Potter mobile title too. In its first month, Magic Awakened generated $180.7 million. Hogwarts Mystery generated $32.6 million during its launch month, and Wizards Unite made $12.3 million.
The totals do not include revenue from third-party Android stores in China or other regions.
Earlier this week, Niantic announced that it would be closing down Wizards Unite on January 31, 2022. The game will be removed from various app stores on December 6, 2021.
In a blog post, the company said that “not all games are meant to last forever.”
Craven’s meta-slasher imagines that Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy Thompson in the Nightmare on Elm Street films, becomes drawn into supernatural events swirling around the latest entry in the series. Robert Englund plays both himself and a version of Freddy Krueger that’s actually an ancient demon, awakened by the Nightmare films and now determined to break into the “real” world. More recognizable faces pop up as well to help bleed the lines between “real” and “movie” worlds, including Craven himself. It’s high-concept, but it works well in this context, and it was a creative way to put a new spin on a franchise that, in 1994, was flagging out… just before Craven’s other meta-slasher, Scream, revived the genre entirely, of course.
If you ask pretty much any fan of the Harry Potter books and movies what their number one dream is, it would probably be to visit Hogwarts. Number two? Ride a broomstick, preferably in the Quidditch Cup. And though there have been attempts at channeling the magic of those fictional experiences in the real world, not many have come close… Until now, at the Harry Potter Store in New York, which is adding two stunningly immersive Virtual Reality experiences, as of today.
After an extremely long delay due to — what else — COVID, the flagship Wizarding World store officially opened in New York on June 3, 2021. With two packed floors filled with authentic movie props, exclusive goodies, chances to take pictures in Hagrid’s giant shoes or taste some authentic, fizzy Butterbeer, the Harry Potter New York store is a paradise for fans of the franchise, albeit one that demands a hefty tax on your wallet if you want to walk away with all the exclusive merch.
What Harry Potter Store New York wasn’t, up until now, was something that you could really spend more than an hour or two browsing in. Granted, that’s already a pretty nice amount of time for something that is essentially a museum/gift shop, with a small cafe stuck on the side (for the Butterbeer and Butterbeer ice cream, naturally). These two new VR experiences will turn your visit from a casual shopping experience into a full day extravaganza.
And having walked through both of them, I’m here to say: it’s worth the time.
Like I mentioned earlier, there are a number of ways of experiencing Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, even the London streets Harry Potter traipsed around in with his friends and enemies, from the Studio Tour in the UK, to Universal Studios around the world, to pop-ups organized by fans and even unofficial bars (there’s used to a really good one in Toronto, RIP, The Lockhart). The Universal Studios experience in particular is incredibly immersive, with meticulous set design filled with Easter eggs and buildings that make you feel like you’re walking through the sets in the movie.
But being in a theme park with thousands of other guests, waiting a queue line to watch the movie actors entertain you with footage recorded years ago, is not exactly the same as living in the world of the films. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been to the dual Wizarding World areas in Universal Studios Florida so many times, my blood is basically half pumpkin juice. Still, as magical as it is, there’s something that pulls you out of the fiction, from the Florida weather, to the massive crowds.
The two VR experiences at the Harry Potter Store New York (created by interactive software company Wevr for WarnerMedia) take things to another level. And I dare say that particularly for hardcore fans of the movies, there are parts that might come close to feeling like a religious experience, so visceral is the world you’re plunged into.
The recommended first experience (and I’d tend to agree) is called “Wizards Take Flight.” Located on the basement level of the store right past the fancy jewelry and next to a truly magical stationary shop, you’re whisked past a small area devoted to info about Quidditch, the sport created for the Wizarding World, and into what is outfitted to look like a locker room for a Quidditch team. There’s even a locker filled with used Quidditch gear for some guy named “Harry.”
There, an actor excitedly informs you that you’re going to get to do some broomstick training, and that you should put relatively innocuous VR sensors on your hands. You also choose your avatar, based on your Hogwarts house (of course), and four different variations of sex and skin color, though they’re all vague enough that they should cover pretty much any gender and heritage. Probably.
After a quick introduction in how to use wands — basically, put your hand behind your back, then throw it forward, and shout a spell — you’re taken into a dark, airy room with six broomsticks arranged in a circle. This part is easily the least magical section of the whole thing, and is surprisingly under-themed for Wizarding World experiences, which tend to be as immersive as possible. Also of note: the whole room and all the rigs are completely sanitized between each group who plays through the experience, which is also not magical, but is necessary when we’re still in the middle of a pandemic.
Okay, back to the walkthrough. After sitting down on the “broomstick,” you place the VR goggles on your head. One quick calibration later, and suddenly you’re seeing the pre-selected avatars of you and your fellow Hogwarts students sitting on brooms. And that’s when you start flying.
Look, I get that this is all brain tricks, but with a bit of wind from a fan in front of you, the “broom” lifting slightly off the ground, and good sound and excellently rendered CG graphics, your practice session flying over Hogwarts and the surrounding grounds feels like the real thing. You can’t really die or crash — if you run into a building, the rig mildly shakes and then you fly off in another direction, or if you knock into the ground you get right back up again — but by leaning to the right or left, as well as pushing or pulling the broom, it truly feels like you’re flying in the air over the same environs as seen in the movie.
There’s a part of me that wishes this was the whole experience, so thrilling was it to have free rein to soar around the Hogwarts grounds and explore. You’ll occasionally see your fellow flyers (I think, unless those were random CG models), but the whole environment feels so massive that they’re more often specks in the distance.
That’s when Dobby shows up. The apologetic house elf explains that you need to go help Hagrid, so you’re off to London to chase down some Death Eaters. The rest of the experience is a blast — sometimes literally — as you fly over the cityscape at night using your wand to stupefy Voldemort’s minions. Lightning crashes, you’re pelted with extremely light rain, and yes, you can still steer as you fly, though the path Hagrid is taking on his flying motorcycle mostly dictates where you’re headed. To that end, I missed the free play of the beginning a bit once this section started, though zooming over the Thames, and later, around the Quidditch pitch is still a lot of fun.
The reason it’s smart to do “Wizards Take Flight” first, and probably important at this point to mention they’re both separate tickets at $34 each for the 7-10 minute experiences, is that “Chaos at Hogwarts” is so far beyond even the delightful broomstick simulator. The skills you learn in the former, from using your wand, to orienting yourself in the digital world, will come in handy in the shockingly realistic journey through the Wizarding World’s premiere institute of learning.
Head up to the second floor of the Harry Potter Store in the real world, check in, and you’re climbing the stairs one additional level to King’s Cross Station. The outside is filled with more Easter eggs, from a Niffler that steals things off the departures board, to how occasionally the “A”s will turn into Deathly Hallows symbols. Once you’re ready to “board,” though, you’ll be brought into a gear room that is themed around seats at a train station.
The gear itself is more intense for “Chaos at Hogwarts,” including the hand and head gear from the prior experience, as well as feet gear and a whole backpack attachment. Again, you enter a decidedly unmagical room, and this time are asked to stand on a number you’ve been assigned. After another tech check, this time a blueprint wireframe of King’s Cross Station, you see your pre-chosen avatars next to you (you choose a new Avatar each time, so if you want to be Slytherin in one and Hufflepuff in the other: live your dream). You walk forward, grip a real handle that seems to be connected to virtual luggage, and run through the wall to reach Platform 9 3/4, home of the Hogwarts Express.
So there you are, standing on the train platform, maybe you turn your head and see the train leave, maybe you see the other avatars (they’re basically like something out of Ready Player One, but with slightly more rendered LEGO person hands), but it’s not clear what you do next. That’s when Dobby asks you to come around the corner.
Reader, I was so confused. Come around the corner? Walk forward? But we’re on a small platform in a room on the third floor of a store off Madison Square park… Right? There’s no “around the corner.” I know this all sounds silly, but the way your brain tricks you into creating a new three dimensional space in the pre-existing, real space you’re actually existing in is immediately mind-warping.
Thankfully, they ease you into it, as Dobby explains he needs to get a special suitcase to Hogwarts. Fans will know that it’s Newt Scamander’s suitcase from the Fantastic Beasts movies, and it’s no big spoiler that it’s full of creatures who go wild. But first, Dobby transports you to a boat to Hogwarts, and then to Hogwarts itself.
Here’s where you grab your wands, another disorienting moment as you pick up a real wand in virtual space. In “Chaos at Hogwarts” you can use nearly any spell in the Harry Potter books, at any time. Stupefy, Wingardium Leviosa… You can even use Avada Kedavra, a death curse, which causes your wand to smoke and shake in your hand. Some of those spells play into the story, or are prompts from Dobby, but little moments like when myself and my party were in a dark area of the school and figured out we could use Lumos, the lighting spell, were revelations.
(And as a little note, you can also play around with these various spells in “Wizards Take Flight,” too, though I was mostly focused on stupefying Death Eaters in that experience.)
The true stand-out of the experience though — and there are many — is when you enter the central area of the school, with it’s nearly infinite moving paintings, and constantly shifting staircases. As you stand on one, intellectually you know that the real platform below you is mildly shaking, and you’re not going anywhere. It doesn’t matter. It feels like a staircase is shifting from one side of the room to another. And the sheer scale of it makes it feel like you are in there in Hogwarts at that moment. For real.
I won’t spoil all the surprises in “Chaos at Hogwarts,” but I will say that thanks to the amount of walking you do, carefully crossing over wet stones, riding elevators with ghosts, and battling everything from pixies to a massive extremely realistic dragon, I would pay double the money for a tape of everyone stumbling around the room in the real world. It’s wild the tricks your brain can pull on you, with some clever sound and the right external cues.
It also helps if you’re with a group you know and trust… I ran through “Chaos at Hogwarts” once with a group of strangers, and we were all hesitant and clearly keeping our social distance. The second time I traversed Hogwarts with people I knew, and the interaction made everything so much better, as we talked to each other in real life while our avatars were in the virtual world. It even helped us unlock a different part of the experience… Suffice to say, whether you work together to stop the dragon from running amok, or don’t, things go in very different directions.
That’s one of the joys, too, particularly with “Chaos at Hogwarts.” While many sections are pre-dictated, or will eventually reach their conclusion whether you participate or not, others can be changed and tweaked simply by using the wrong spell at the wrong time. It’s the sort of experience that demands multiple visits, just to figure out all the secrets and Easter eggs in the experience.
(One particularly weird one I was told, but did not try: stick your head in the dragon at the end if you manage to subdue him, as some intrepid designer actually rendered the dragon’s insides.)
Ultimately, it’s understandable that not everyone will want to shell out $68 for two VR experiences, or want to spend an entire day of their New York vacation inside a store. However, like a good theme park ride, even with the short-ish running time, this is fulfilling experience that you’ll want to do again — and again. And for diehards, it’s the chance to live out a life-long dream, and finally go to Hogwarts, or fly on a broomstick. It really is that immersive, and that good — the pictures and video currently online don’t do justice to actually “living” it.
Just don’t blame the Harry Potter Store if next time you stream every Harry Potter movie, watching the films pales in comparison to living them.
Drag-and-drive events are a test of man and machine, but they also give people the opportunity for an epic automotive adventure with a bunch of like-minded crazies. Tom Bailey is a drag-and-drive icon that started Sick The Magazine, a print publication dedicated to this unique style of racing events; Bailey then took things a step further and created his own drag-and-drive event, called Sick Week, which has been perfectly documented in “For The Adventure: Sick Week The Movie.”
Sick Week provided a fresh take on the drag-and-drive event with cool classes, interesting checkpoints for participants, and a focus on enjoying the drives. Racers toured the backroads of Florida and Georgia, and they even got to drive up the beach along the famous A1A highway in Daytona.
There was an incredible variety of vehicles that participated in Sick Week. Sure there were your typical street-driven race cars and modern muscle rides, but there were several radical hot rods and even a car with a wooden frame. Racers like Stef Rossi, who experienced an on-track crash, and Mike Pryka, Sr., who struck a deer along the route, found ways to fix their rides and finish the event. That type of determination is what events like Sick Week are all about.
“For The Adventure: Sick Week The Movie” was filmed by Sick The Magazine editor Luke Nieuwhof and he did a fantastic job capturing the true spirit of the event. Make sure you take the time to watch all 45 minutes of this amazing automotive adventure.
29) 7 prisoners (no release. When the familys fishing business is threatened, ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.
2021 New Movie Releases List, A tomatometer ranked list of the best movies in 2021. Jan 2021 feb 2021 mar 2021 apr 2021 may 2021 jun 2021 jul 2021 aug 2021 sep 2021 oct 2021 nov 2021 dec 2021. 29) 7 prisoners (no release.
The Call (2020) Dir. Timothy Woodward Jr. From hellhorror.com
Akshay kumar, dhanush, sara ali khan: A tomatometer ranked list of the best movies in 2021. Daniel kaluuya, lakeith stanfield, jesse plemons, dominique fishback. Schedule of 2021 movies plus movie stats, cast, trailers, movie posters and more.
###The Call (2020) Dir. Timothy Woodward Jr. The widow available march 30, 2021.
2021 and 2022 films out in cinema and coming to streaming services. Daniel kaluuya, lakeith stanfield, jesse plemons, dominique fishback. Tovino thomas, guru somasundaram, vasisht umesh, aju varghese: The top november 2021 movie releases are encanto, the unforgivable, bruised, resident evil: Wonder woman 1984 available march 30, 2021. “ the french dispatch ”
Source: hellhorror.com
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Friday the 13th A New Beginning (1985) Horror, Thriller, Well then, be sure to keep up to date with all the new marvel tv shows coming to disney plus. Offered a plea deal by the fbi, william o�neal infiltrates the illinois chapter of the black panther party to gather intelligence on chairman fred hampton. Akshay kumar, dhanush, sara ali khan: May 7 (friday) here today (theaters) Cosmoball available march.
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Free Guy dvd Release Date, As a coda (child of deaf adults) ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. Jan 2021 feb 2021 mar 2021 apr 2021 may 2021 jun 2021 jul 2021 aug 2021 sep 2021 oct 2021 nov 2021 dec 2021. Schedule of 2021 movies plus movie stats, cast, trailers, movie posters and more. 2021 and 2022 films out in.
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Living Among Us (2018) Horror, Thriller Dir. Brian A, When the family�s fishing business is threatened, ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. Tovino thomas, guru somasundaram, vasisht umesh, aju varghese: The addams family 2 (2021) pg | 93 min | animation, adventure, comedy | completed. Offered a plea deal by the fbi, william o�neal infiltrates the illinois chapter.
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A Gentleman in Moscow TV Series What We Know (Release, Warner, universal to release all their older titles ssubsequently. Tovino thomas, guru somasundaram, vasisht umesh, aju varghese: Wonder woman 1984 available march 30, 2021. Well then, be sure to keep up to date with all the new marvel tv shows coming to disney plus. What a legacy july 2021 is shaping up to lead at the movies.
Source: magic.co.nz
Stevie Nicks releases incredible live music video for, Several of those films have had official releases in 2021, and i’ve included them again, to retain (or restore) adherence to the traditional calendar. Welcome to raccoon city and belfast. When the family�s fishing business is threatened, ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. Warner, universal to release all their.
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The Call (2020) Dir. Timothy Woodward Jr., Always and forever, lara jean. Schedule of 2021 movies plus movie stats, cast, trailers, movie posters and more. Cosmoball available march 23, 2021. Wonder woman 1984 available march 30, 2021. 2021 and 2022 films out in cinema and coming to streaming services.
The Broadway actor who played Harry Potter in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” has been fired following a complaint about his conduct lodged by a co-star last year.
The show’s producers made the announcement Sunday night without specifying the allegations made against actor James Snyder.
A female co-star made the claims last November, prompting an independent investigation, the producers said.
Snyder had been suspended after the accusations and the woman took a leave of absence from the show.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” which won a Tony Award for best new play in 2018, portrays Potter and his wizard pals as grown-ups.
“We are committed to fostering a safe and inclusive workplace, which is why we have robust workplace policies and procedures in place for all those involved in ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,’” the statement by producers said.
“We will continue to do all we can to ensure the extremely talented team that brings this production to life feels safe, empowered, and fully supported,” the producers said.
With Post wires
by Alex Billington
November 17, 2021
Source: YouTube
“If this is your dream, don’t give up on it!” Lionsgate has debuted the full official trailer for their football movie titled American Underdog, opening in theaters on Christmas Day during the holidays later this year. The story of NFL MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback, Kurt Warner, who went from stocking shelves at a supermarket to becoming an American football superstar. Zachary Levi stars as Kurt, along with Anna Paquin, Dennis Quaid, Adam Baldwin, Bruce McGill, Ser’Darius Blain, Chance Kelly, Morgana Shaw, and Brett Varvel. The film centers on Warner’s unique story and years of challenges and setbacks that could have derailed his aspirations to become an NFL player – but just when his dreams seemed all but out of reach, only with the support of his wife and the encouragement of his family, coaches, and teammates that Kurt Warner perseveres and finds the strength to show the world the champion that he already is. This seems like the opposite of the other football movie this fall – National Champions. This is just the story of a talented quarterback finally getting his shot. And you know it’s going to be a hit – football films usually are.
Here’s the official trailer (+ poster) for Andrew Erwin Jon Erwin’s American Underdog, on YouTube:
You can still rewatch the original teaser trailer for American Underdog here, to view even more footage.
Tells the inspirational true story of Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi), who went from a stockboy at a grocery store to a two-time NFL MVP, Super Bowl champion, and Hall of Fame quarterback. The film centers on Warner’s unique story and years of challenges and setbacks that could have derailed his aspirations to become an NFL player – but just when his dreams seemed all but out of reach, it is only with the support of his wife, Brenda (Anna Paquin) and the encouragement of his family, coaches, and teammates that Warner perseveres and finds the strength to show the world the champion that he already is. American Underdog is an uplifting story proving that anything is possible when you have determination, faith, and family. American Underdog is directed by American filmmakers Andrew Erwin Jon Erwin, aka the Erwin Brothers, directors of the films October Baby, Moms’ Night Out, Woodlawn, I Can Only Imagine, and I Still Believe previously. The screenplay is by David Aaron Cohen, Jon Erwin, and Jon Gunn. Lionsgate will debut American Underdog in theaters starting Christmas Day, on December 25th, 2021 (Sunday).
Potion-making is a notoriously tricky craft. One dash of the wrong ingredient and you may well make someone incendiary instead of invisible.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that it took the creators of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” a second try to perfect their theatrical brew. The breathtaking new version of the wizard juggernaut moves as fast and furious as the Hogwarts Express, casting a thoroughly intoxicating spell on children, parents, and muggles alike.
If the original two-part marathon version of the show, which debuted in London in 2016 and was playing in San Francisco when the pandemic hit, felt saddled by draggy exposition, the new iteration feels bolder and braver, confident in its power to charm and dazzle even those of us who don’t know floo powder from chocolate frogs. From the first ballet of wands to the last explosive fireball, the sorcery of “Cursed Child” bewitches the audience.
This time Steven Hoggett’s mesmerizing movement and John Tiffany’s muscular direction capture not only the thrills of J.K. Rowling’s canon but also its big heart. My daughter Daphne, 11, a Potter-head from way back, was initially uncertain that the play could ever live up to her idolatry, having read the books and watched the movies so many times over that she knows most of it by heart. Still, it took about three minutes into the show before she was gasping and giggling with delight for the next 3½ hours.
The secret to Jack Thorne’s new adaptation is perhaps its streamlined nature. Cutting away anything that doesn’t fuel the narrative leaves us with a tale of universal emotional richness, a story of fathers estranged from sons, teens grasping for identity and a society stupidly turning a blind eye to its own corruption.
This epilogue takes place 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts (where the books and movies left off). Long the toast of the wizarding world, Harry Potter (played by John Skelley) sends his son Albus (Benjamin Papac) off to Hogwarts with high hopes that are dashed when the boy turns out to be a bit of a wallflower. He is not a natural at magic and his only friend is Scorpius Malfoy (Jon Steiger) the son of Harry’s old nemesis Draco (Lucas Hall). Steiger nearly steals the show with his sensitive turn as an alienated youth. The young actor’s comic timing is as smooth as butterbeer.
Emotional vulnerability is what grounds all the high-tech spectacle in something meaningful and true. Skelley beautifully captures the angst of parenthood, a father struggling to understand his son even while reckoning with his own childhood grief.
The new script transforms what used to be a byzantine plot of time travel adventures, tragic origin stories, assorted love interests, and fandom easter eggs into a narrative that’s as intimate as it is epic.
The quiet moments hit as hard as the high-flying special effects, which include a round of mid-air dueling between Harry and Draco, an imaginative onstage lake and a rather wild romp with Polyjuice potion.
Of course some of most magical stagecraft is also the most simple. Imagine a cart of suitcases standing in for a speeding train, or wraith-like puppets sweeping down from the ceiling to dangle mere inches above your head.
Daphne, for her part, seemed most delighted at the moments of light comedy woven throughout this dark world of dungeons and dragons. She laughed so long, hard and loudly at some scenes, such as Moaning Myrtle’s vamping in the girl’s bathroom, that I had to resist the urge to shush her a little. The mommy in me was tickled that she loved the show, of course, but the theater critic worried a tad about decorum.
Etiquette lost out to glee in the end and it was a truly memorable afternoon for mother and daughter, a theatrical bonding experience visceral enough to make us forget about the rigamarole of the pandemic era, the masks and lines and QR codes, and remember just how magical live performance can be.
Contact Karen D’Souza at karenpdsouza@yahoo.com.
By Jack Thorne, working on an original story by J. K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Thorne, based on the series by Rowling
Through: Sept. 4
Where: The Curran, 445 Geary St., San Francisco
Health safety: Attendees 12 and over must have proof of vaccination and booster, those under 12 must have proof of negative COVID test, ticketholders are asked to wear masks inside the theater
Running time: 3 hours, 35 minutes, one intermission
Tickets: $69-$329 (subject to change); sf.harrypottertheplay.com, sfcurran.com
