Stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint joined Michael Gambon, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Warrick Davis, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, and Bonnie Wright on stage as John Williams lead the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and J.K. Rowling watched from the crowd.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened officially to the public two days later – on June 18, 2010. The land’s 10th anniversary got a bit lost in the pandemic last summer – Universal’s theme parks had just reopened and were operating at sharply reduced capacities. But I marked the occasion by speaking with some of the people who were there for the opening, detailing their recollections in a transcribed oral history of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s debut – Harry Potter and the Day That Changed Theme Parks Forever.
I am including that link here again today in the hopes that some of you might have missed that article last summer will take a look now. There are some great stories there about the opening day, the whole design process leading up to that, and the impact that the Wizarding World still maintains upon the themed entertainment industry today.
That post is one of 20 that I included in my 20 Great Reads for 20 Years of Theme Park Insider collection that I also published last summer. If you’re new around here, that’s a great introduction to the type of work we do.
* * * We wanted you to read this article before we make our newsletter pitch, unlike so many other websites. If you appreciate that – and our approach to covering theme park news – please sign up for our free, twice-a-week email newsletter. Thank you.
And for discounted tickets to Universal Orlando’s theme parks, please visit our authorized travel partner’s Universal Orlando tickets page.
I worked that grand opening day. I spent the majority of it on the bridge from Seuss Landing to Lost Continent, explaining to Guests this was was exit only. Almost nobody even questioned it. It was a wild day.
I’m glad WWoHP opened. I think it inspired the industry and gave us permission to keep pushing the envelope. I think it is the reason we have the IP themed lands we know today.
June 17, 2021 at 8:21 PM
The opening of WWoHP was the beginning of Universal and Disney trading blows for expansions. If it didnt open we probably wouldnt have Diagon, Pandora and Star Wars Land.
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This weekend sees the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy, the long-awaited sequel to the 1996’s original, starring LeBron James and Don Cheadle. There’s a ton of new releases besides the Looney Tunes return to the basketball court though in the form of Fear Street Part Three: 1666, Netflix’s assassin action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake, the Romeo and Juliet gangster love drama Die in a Gunfight, and much more.
To help you get a handle on what’s new and available, here are the movies you can watch with the click of a button this weekend.
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Where to watch: In theaters and available to stream on HBO Max
Photo: Warner Bros.
Space Jam: A New Legacy stars LeBron James as a fictionalized version of himself who, in a thwarted attempt to grow closer to his computer game-obsessed son Dom, is transported into the Warner Bros. Serververse and held captive by a nefarious artificial intelligence known as Al-G-Rhythm (Don Cheadle). To escape, LeBron must assemble the Looney Toons cast from across the corners of several Warner Bros. franchises and compete in a winner-takes-all basketball match against the Rhythm’s Goon Squad of virtual basketball icons like Anthony Davis and Klay Thompson. From our review,
The first Space Jam was born out of an attempt to sell sneakers. In a dizzying display of corporate dominance, the new Space Jam is trying to sell everything Warner Bros. has ever made. Space Jam: A New Legacy isn’t really a movie — it’s a crash course in vertical integration and brand identity, a marketing slideshow with a two-hour running time. Its viewers are taken on a whirlwind tour through every Warner IP geared toward every demographic: Wonder Woman’s Themyscira for girls and women, The Matrix for older men, Harry Potter for Old adults under 40 who haven’t been reading the news much, and so forth. This is how Hollywood works now. This is the future of Blockbuster movies.
The third and final film in Leigh Janiak’s Fear Street series, adapted from R.L. Stine’s books, skews the farthest from the established genre conventions of the former two installments with a period horror setting that plunges deep into the backstory of the trilogy’s ostensible antagonist, Sarah Fier. From our review,
Fear Street: 1666 pulls back the veils of time in order to exhume the long-buried truth behind the witch’s curse and the root of Shadyside’s mutual animosity with its sister city Sunnyvale. Sarah, in stark contrast to the malevolent figure the series has made her out to be so far, was not unlike Deena once: a kind-hearted, mild-mannered teenager whose rebellious temperament and repressed sexual identity put her at odds with the prevailing social sentiments of her time. Sarah harbors a love for her childhood friend Hannah Miller (Olivia Scott Welch), parallel to Deena’s relationship with her ex-girlfriend Sam, and when accusations of carnal sin and witchcraft begin to brew in Union following a string of inexplicable and horrifying omens, the closeness between the two naturally makes them targets for suspicion and resentment.
Where to watch: Available to stream on paramount Plus
A Quiet Place Part II takes place shortly after the events of its 2018 predecessor, with Evelyn Abbott and her family abandoning their now-compromised farmhouse to venture out in search of survivors in a world overrun with ravenous alien creatures with hypersensitive hearing. However, the farther out they trek, the more apparent it becomes that there are far greater horrors along the trail apart from their would-be extraterrestrial predators. From our review,
Mostly, the sequel takes the highs of the first movie a little higher, while its lows are about the same. A Quiet Place Part II continues to get a lot of mileage out of toying with horror’s deep relationship with sound, using wonderfully mixed audio to reorient the audience’s sense of peril toward everything aural, and using that threat to ratchet up the tension. Through sound, staging, and performance, scares are wrung out of silence, and the smallest bump can shock viewers with the terror of a gunshot. Furthermore, while thrills are the main draw, the movie’s cast does tremendous work with dramatic scenes communicated in ASL. The care taken in these more intimate scenes does a lot to smooth over the ways disability is factored into the genre conceit. Part II, like the film before it, runs the risk of being overbearing in building to a finale where a hearing aid saves the world, but it at least does the work of rooting that moment in Regan’s arc of independence.
Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy) stars Sam, a professional assassin who adopts the family trade when her mother Scarlett (Lena Headley), a legendary hit-woman abandons her under mysterious circumstances. When Sam’s latest mission goes awry, she chooses to protect young girl (Chloe Coleman) whose life is threatened by an ensuing gang war. With no other choice but to go rogue, Sam must enlist the help of her estranged mother and her lethal associates (Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Carla Gugino) in order to survive. From our review,
Gunpowder Milkshake, the latest John Wick knockoff, can be described like this: What if that female-superheroes-assemble moment from Avengers: Endgame was expanded into a full two-hour movie, starring one of the actors from that specific scene, and incorporating plenty of bisexual lighting and a cute kid for good measure? The simplicity (and arguably superficiality) of this kind of girl-power-rah-rah energy is the fuel of Netflix’s unnuanced, ungraceful, often uninteresting Gunpowder Milkshake. The film’s intermittent delights are momentarily satisfying, but then numbness sets in, like the brain freeze that blooms after you slurp on the film’s titular ice-cream treat.
Die in a Gunfight
Where to watch: Available to rent for $5.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Lionsgate
The White Lotus’ Alexandra Daddario and Diego Boneta star in director Collin Schiffli’s garish gangster action romance drama Die in a Gunfight as Mary and Ben, two star-crossed scions of rival crime families pitted in a centuries-long feud. The discovery of their romance triggers a domino effect that threatens to engulf everyone around them in a violent open war for love and supremacy. With premise on a whole taking obvious cues from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Die in a Gunfight looks like a blast.
Out of Death
Where to watch: Available to rent for $6.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple, and Vudu
Photo: Vertical Entertainment
Out of Death stars Bruce Willis as Jack Harris, a retired cop who treks out to his family’s cabin in the remote wilderness in search of peace and solitude. Things take a turn for the worse however when he crosses paths with Shannon (Jaime King), a hiker on the run from a corrupt police officer after witnesses an illicit drug deal gone horribly wrong. Fearing for their lives, Jack must resort to every ounce of his aptitude for violence and cunning to save Shannon and bring her would-be murderers to justice.
And here’s what dropped last Friday:
Black Widow
Where to watch: Available to stream on Disney Plus Premier Access
Image: Marvel Studios
Set between the events of 2015’s Captain America: Civil War and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, Black Widow finds Natasha Romanoff alone and on the run after siding with Steve Rogers in the wake of the Sokovia Accords. Pursued by a mysterious assassin known as the Taskmaster, Natasha turns to old allies and confronts her sordid history to find answers and possible redemption for the sins of her past. From our review:
Black Widow mostly feels like an apology. It arrives as the 24th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, two years (one of them a pandemic mulligan) after the 22nd film, Avengers: Endgame, featured an emotional scene that in no uncertain terms killed off Black Widow’s main character, Natasha Romanoff. Black Widow had been a consistent presence in the MCU since 2010’s Iron Man 2, and she was one of the key connective figures that helped all of these movies actually feel like a universe. She also seemed to be one of the only women of consequence in the entire franchise. And after coming and going, she’s only getting her own stand-alone movie now, which makes Black Widow feel like an afterthought. It’s only the second MCU film to star a female character, and that character isn’t even alive to take us somewhere new.
Black Widow on Disney Plus
Prices taken at time of publishing.
The latest movie from Marvel Studios will stream at home on Disney Plus Premier Access for an extra fee
Fear Street Part Two: 1978 picks up the thread of the previous installment in the Fear Street trilogy, turning back the clocks to explore the story of “Ziggy” Berman (Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink) and her sister Cindy as they struggle to survive the terrifying Camp Nightwing massacre of 1978. From our review:
Like most middle chapters, Fear Street 1978 struggles to stand on its own, rather than functioning primarily as a bridge between the trilogy’s first and final installments. The final 15 minutes of the film are inarguably its strongest, jumping forward back to 1994 as Deena and Josh exhume Sarah Fier’s hand at the tree where she was hanged, now the site of the Shadyside Mall, where Heather Watkins was murdered in the previous film. As Deena attempts to lay Fier’s remains to rest, she’s struck by a vision not unlike what Sam experienced, one that seemingly transports her back in time to 1666, the year when Sunnyvale and Shadyside were founded, and the origin of the witch’s curse.
Meander
Where to watch it: Available to rent for $4.99 on Amazon Prime Video; $6.99 on Apple, Vudu
Photo: Gravitas Ventures
If you like sci-fi horror thrillers featuring intrepid female protagonists waking up in claustrophobic situations, Meander will totally be up your alley. Gaia Weiss stars as Lisa, a mysterious woman who, after accepting a ride from an ominous stranger, wakes up in a strange metallic labyrinth wearing nothing but a catsuit and a bulky bracelet with a countdown timer. Navigating a deadly series of puzzles, traps, and the murderous intentions of another prisoner trapped alongside her, Lisa will have to use all her wits to escape and see her daughter again. Sounds like Vincenzo Natali’s Cube meets David Schmoeller’s 1986 horror thriller Crawlspace.
Cassel called upon Ben Crowe, the man who helped Barty and her fellow Wimbledon champion Dylan Alcott prepare mentally before their Grand Slam triumphs, to assist in framing the mindset of his performers to get them through the lockdown.
“I’ve been seeing Ben for a while now and frankly, without him, I’m not sure how I would have been able to get to this point. He has been a huge help for me to deal with what is an overwhelming situation, which is very difficult to navigate and full of uncertainty,” Cassel told PS.
The Hamilton cast on stage at the show’s premiere in Sydney.Credit: Supplied
Following her win last Saturday night, according to Barty’s father, the Barty-Crowe connection was integral to the world No.1 adding a Wimbledon trophy to her French Open success two years ago.
“You know she used to speak to her first coach, Jim Joyce, about things like this [winning Wimbledon], but then she went through a period where she didn’t want to tell people what she was thinking or what she was aiming for,” Rob Barty told the Herald.
“There was definitely a time where it felt quite suffocating because, I mean, it was heavy going. It was kind of every day for, I think, 10 years in the end,” Grint said.
Tony-nominated actor in theater, film and TV who appeared in the 2019 “Chernobyl” miniseries and 2009’s “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” has died, his representative confirmed. He was 54.
The actor died Monday evening at home after suffering from a brain tumor, surrounded by his wife and sons, representative Isabella Riggs confirmed to USA TODAY.
“Paul was an exceptionally talented actor playing an enormous variety of roles on stage and screen with extraordinary skill,” a statement added. “He was fiercely intelligent, kind and very funny. We will miss him greatly.”
Born in the United Kingdom, Ritter most recently starred as patriarch Martin Goodman in the British television series “Friday Night Dinner,” which ran from 2011 to 2020.
In 2009, he received a Tony nomination for his lead role in the play “The Norman Conquests” and appeared as Eldred Worple in the film adaptation of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” He also played a political operative in “Quantum of Solace,” the 2008 James Bond film.
In 2019, he appeared in the history/drama miniseries “Chernobyl” as Anatoly Dyaltlov, a deputy chief engineer put on trial for causing the infamous 1986 nuclear accident.
Oscar winner Helen Mirren praised Ritter as a “thoughtful actor who was truly wonderful to work with.”
In a statement sent by her publicist to USA TODAY, Mirren said Ritter was “sensitive, intelligent and generous (and) he will be terribly missed by all the fraternity who make drama.”
The two worked together in the 2013 UK play, “The Audience,” in which Mirren portrayed Queen Elizabeth II and Ritter played Prime Minister John Major. (The play has been cited in the credits of some episodes of Netflix’s “The Crown.”)
“Friday Night Dinner” creator Robert Popper mourned Ritter in a statement as “a lovely, wonderful human being. Kind, funny, super caring and the greatest actor I ever worked with.”
“We were incredibly sad to learn that Paul Ritter passed away last night,” Big Talk, the production company behind “Friday Night Dinner,” added in a statement provided to USA TODAY.
“He was a brilliant, kind and talented man much loved by everyone who was lucky enough to know and work with him, and Paul will forever be part of both the Big Talk and Friday Night Dinner families. Our thoughts are with his own family at this time and following their wishes we will be making a donation to the Old Vic Impact Fund.”
Fans of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter will be excited to visit the newly opened Harry Potter New York flagship store starting on July 15, 2021 for two amazing virtual reality (VR) experiences. Exclusive to the New York location (not even duplicated at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida), the adventures were created by WarnerMedia in partnership with the creative teams at Wevr and Keylight and VR industry leaders Dreamscape Immersive, the two adventures feature totally new and unique experiences. Both put fans into an immersive world filled with landmarks from the series and featuring treasured characters.
I was invited for an early visit to the store to experience both the experiences for myself – and, while I will absolutely not spoil even the smallest part of the storyline, I can share a few tidbits with you.
Both experiences start with selecting an avatar wearing your house colors that will represent you within the virtual reality world and donning cutting edge wearable VR technology, including headsets, backpacks, hand and foot trackers, and peripheral wands that allow interaction with the virtual experiences. Thanks to these multiple body-mounted trackers, the sensory effects and immersive virtual environment deliver a level of realism and body-matching unlike anything experienced before.
The first experience, “Chaos at Hogwarts”, starts with you and up to five others arriving at King’s Cross station for a trip to Hogwarts Castle. This adventure is particularly amazing as users move freely around a completely virtual environment because all the hardware is body-mounted and can see the avatars of the rest of the group moving around them in the same space.
A certain free elf will meet you at the station before your trip to Hogwarts… I hope you have your bags packed. Image Credit: WarnerMedia
“Wizards Take Flight” allows up to six users to mount their brooms for a ride around the grounds of Hogwarts – again, completely under your control. If you want to sweep past the Whomping Willow or race through the Quidditch pitch, the choice is yours. But be aware, you never know when the magical can bring unexpected results.
Select your avatar and gear representing your Hogwarts house before climbing onto your own broom for a flight. Image Credit: WarnerMedia
One more little insight that will help make your virtual reality experience at Harry Potter New York even more exciting: you will be equipped with your own VR wand and keeping a few rehearsed spells in mind will help… my favorites:
“Riddikulus” will take something scary and turns it into something silly.
For defense, “Petrificus Totalus” is a full-body binding curse
Why carry a muggle flashlight when “Lumos” will illuminate the tip of your wand?
“Crucio” will cause excruciating pain (yeah, it is an “unforgivable curse”, but you never know when you might need it).
And, of course, “Confundo” will confuses a person or bewitch an object that you target.
Tickets with a reserved time slot are required for both the VR experiences and may be purchased for $34 each at www.harrypotterstore.com/tickets. New tickets will be released regularly on the site and booking early is highly recommended to secure a ticket for your preferred time slot and to ensure that you and your group can all experience Harry Potter VR together. Regular visitors to the store need to register in a virtual queue, but guests who have purchased VR experience do not need to and may proceed to the front of the line when they arrive at the store.
In addition to the incredible virtual reality experiences, Harry Potter New York is, of course, a massive 21,000 sq. ft store in the heart of New York City’s Flatiron district dedicated to all things from the Wizarding World – cloaks, scarves, and all manner of products from the different houses at Hogwarts are available along with a tremendous selection of wands (both those original to the store and others directly based on those used by characters in the stories). Also available are a collection of the snacks that Harry Potter introduced us to, brought to life for your enjoyment – I brought home a chocolate frog (complete with wizarding trading card), a large box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans… but the run-away favorite for me was the Butterbeer pub at the where you can indulge in a draft of the sweet drink yourself.
Visit Harry Potter New York at 935 Broadway in New York City, with entrances on both Broadway and Fifth Avenue. The store is open from 10am-9pm Mon through Sat and 11am-7pm on Sundays. You can visit www.harrypotterstore.com for the most up-to-date information regarding ticket sales, arrival instructions, and health and safety protocols.
Two Harry Potter rarities with direct links to the publishing and film franchise are expected to take thousands of pounds at an upcoming online auction in Surrey.
The first is one of around 200 uncorrected proof copies of the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, produced in original white and yellow wrappers.
Complete with an error to the title page, which reads ‘J.A. Rowling’, this book was a working document used to finish the publishing process at Bloomsbury in 1997.
At 224 pages, it carries an estimated value of £2,000-4,000 and will be auctioned in the Ewbank’s Entertainment, Memorabilia Movie Props sale on Thursday (May 27).
An uncorrected proof copy of the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Image: Ewbank’s Auctions)
The auction will also feature a paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, used during the making of the film and signed by six members of the cast.
The signatures are from Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Devon Murray (Seamus Finnigan) and Katie Leung (Cho Chang).
It is estimated at £700-1,000, according to Ewbank’s, based in Send.
Ewbank’s partner and specialist Alastair McCrea said: “There have been a number of spectacular prices for signed Harry Potter first editions, but these two lots offer collectors something very unusual and scarce indeed.”
The Harry Potter lots can be viewed online here, where there are more details about registering for live online bidding.
Thinking about catching up with The Boy Who Lived? You’re in luck — every film in the Harry Potter series is available to stream. Get ready to watch (or rewatch) Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the wizards battle He Who Must Not Be Named.
Last year was an eventful one for Potter-heads: all eight films were made available to stream together on HBO Max this past summer. Even though Universal held the exclusive digital and on-air rights for the last few years, HBO quickly secured a deal to feature the films. But it wasn’t for long — the entire film series left the platform just three months of streaming.
The films have bounced from platform to platform — for those on a Harry Potter binge, it’s hard to keep track! So, where are the Harry Potter films now? Here’s everything you need to know about streaming the magical film series:
Unfortunately, none of the Harry Potter films are streaming on Netflix, nor are they available on Disney+. But don’t fret — you’ve got other options to stream the fantasy films.
Where are all of the Harry Potter movies available to stream?
Right now, all eight Harry Pottermovies are available to watch in order on Peacock. While the first three films (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) are available to watch with a standard, free Peacock subscription, you’ll have to pay to watch the later films in the franchise, which are only available with a Peacock Premium subscription. The Premium plan, which unlocks the full Peacock library, costs either $4.99 per month or $9.99 per month for an ad-free version. Sign up for Peacock Premium right here.
The eight Harry Potterfilms used to be available on HBO Max, but have since left the platform.
Are the Harry Potter movies available to rent or purchase?
Don’t want to sign up for a streaming service? That’s not an issue — all of the Harry Potter films are also available to rent or purchase. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 can all be rented for $3.99 per film on Prime Video, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Microsoft, and Vudu. The films can also be purchased, with costs ranging from $9.99 to $14.99, depending on the title.
You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative from the brands that should be on your radar. Today, we take a look at a star-studded campaign featuring famous faces from Harry Potter to the Joker encouraging Americans to wear face masks.
Americans are being encouraged to emulate their screen idols and wear a face mask to protect themselves and others from the spread of Covid-19. Celluloid figures as diverse as Immortan Joe, Dr Evil and Neo have been unwittingly enlisted for a public service announcement that weaves together unforgettable masked up scenes from cinematic history to deliver an urgent public health message.
Backed by the Ad Council, the Centre for Disease Control and WarnerMedia, the message unites some of the best-known characters from the Warner Bros catalog to promote the benefits of covering up.
The commercial comes as the number of Americans opting to consistently don a mask when out and about has stalled over recent months at around three-quarters of the population, despite the continued spread of Covid-19 through communities.
To address this contradiction, familiar scenes from franchises such as Mad Max, Austin Powers and the Matrix have been edited together to show that even the most powerful superheroes and villainous antagonists are not afraid to mask up when the situation demands it.
Crafted on a pro bono basis by WarnerMedia Studios’ in-house creative agency 10th Street Productions, the clip feeds into the Ad Council’s ’Mask Up America’ initiative to curtail the spread of the virus.
Throughout the pandemic, the Ad Council has played a leading role in influencing behavior through advertising and public service announcements on issues such as the importance of mental health awareness through the crisis.
The mash-up of famous film scenes dovetails with efforts to promote and distribute a vaccine with brands such as Facebook and Walmart helping to educate the public on the need to immunize.
J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” novels and Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” series along with a wide range of educational materials, reading clubs and book fairs, has died. He was 84.
The children’s publishing giant announced that Robinson died Saturday, but did not immediately provide a cause. The publisher said he had been in excellent health.
“We are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Dick Robinson,” Scholastic’s board of directors said in a statement. “Dick was a true visionary in the world of children’s books and an unrelenting advocate for children’s literacy and education with a remarkable passion his entire life.”
Rowling remembered Robinson on Monday as a “wise, kind and humane man,” who was “an early champion of Harry Potter and a stalwart support to me through the twenty-four years we knew each other.”
Brian Selznick praised the “the power of his leadership and the clarity of his mission,” and Ruby Bridges, who as an author drew upon her experiences as the first Black child to attend an all-white New Orleans elementary school, called Robinson a “friend and mentor.”
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A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Harvard College, Robinson was the son of Maurice R. Robinson, who founded Scholastic as a classroom magazine in 1920. The younger Robinson worked as a teacher and bricklayer, among other jobs, before joining Scholastic in the mid-1960s. He was named president in 1974, CEO in 1975 and board chair in 1982.
Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books. The company’s estimated net worth is around $1.2 billion, down from over $1.6 billion in 2016 but well above a low of under $800 million during last year’s pandemic.
Over the past decade, Robinson received an honorary National Book Award for his contributions to the literary community and was cited by PEN America for his contributions to free expression.
“Working with you and the team at Scholastic on Harry Potter has been one of the most significant and meaningful partnerships in my life,” Rowling, the British author for whom Scholastic served as the U.S. publisher of her Potter books, said in a 2019 statement provided for the PEN award. “A unique relationship exists between authors and the publishers who have supported them — and you, Dick, have supported me and my work in countless, indescribable ways.”
Scholastic also publishes such popular series as Dav Pilkey’s “Captain Underpants” and Norman Bridwell’s “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” and has long been established in classrooms through its clubs, newsletters and other programs, including a partnership with novelist James Patterson.
Robinson’s time at Scholastic was marked by financial ups and downs, even with the historic success of the “Harry Potter” books, and occasional battles with censors who objected to books like “Potter,” “Captain Underpants” and Alex Gino’s “George” as inappropriate for younger readers.
“Captain Underpants” creator Dav Pilkey said in a statement that Robinson was “more than just a visionary and a publisher. He was a brave explorer who didn’t worry about risks.”
“He opened the door for us to dream big,” Pilkey said. “He was a writer and artist himself and fought for the equality and acceptance of all people. I will miss his sharp wit, forward vision, and the overwhelming love he gave to me and my family.”
In an interview last year with The Associated Press, Robinson noted that Scholastic had endured through profound changes in the culture and aimed to educate readers in an even-handed way.
“We are dealing with issues like global warming, racial inequality in a way that doesn’t polarize the issue but gives points of views on both sides and is a balanced neutral position but not in a sense of being bland,” he said. “Here are the arguments on the other. Here is what people are saying. Here are questions you can ask to formulate your own view.”
