'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1' washes over popular culture in Utah, abroad

SALT LAKE CITY — It certainly doesn't need free publicity, but when something penetrates popular culture like the "Harry Potter" juggernaut has, media outlets deliver what readers are rabid for. When thousands of Utahns stay up past their bedtimes, past the witching hour in fact, just to go to the movies this weekend, it certainly qualifies as news.

Utah isn't alone, of course, in the craze to see the newest movie in the film franchise based on the best-selling "Harry Potter" books by J.K. Rowling. In what has become a cinematic tradition for beloved event films, fans lined up around the nation and across the pond to be among the first to view "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1." Ticket-sales website Fandango.com reported Thursday that 97 percent of all its sales were for Harry, with no other movie managing more than 1 percent.

Once simply a children's book, the multimedia assault has penetrated popular culture in nearly every conceivable way. This week, and likely for weeks to come, it is a staple of every traditional newspaper, magazine and television news program and of course every flavor of new media like fansites, blogs and Twitter and Facebook. It has even surpassed Star Wars at amusement parks.

Before the film hit theaters, more than 30 minutes of it was available online. Plenty of sources reported the news. Studio Warner Bros. said in a statement: "This constitutes a serious breach of copyright violation and theft of Warner Bros. property. … Also, we are vigorously investigating this matter and will prosecute those involved to the full extent of the law."

But as CNN points out, the leak and publicity surrounding it may benefit the box office numbers.

Adding to the media blitz was pre-release controversy that the PG-13 film contains a "nude" scene. While no "private parts" are shown, in a wicked vision one character sees Harry and friend embracing while possibly naked and then kissing. The MPAA advises it "contains some sequences of intense action violence, frightening images and brief sensuality".

Less controversy bubbled up over the film's death cult, torture, endangered children, black magic or the desecration of a grave, but in the United Kingdom, which has a different rating system, writers tackled the issue of what was appropriate for kids just as our own Christine Rappleye has done.

But all the news isn't cautious, and some is pretty fun. The tech blog at MSNBC says that the magic of Potter's world are our muggle inventions of tomorrow.

Of course the guy below isn't waiting for tomorrow, he is the self-proclaimed biggest Potter fan in the world today.

Toronto's star has some "Easter eggs" to help you impress your pals.

A keen-eyed thinker at the Washington Post points out that so far the saga takes up 895 minutes. She manages to drop in "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" references and then mentions that nobody will miss that the film isn't in 3D. Come to think of it, the books weren't either.

e-mail: lc@desnews.com