Not-so-magical Harry Potter live Q&A disappoints 'Fantastic' fans
What was that? A much-hyped streaming movie discussion revealed nothing about next Potter film.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Accio disappointment!
Thousands of Harry Potter fans followed prompts from Potter social media accounts and tuned into a live online Q&A Wednesday night.
Sadly, the result was about as exciting as the History of Magic class taught by snoozy ghost Professor Binns.
"Join your favorite creators from around the world for a special night!" the various Harry Potter accounts tweeted enticingly. "Share your excitement for #FantasticBeasts and ask your questions now!"
But in the 40-minute session, streamed live on YouTube and Facebook, absolutely no new information was released about "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," the Potter movie due out in November.
Those "creators"? Not anyone involved with the film, but instead a panel of popular YouTubers, including Tyler Oakley and Ingrid Nilsen, who had all been invited to visit the movie's set, but apparently weren't allowed to reveal any information that's not in the film's trailer.
The YouTubers took pre-submitted questions, but were unable to share any unreleased photos or answer inquiries such as "which magical creatures are in the movie?" (Spanish YouTuber Holly Molly replied, "We don't really know yet, but are really excited to find out with all of you.") Questions mostly focused on the various YouTubers' personal opinions, with a typical question being, "What is your favorite part of J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World?"
Potterheads' confusion was evident from the comments scrolling furiously up on both YouTube and Facebook.
"I thought they were going to be creators of the (film), not random YouTube non-entities," said one.
"Am I the only one who thinks this is a little boring?" said another.
"Who are these people? What does this have to do with Harry Potter?" wrote a third.
The general consensus seemed to be summed up best by the YouTube commentor who wrote, "I don't care what these people think. I want to know about the movie!"
The discussion may have been as disappointing as Ron Weasley's wand skills, but in other areas, Potter fans are enjoying all kinds of trickled-out treasures lately. Fan reviews for the London stage play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" have been rapturous, and the script will be published on Harry and Rowling's shared birthday, July 31.
And though the discussion told us nothing about "Fantastic Beasts," a Potter prequel inspired by the Hogwarts textbook of the same name, the trailer released in April is pure magic. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, who apparently was kicked out of Hogwarts despite the best efforts of then-teacher Albus Dumbledore. Scamander finds himself traveling the world investigating magical creatures, some of which he appears to haul around in a special suitcase. But when he lands in 1920s New York, drama unfurls, and some of those fantastic beasts end up loose in the Big Apple.
There. That's 10 times more info than you would've received from the Potter streaming Q&A. Let's watch the trailer again, shall we?