Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter
As the crow (or perhaps the owl) flies, Art of the Movies HQ is about 2.5 miles from Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden. On an evening of filming, the sounds of pyrotechnic explosions and gunshots echo across the fields that separate us.
It was there on 29th September 2000 that filming began of the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. By the time filming wrapped on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the cast and crew had made Leavesden their home for nine years, eight months and thirteen days.
Recreating the magical world imagined by J.K. Rowling was a phenomenal undertaking. Steven Spielberg had been in discussions to direct the first film and wanted to make an animated movie. Christopher Columbus had other ideas and his passionate presentation to Warner Bros and Rowling convinced them that real-life adaptations of the books were possible. It would not be easy.
A decade of toil by a crew of thousands resulted in eight astonishing films that earned a combined $7.8B at the box office and, together with the books, inspired several generations of wizard fans, world-wide.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter opened its doors on 31st March 2012. This unique attraction offers fans the ultimate chance to get up close to authentic sets, discover the magic behind spell-binding special effects and explore behind-the-scenes secrets of the Harry Potter films.
Incredibly, even though it is so close, the AotM family had never visited – until last weekend. Without giving too much away. here are a few of our highlights.
The young wizard's dormitory at Hogwarts'
I do not like the look of this lot...
The Hogwarts' Express - What a way to get to school!
Just a small part of the incredible model of Hogwarts' School of Magic
There is so much more to see and there is no better way of getting an appreciation for the incredible number of talented people it took to bring those films to life. From set-builders, costume makers and creature creators to model builders, sound designers and special effects engineers, this incredible tour lets you in to the magic of the Harry Potter movies. We loved it.
The tour changes periodically to share new spells with fans. Still to come this year are:
Discovering Hogwarts: 2nd May – 4th September 2023
Dark Arts: 15th September – 5th November 2023
Hogwarts in the Snow: 11th November 2023 – 14th January 2024
Tickets must be pre-booked at www.wbstudiotour.co.uk (they cannot be bought at the attraction) and we whole-heartedly recommend it to any fan.
I'm off to try a Tarantallegra spell on the kids with my new wand!
You can find the original Wizarding World movie posters that we currently have available here.
Adam and the Art of the Movies team.
