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Arts & Entertainment

Off to See the Wizard: A Theater Employee's Take on Potter at Midnight

Theater employee Austin Gomez explains just what makes a Harry Potter midnight show so chaotically magical.

A midnight show at a movie theater isn’t really as chaotic as it sounds.

In terms of most summer blockbusters, lines at the box office and the concession stand rarely exceed unreasonable lengths, and ushers merely need to ensure that every moviegoer finds a seat. With this summer’s lineup so far, there really hasn’t seemed to be any sellouts.

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Since I have been working at for almost a year, I was able to experience the sheer madness that ensues a Harry Potter midnight show. Although I had no prior experience to reference, eight sold-out theaters and a line extending all the way around the building was enough to convince me that this premier would be the mother of all midnight shows for the entire series. Don’t doubt me on this one; I’m Sirius.

To allow myself some time to recover from that horrible pun, here’s a play-by-play of how I survived the midnight show for the final Harry Potter film:

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8:45 p.m. – I arrived at work—dressed in a sweater, jeans, a make-up scar and no-lens glasses—around fifteen minutes early. I’d actually already been there two for hours to interview groups of Potter fans waiting in line. Turned out, I looked more like a hipster than like Harry.

9 p.m. – My night at work actually began just after most of my co-workers had realized that I still had my scar and glasses on (I kept my wand as well for good measure). Since the line wasn’t allowed in for another hour, I spent time getting ready for the night, including ensuring that we had enough Potter-esque 3D glasses to go around. And, boy, did we need a lot of them.

9:50 p.m. – I received battle plans from my managers. They told us the structure of ticket ripping. I suppose “battle plans” is pretty high on the list of incorrect words for that sentence, but it makes everything sound that much more epic. I’ll also add that, at this point, it was just me, my fellow ticket ripper, a set of glass doors and what seemed to be a mile-long line of fans.

10 p.m.  – Lightning has struck; I repeat, lightning has struck.

10:01 – In groups (thankfully), heaps of people from the line raced to the doors in order to see one of the defining movies of a generation. From a ticket ripping standpoint, nothing was too insane. It mainly consisted of me saying “13 to your right” or “15 all the way to your left in the Ultrascreen,” and directing people to any of six other screens. In between the mad rushes of people storming in as well as the sheer monotony of ripping ticket stubs, it was nice to get compliments on my glasses. It was equally comforting to see several other fans dressed in costumes. I give major credit to the guy who dressed up, mask and all, as Dobby.

10:30 p.m. – A group of Potter fans came in, one of them dressed as Voldemort’s snake, Nagini. Thinking this was incredible, I immediately said, “Whoa, I like this guy!” After hearing from one of the other group members that the costumed snake was a girl, I quickly ripped their tickets in a decently awkward silence followed by a goodhearted laugh.

10:50 p.m. – A woman dressed as the frustratingly horrid Dolores Umbridge came to the ticket stand with the rest of her followers. This was easily the best costume of the night.

11 p.m. – After being relocated to the center of the box office once everyone was in the theater, I took one look back at the concession stand. My jaw dropped. I had never before seen lines so long. I suppose you could say I lucked out with just ripping tickets, but I guess ringing up food with my wand wouldn’t have been too shabby either. Unfortunately, we didn’t carry any novelties like chocolate frogs or butterbeer that night.

11:30 p.m. – The movie is set to start in a half an hour, which meant the lines at the concession stand died down, and I was face-to-face with stacks upon stacks of Internet tickets that required scanning. Maybe I didn’t luck out with ticket ripping after all.

12 a.m.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 had officially started at midnight, whatever that was.

12:20 a.m. – Yep, still scanning. At this point, I had a few helping hands with my final duties. Otherwise, I surely would have fallen asleep. Either that or I would have begun to incoherently ramble as a person does when he’s tired. I’m glad it was neither.

12:30 a.m. – The night finally ends for me. I had officially survived my first (and sadly, only) Harry Potter midnight show. As harrowing as it seemed, having an organized managerial and general support structure for the employees on all fronts made it not so tough to handle.

As I reminisced on what that day actually meant for the world of Harry Potter, I realized something. Whether it was the end or just another gateway to brilliance, seeing lifelong series fans who were nothing short of ecstatic to watch this movie made working until nearly 1 a.m. quite a pleasure.

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