Japan Getting Harry Potter Park

Wizarding World in Osaka will be first outside US
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 10, 2012 11:33 PM CDT
Updated May 11, 2012 1:24 AM CDT
Japan Getting Harry Potter Park
James and Oliver Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley in the Potter movies, joined fans for the theme park announcement yesterday.   (PRNewsFoto/Warner Bros./Universal Studios Japan)

Hogwarts is coming to Honshu. Universal Studios is planning to open a Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Osaka by late 2014, reports the Guardian. The park, like the one in Orlando and the one under construction in Hollywood, will feature rides, a Hogwarts castle, and a Hogsmeade village. The Orlando Potter attraction has boosted attendance at Universal Orlando by 68%, and demand is likely to be just as high at the park in Japan.

The Potter movies grossed nearly $900 million in Japan, and millions more were made from merchandise like magic wand chopsticks, but with no more books or movies to come, Universal needs the theme parks to magic more money out of the franchise, notes the Los Angeles Times. Execs say that with two parks now under construction, they have all the Wizarding Worlds they can manage for now, but they'll certainly be willing to take a look if more opportunities present themselves. (More Japan stories.)

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