As movie theaters in China are trying to re-open after weeks of being shut down due to the coronavirus spread, studios are trying to help revamp the industry. Warner Bros. announced that one of the first movies to hit the Chinese theaters upon re-opening will be a 3D 4K restoration of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone.
There is still no official release date for the distribution of the movie, but several movie apps list it as April 30th. If so, Warner Bros. apparently wished to draw crowds during the May 1st Labor Day holiday, which is usually one of the busiest weekends of the year.
The announcement came in the form of an illustrated poster showing Harry’s owl, Hedwig with Harry’s green inked acceptance letter. The tagline reads: “Magic is coming”.
Chinese fans reacted enthusiastically to the news. “Is this for real?? Put out all eight of them at once; I’ll just live in the cinemas!”, one of the fans wrote on Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter). Another fan wrote: “With the 4K restoration and the 3D, this will be like a whole new film. Even if you’ve seen Harry Potter already in theaters, this will be an unprecedented new experience.”
