The magic of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” sent sell-out crowds running to movie theaters in Port Angeles and Port Townsend this weekend to get their fix of the new hit film.
The movie opened in a record 3,672 theaters on about 8,200 screens, nearly a fourth of the nation’s movie screens.
The Rose Theatre in Port Townsend sold out of tickets for Friday showings within 20 minutes, theater Manager Chrissy McLean said.
“We actually had people who waited in line overnight,” she said.
Kids and adults started to line up in the cold outside Deer Park Cinemas in Port Angeles before 7 Saturday night, waiting for the 8 p.m. showing.
Some parents, returning for the later show after seats for the 5 p.m. movie filled up, carried sleeping children over their shoulders into the theater.
The rest of this story — plus a puzzler for Harry Potter fans in USA Weekend magazine and a commentary on the phenomenon by George F. Will — appear in today’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.