Butterbeer Not Available...But Who Knows?

'Way before all this fuss about sexy vampires (hickeys gone wild?) captured the throbbing hearts of youngsters everywhere and threatened to turn television and juvenile literature into something Anne Rice would slit her own throat over, J.K Rowling exposed a fact that we'd somehow missed: a 700-page book is not daunting to a youngster if the characters and plot are interesting. I was amazed when the Harry Potter series of books (yes, they were books FIRST!) exploded onto the scene and were gobbled up by preteens everywhere. The first time I noticed these kids and their parents waiting at midnight at a book store waiting for the new release, I knew Rowling had struck a nerve...a nerve that the Twilight series seems to have resonated against as well...though I'm not so sure this one isn't more of a female nerve than a generic one.
Anyway, the last of the Harry Potter movies is about to be unveiled next week...I won't see it, and I may not read the book since they have become a bit contrived for me. Also, now we have She-Whose-Name-Must-Not-Be-Mentioned still flitting about on the political scene, so Voldemort seems a bit lame.
However, if you long to experience the entire Harry Potter "thing," you are in luck, but you have to be in Chicago for it (at least so far. I'm sure this idea will spread rapidly). Beginning Wednesday afternoon, the Marcus theaters in Gurnee and Orland Park will begin showing every single Harry Potter movie, in order, until the first showing of the final episode that features, I suppose, the last battle between good magic and, uh, bad magic. Here's the schedule (just in case):

The marathon starts at 3 p.m. Wednesday with "Sorcerer's Stone," "Chamber of Secrets" (6 p.m.) and "Prisoner of Azkaban" (9 p.m.). It picks up again at noon Thursday with "Goblet of Fire," then "Order of the Phoenix" (2:55 p.m.), "Half-Blood Prince" (5:30 p.m.) and "Deathly Hallows — Part 1" (8:20 p.m.), concluding with the series finale at midnight.

The audience is limited to Muggles, and I have no idea what the concession stands will feature. Check out marcustheatres.com for all the info (just in case)