Warner Bros. cracking down on Harry Potter festivals

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Warner Bros. is cracking down on local Harry Potter fan festivals around the country, saying it's necessary to halt unauthorized commercial activity at such events. Fans, however, liken the move to greedy Dementors sucking the joy out of homegrown fun.

Festival directors say they'll transfigure the events into more general celebrations of magic.

Philip Dawson is the director of Chestnut Hill's business district in Philadelphia. He says Warner Bros. reached out to his group in May, letting them know that new guidelines have been put in place regarding such festivals that prohibit the use of any names, places or objects from the series.

Festival directors around the country, including in Aurora, Illinois, and Ithaca, New York, were also told that the new guidelines would prohibit much of the Potter-themed activities.

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