'Harry Potter' fans brace for film premiere tonight

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” the sixth movie of J.K. Rowling’s book series, premieres at midnight today at the Galaxy 9 theater in Porterville.

Several dozen diehard fans were already lined up outside the theater early Tuesday in hopes of getting good seats.

“It’s Harry Potter,” Kenny McCabe, 18, said. “You can’t be just like, ‘Oh, I want a crappy seat.’”

McCabe sat with his friends — Maria Chavez, 20; Paige Nicholson, 20; Colten McAllister, 21; and Jessie Ridgway, 24 — who all spent Monday night outside the theater.

Nicholson said she arrived at Galaxy 9 around 3 p.m. Monday and traded one of her days off — she works at Pizza Factory — to be able to watch the movie.

“I’m like a Harry Potter fanatic,” she said, “so I’ll be analyzing the whole thing.”

The film is playing on two screens beginning at midnight. A limited number of seats were still available Tuesday afternoon.

-- Contact Alex K.W. Schultz at 784-5000, Ext. 1047 or aschultz@portervillerecorder.com.