Imagine Exhibitions, a leader in worldwide travelling exhibitions and entertainment, has opened the doors to the Wizarding World’s most comprehensive touring exhibition alongside Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment and EMC Presents in Downtown Atlanta.
Visitors can enjoy an up-close look at authentic objects and original costumes from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films, as well as a personalised trip through the awe-inspiring magical environments employing immersive design and technology, never previously seen in a touring exhibition. While visitors tour each gallery, their interactions are also recorded via RFID wristbands to give personalised experiences based on their visitor profile.
“I am thrilled to open the doors and welcome people to the exhibition starting today!” said Imagine Exhibitions president and CEO Tom Zaller. “It’s exciting for us to offer the experience for fans here in Atlanta – my hometown and the headquarters of Imagine. The exhibition travels from Philadelphia where it was presented as the world premiere and was enthusiastically received by more than half a million people.”
“Our entire Imagine team, working in close collaboration with Warner Bros. and EMC Presents, have worked to build on the successes. We are all extremely proud to bring this experience to Atlanta.”
Harry Potter: The Exhibition had its world premiere this past February at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it was watched by hundreds of thousands of fans, ranking as one of the museum’s most visited exhibitions in its history. The European premiere will take place at the METAStadt in Vienna, Austria on Friday 16 December 2022. The displays will then continue on travelling across the world, stopping at locations in Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
Journey highlights
Harry Potter: The Exhibition takes visitors on a comprehensive journey through the Wizarding World, including its origins and lore, with a series of carefully crafted galleries.
From Page to Screen has a first edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone housed in a Gringotts-inspired vault and surrounded by inspirational film and literary quotes, reintroducing visitors to the story as they enter the exhibition.
The immersive multimedia experience inside Hogwarts Castle includes classic elements such as the Whomping Willow, Dementors, and The Marauder’s Map, where attendees will see their name appear, urging them to continue their study of the exhibition.
The Great Hall, with its renowned architecture, is a renowned venue where visitors can celebrate spectacular seasonal moments, whilst The Hogwarts Houses gallery serves as the exhibition’s foundation, allowing viewers to have more personalised interactions with the Hogwarts house they choose during preregistration.
This section will allow visitors to experience all of the Hogwarts houses in a celebratory hall featuring the iconic Sorting Hat, perfect for photo ops, and surrounded by freshly designed house crests on meticulously created stained glass windows.
The classrooms at Hogwarts are loaded with legendary decorations, animals, and costumes. Through digital touchscreens, visitors will interact with fascinating lessons and games that reveal behind-the-scenes insights about classic classroom moments. They will manufacture potions in the Potions Classroom, foretell the future in Divination, pot a Mandrake in the Herbology Greenhouse, and kill a boggart in Defense Against the Dark Arts using their digital wand.
The Forbidden Forest and Hagrid’s Hut both provide an interactive Patronus charm experience. Guests will then discover iconic creatures lurking in the forest, such as centaurs and Acromantula, and explore a reproduction of Hagrid’s Hut.
Earlier this year Imagine Exhibitions announced ICE DINOSAURS: The Lost World of the Paleo-Arctic, a new touring exhibition which will showcase newly discovered Arctic-dwelling dinosaurs in an all-new way.
