Recalling Kanye West: Twilight, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish, but Harry Potter was one of the best film franchises of all time.
The final movie in the Twilight saga premiered last weekend, netting $141 million at the box-office, which is a healthy but by no means stellar performance.
Though it has lingered for several years, Twilight fever appears to have come and (hopefully) gone.
Harry Potter was a literary, cinematic and financial juggernaut, catapulting J.K. Rowling from rags to riches, as she became the first author to become a billionaire from writing books. She is now a mere multi-millionaire, having donated much of her wealth to various charitable causes.
The Harry Potter series sparked a return to reading for many children — and even older readers — as adults lamented younger generations’ lack of interest in literary pursuits.
Without Harry Potter, without this newfound love of the written word, it would not have been possible for the Twilight series to become so popular — though it does pain me to equate Twilight with quality literature.
Sure, Stephenie Meyer may have had the dream that inspired her to write Bella and Edward’s insipid romance (no, really. She had a dream) and got it published.
But if Potter fans, used to waiting breathlessly for each new installment of the series, had not picked up Twilight (a poor substitute for Rowling’s wonderfully, magically written prose), it is doubtful that Twilight would have become anything more than another reject teen romance novel.
Without Harry Potter, there would have been no “Hunger Games,” another new book series turned film franchise.
There wouldn’t even be a two-part adaptation of “The Hobbit” this December had the book-splitting gambit not proven to be massively profitable for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
Harry Potter was a once-in-a-lifetime series, and the phenomenon the books ignited still lives on to this day: Harry Potter weekends on ABC Family, an honors seminar for scholarly discussion of the themes of the series, a new sub-genre of music inspired by the books and movies.
Harry Potter was an intrinsic part of growing up for me and for millions more around the globe. In retrospect, it seems that the success of the boy wizard was inevitable, and some may feel the same about the Twilight series.
In a parallel universe in which Harry Potter never existed, there are quiet Twilight fans wishing desperately for someone to make a movie about Bella, Edward and Jacob.
But in that parallel universe, they will have no luck. Without Harry Potter, it is inconceivable that a fantasy novel would have gained any traction in pop culture.
Without Harry Potter, pop culture and the film industry itself would be entirely different from what we know today.
Reach the columnist at skthomas4@asu.edu or follow her at @SavannahKThomas.
