Canadian boy Oran Kerr (12) may be in Dublin on his holidays, but he is impressively up to date on the local Harry Potter angle.
"I really liked the new girl - the one from Termonfeckin," said Oran yesterday, moments after he had finished watching one of the first Irish screenings of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Cineworld complex on Parnell Street.
Louth teenager Evanna Lynch (15) plays Luna Lovegood in the fifth film in the Harry Potter franchise and has plenty of screen time, Oran said.
Cineworld had scheduled an ambitious 18 Order of the Phoenix sessions yesterday for the first day of screenings in Ireland. The film is certain to do well; at special midnight screenings in the US it pulled in $12 million (€8.8 million), which was a record for a midweek midnight showing.
In Dublin, for a wet afternoon during school holidays, audience numbers for the early sessions seemed fairly small, although departing viewers said they were delighted with the new film.
"I think it was very good," said 12-year- old Michael McDonagh, from Clonsilla, "especially at the end, when . . ."
Michael's full response has been censored, in an attempt to prevent a riot among those yet to see the film.
His sister Annemarie (12) said she had not read any of JK Rowling's books - which made her one of the few Harry Potter fans in the world who did not know how the film would end.
There would be no surprises for Aaron Roe-Ashe (9) and his sister, Jane. "We've seen all of them," said Aaron.
"And they'll be queuing for the book release," said a resigned Ann Salmon, who accompanied the siblings to the film.
Rowling's final book of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is due to be released in Ireland at the parent-unfriendly hour of one minute past midnight on July 21st.
She said her son, Mark (9) and his friends the Roe-Ashes were determined to watch the film on its first day of release.
"They've been going absolutely wild to see it," said Ms Salmon, sounding weary. "Normally we'd go at night time, but with the weather so bad as well, you've just got to keep them occupied."
POTTER POLL: audience view
Oran Kerr, 12, from Canada
"I really liked the new girl - the one from Termonfeckin. She's in it for a lot of the movie. It was really good and I thought there were good special effects when they were, like, having a battle between Voldemort and Harry. How did I know she was from Termonfeckin? Because my dad's from Louth.
Annemarie McDonagh, 12, from Clonsilla
"It was good. It would be in my Top 10 movies. I have lots of favourite movies but this would be near the top. We haven't read the books so we didn't know what was going to happen. It was very exciting.
Michael Joyce, 12, from Dublin
"Very good. I thought the best part in it was the part of Voldemort, when Harry battled Voldemort and Voldemort . . . [Michael reveals a crucial plot detail] and I liked it then when Harry Potter nearly died and he was on the ground and I liked the part in it when they started flying to London."
- Adam Harvey