Taxes and propaganda thwart hopes of would-be Potter audiences in some countries

Viewers around the world have flocked to theaters to watch the final movie of the Harry Potter epic, which raked in a record-breaking 476 million dollars on its opening weekend. But for some fans of the boy wizard, the end hasn’t come quite yet. Realities of the muggle world — ranging from taxes to politics — have prevented Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 from reaching a large segment of the world’s population.

For starters, don’t even think about trying to see it in Saudi Arabia where the entire Harry Potter series is banned by authorities concerned that the story will promote witchcraft.

The film’s opening in both Jordan and Indonesia has been delayed by tax disputes between the respective governments and international movie distributors. In Indonesia, the royalty issue developed when the government proposed movie importers be taxed on a film’s expected revenue rather than its length, as is currently done. The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents many of Hollywood’s largest studios including Warner Brothers, the producer of the Harry Potter films, balked at the expense, and in February ceased distributing films in Indonesia altogether. The parameters of the debate in Jordan are similar, with the Customs Department seeking to levy taxes based on the "intellectual property content" of films instead of their physical weight.

Many Indonesian fans are outraged by their inability to see the Potter film (as well as many other recent blockbusters), and some have even considered traveling to Malaysia or Singapore to view the movie. Hope, however, is in sight. On July 21^st, Muklis Paimi, head of the Indonesian Film Censorship Board, told the Jakarta Globe that despite the unresolved royalty dispute, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Kung Fu Panda 2 should be in theaters by the end of the month.

Harry Potter is also absent from a much, much larger market: China. And, as in Indonesia and Jordan, it’s not the only movie that’s missing. According to Time Magazine, Gao Jun, the deputy general manager of Beijing’s New Film Association, announced that Beginning of the Great Revival, a Chinese-made film on the rise of the Communist Party, must earn 124 million dollars, before foreign films will be shown in the country. Unfortunately that movie, despite its famous cast, expensive sets, and government support, has not been particularly popular.

China’s market for films is growing rapidly with more than 6,200 theaters in the country and ticket sales in 2010 totaling $1.57 billion. Currently, however, the government only allows 20 foreign films to be shown in these theaters annually, and even those films are often censored.  Harry Potter is scheduled to open for Chinese audiences on August 4^th. Any fans hoping to see the movie before then will have to take a page out of a Hogwarts spell-book and try a little magic — or they can find one of the many hawkers selling a pirated version on the street.