Entertainment

Giant Harry Potter wands to tour UK and Ireland for JK Rowling’s charity

Fans can vote on which locations the installation will visit on the Fantastic Beasts website.
Fans can vote on which locations the installation will visit on the Fantastic Beasts website. Fans can vote on which locations the installation will visit on the Fantastic Beasts website.

Four towns and cities will be transformed when a collection of giant wands from the Wizarding World tour the UK and Ireland in aid of JK Rowling’s charity.

Harry Potter fans will vote on where the 15ft wands stop off, with the most popular eight locations announced on March 18. They will then be whittled down to four.

The installation was originally displayed on the walkway between Millennium Bridge and St Paul’s Cathedral in London last year.

Wizarding World fans gather at the exhibition in London (Warner Bros/PA) (Tom Nicholson/Tom Nicholson/PinPep)

Now the nine statues – including Lord Voldemort’s yew wand and Queenie Goldstein’s rosewood wand – will travel across the UK and Ireland.

Each night the wands will illuminate and perform a light show to music from the Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter films.

A fan poses with the Elder Wand from the Harry Potter film series (Warner Bros/PA) (Joe Pepler)

Rowling’s Lumos charity, named after the light-giving spell in her Harry Potter books, was launched by the author to end the institutionalisation of children around the world.

The installation comes ahead of the Blu-ray and DVD release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald on March 18.

Josh Berger, president and managing director of Warner Bros Entertainment UK, Eire and Spain, and president of Harry Potter global franchise development, said: “We were overwhelmed by the response to the Wizarding World Wands supporting Lumos installation in London last year and want to bring the magic to fans across the country.

“We are excited to find out where they’ll be unveiled next.”