Mad about Harry

Technical problems robbed some Harry Potter fans of the experience of being the first to see the final instalment of the hugely popular film franchise at Tuesday's midnight showing at Bunbury's Grand Cinemas.

Picture: Richmond Graham waited for 14 hours in the Grand Cinemas lobby to get the best seat in the house for yesterday's midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Bunbury Senior High School student Richmond Graham waited for 14 hours in the lobby of Bunbury's Grand Cinemas with nothing but a pillow and two Harry Potter books to ensure he would get the best seat in the house for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.

For 14-year-old Richmond, and many more Potter fans, the final movie has closed the book on what has been a huge chapter of their childhood.

Fans who booked tickets for the midnight 3D showing, however, left the cinemas disappointed when repeated attempts to get the sound to work on the movie failed.

After nearly an hour and a half of waiting to see if the film could be fixed the packed cinema was told by cinema staff the projection was faulty.

Most left the cinema quietly, some left in tears and others angrily demanded for more than the refund offered by the cinema staff.

The frustrated fans, many who had dressed up as witches as wizards, were told by cinema staff the police would be called if the situation got out of hand.

Grand Cinemas staff fielded questions from enraged fans who had taken time off work, driven into Bunbury from out of town and sat in the lobby waiting for hours.

Cinema goers flew off on their brooms in a huff after being told they could send their complaints in an email to Grand Cinemas' head office.

Similar technical problems were reported in Victoria that also spoiled the first screening of the hugely popular film for hundreds of fans.