I was more of a fan of the Harry Potter Books versus the movies, but I also loved the movies. It still amazes me that a penniless school teacher wrote a children's book on napkins that became famous all over the world. I think that's a more interesting story. =)

edit: The new movie was visually spectacular, but I thought it might have been conceptually too mature to keep the attention of younger people. After I left the premiere, I overheard several conversations that people were disappointed and bored. =(