STUDIO TELLS THEATERS TO MUZZLE THE MUGGLES

A teensy word from a megamovie is causing a bit of a fuss. The magic word
is "muggles."

Warner Brothers, the company distributing the predicted blockbuster "Harry
Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone," has cautioned theaters not to use the word
muggles in any promotions.

The movie, based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling book of the same name,
opens in Columbia at 12:01 a.m. Friday.

The muggles directive is tucked away among other do's and don'ts in an
online message to theater managers: "Do display banners throughout the
theater" and "Do promote using the film's full title."

"Don't use the word muggles in any promotions."

Muggles figure prominently in the Harry Potter books and in the film. They
are people without a speck of magic in them -- who don't believe in
wizards, spells and potions.

Though the Warner Brothers directive is specific, not all theater employees
know about it.

Brian Callaghan, who handles marketing for General Cinemas, hadn't gotten
word: "No one has told me what I can and can't say."

Warner Brothers spokesman Jeff Hare said the reason for muffling muggles is
simple. Someone other than Rowling claims to have coined the term.

"We're trying to stay away from any legal action -- to be cautious," Hare said.

Author Nancy K. Stouffer is suing the Scholastic Corp., Time Warner, Mattel
and Hasbro over similarities between her books and Rowling's.

Stouffer's "Rah and the Muggles" was penned in 1984, 13 years before
Rowling's first Harry Potter book, and features a character named Larry Potter.

But the term muggle was first used in the 13th century.

Though its origin is unknown, the Oxford English Dictionary says it could
be a Kentish word meaning tail. That makes a "muggling" a man with a tail.

Fast forward to 1926, when Americans used the word muggle as slang for
marijuana. A mugglehead was a marijuana smoker; a muggler would be an addict.

So with such history, why make waves over muggles?

Shannon Brandon, who manages the Movies at Polo, chalked up the Warner
Brothers policy to box-office potential.

"It's an uncommon practice" to ban the use of a word, he said.

He didn't know about the muggles ban, and he can't remember the last time a
theater company issued such specific guidelines; he has worked in theaters
since 1993.

But he said companies such as Disney and Lucasfilm (of "Star Wars" fame)
tend to control everything about their films.

"The bigger the movie, the more restrictions there will be on it," he said.