Visitors seen on the Flight of the Hippogriff roller-coaster.at the Universal Studios in Osaka. Warner Bros Entertainment Inc. plans to open a Harry Potter theme park in Tokyo by the spring of 2023. — Photo usj.co.jp

TOKYO — Muggles in Japan can discover how the Harry Potter films were made at a new amusement park opening in 2023 in Tokyo, Warner Bros said on Tuesday, in the latest expansion of the multibillion-dollar wizarding franchise.

The attraction, offering visitors a behind-the-scenes look into the production of the eight hit movies, is the second of its kind, modelled on the original permanent studio exhibition in Britain.

"The Studio Tour Tokyo" will stretch across 30,000sq.m, with its walking tour taking visitors through Hogwarts and Diagon Alley.

It is being constructed on the site of Toshimaen amusement park, set to close in late August, according to the US movie studio and Seibu Railways, which runs the Japanese park.

The first "Making of Harry Potter" film-studio park outside London opened in 2012 and attracted 6,000 visitors a day before the coronavirus pandemic.

There are also Harry Potter theme parks created by Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood in the United States, and Osaka in Japan.

Harry Potter grew into a global phenomenon from the books about the boy wizard by British author J.K. Rowling – seven volumes published between 1997 and 2007. — AFP