Stories like this existed before Harry Potter, not every movie hat resembles a Harry Potter story immediately makes it a HP-rip off or HP-lite.

Well everyone knows that every childrens fantasy film is a Harry Potter rip-off. Even the ones made before Harry Potter, I mean come on ... Escape From Witch Mountain. What a rip.

Maybe "Harry-Potter lite" was a little too dismissive. I apologize for that. And yes, I certainly agree that HP itself is pretty derivative of things like Lord of the Rings and dozens of other fantasy tales. But at the same time there's little doubt in my mind that a big part of the reason we're seeing such an influx of movies about "children as magicians/monster hunters/etc." is because of the enormous amounts of money that Rowling's books and movies have made. Other people want in on that wizard cash.

Specifically I'm thinking of Candy Shop War, Nightmare Academy, and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising. I know what you're going to say, The Dark is Rising was written thirty years before any of the Potter books. True, but why add "The Seeker" to the title if not to go for the Harry Potter association (Potter being "the seeker" on his Quidditch team)? There's no other reason I can think of why they would change a perfectly good title like "The Dark is Rising" unless it was for that link. I know Will Stanton is called the "Sign Seeker," so why not call it that if anything but its actual title?

Alright, the prefix "The Seeker" does seem like clever marketing. It's probably also a way to start a whole film series.