Harry Potter and the Killer Profits Thrive 20 Years On

Twenty years ago, on this day the first Harry Potter books hit the market with just 500 copies. Today, publishers say, the series has sold more than 450 million copies of the books across the globe in 79 different languages. Also since then, almost everything that The-Boy-Who-Lived touched has turned if not to gold, then a whole lot of money. Statistic Brain estimated the value of the franchise at close to $ 25 billion last year, and that doesn’t take into account the last movie – Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

Let’s take a look at the glorious empire of the Harry Potter Universe and how it has created big bucks for those associated with it.
She Who Must Be Named

The once broke, then a billionaire and now a philanthropist author of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling has had roller coaster ride. At last count, Forbes estimated Rowling’s pre-tax earnings for the past 12-months at $ 95 million. While the largest chunk of her fortune comes from her writing and revenue streams tied to her books, she also draws “low double-digit millions” from the sale of tickets, food, beverages and merchandise among other things from the theme park- Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Book, Line and Sinker

Statistic Brain estimates the total value of book sales at $ 7.7 billion, but that number would likely be much higher in the light of the 20th anniversary special editions that have been released by publishers.

As the series gained popularity, each book launch came with some fanfare and increased secrecy about the plot of the book. For example, the third book in the series- Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban was released at 3:45 in the afternoon, so that children could buy their copies after school. In 2007, the plot of the last book was so heavily guarded that fewer than seven people were allowed to read it before it was published.

For the publishers, Scholastic in the U.S. and Canada and Bloomsbury in the U.K., the series has reaped huge rewards. In the past three years alone, Harry Potter books have generated huge sales volume for Bloomsbury increasing the publisher’s revenues significantly. Sale of offshoot book titles like Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them or Quidditch Through The Ages have collected over £20 million.
Well Played

Another foray for the franchise was the play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ and of course that broke records too. More than 2 million copies of the script were sold in the U.S. and Canada within the first 48 hours of its release, Scholastic said in a press release.

The craze was intense even on the other side of the Atlantic, with U.K. reporting 847,886 copies sold in the first week, according to Nielsen Book. For fans in the U.K. getting their hand son a copy of the script seemed much easier than getting a ticket to actually see the play that opened on July 30 last year at London’s Palace Theater and was soon sold out till May 2017. Re-sale tickets did emerge on various websites, but were being sold for as much as £2,200 The Independent reported. On the Palace Theater websites, Premium tickets that are currently unavailable are priced at £85.

The last I checked, tickets for the play were going for as much as £800 on StubHub.

The Broadway edition of the play has been announced and is expected to open in Lyric Theater on April 22, 2018.
Magic on the Big Screen

Eight Harry Potter movies conjured the fantasy world on the big screen over ten years, each grander than the previous. They fueled Pottermania even more and that is reflected in their global box office collections.

In fact, that legacy continues with Newt Scamander’s escapades in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’. With more movies expected in the series, the studios are certainly raking in the big bucks.

 

Parks and Recreation

There is a whole world of businesses that have been driven by Pottermania, whether its toys or other merchandise. Statistic Brain estimates, DVD sales, rentals and toy sales at close $ 9.8 billion, not including the figures for Fantastic Beasts and Where To find Them.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction that opened at Universal Studios in April Last year saw a $ 500 million investment from Comcast owned Universal Studios. Not only that, such is the magnitude of the production and operation of this spectacle, that a New York Times report suggests it played a significant role in reviving Florida’s economy.

“Statewide, leisure and hospitality jobs are up 16 percent, for an additional 149,300, since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened, almost double the rate of job growth generally,” said the report.