NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
The world's most famous wizard is back to weave his magic and bewitch children and adults alike with the VHS and DVD launch of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
Copies of the past year's highest grossing movie went on sale at the witching hour Monday night as die-hard fans snapped up DVD copies for a look at never-before-seen footage and hints on the next installment of the "Harry Potter" saga.
Many retail chains in the U.S. such as Wal-Mart (WMT: Research, Estimates), Borders (BGP: Research, Estimates) and Kmart (KM: Research, Estimates) opened late Monday night so they could start ringing up sales at midnight.
The film -- titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in Britain -- sold over 1.25 million copies on its first day of release, making it the UK's fastest-selling video release, according the Associated Press.
U.S. to Harry Potter currency converter
"There's rumors out there that between 18 and 20 million VHS and DVD will be sold [in the U.S.]," Bear Stearns retail analyst Dana Telsey said. "The combination of the merchandise and the videos makes it one of the biggest consumer products that we have in 2002."
Warner Bros., the distributor of Harry Potter home videos and DVDs, would not release figures on how many are being shipped, but the studio said pre-orders have been extremely strong, according to AP.
The film, based on J.K. Rowling's book, had earned $926 million by the end of February, making it the second-highest grossing film on record after romantic blockbuster "Titanic."
| |
Related Stories
| |
| | |
| | |
|
The VHS and two-disc DVD set each contain a handful of unreleased scenes. The DVD set also has games, a tour of young Harry's school Hogwarts, and interviews with director Chris Columbus and his collaborators, who discuss their emphasis on remaining faithful to Rowling's book and give a look ahead at the next film, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," due in theaters this November.
Judy Corman, a spokeswoman for Scholastic (SCHL: Research, Estimates), the U.S. publisher for Rowling's previous books, told CNN/Money that "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth book in Rowling's series, is due out before June 2003.
Both Warner Bros. and CNN/Money are units of AOL Time Warner (AOL: Research, Estimates).
-- from staff and wire reports
|
