To Be Continued . . .

The Making of a Blockbuster

 1990—Unemployed single mom J.K. Rowling conceives the character of Harry Potter.

 October 1996—Bloomsbury Press gives Rowling a $4,000 advance to write the first book.

 June 1997—Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is published in the U.K. in an edition of 500.

 July 1998—10,000 copies of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, are published in the U.K.

 September 1998—The American version of the first book, renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, is released in the U.S. with a 50,000 print run.

 June 1999—The second Potter book is published in the U.S. ahead of schedule when Scholastic realizes impatient fans are ordering Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets directly from the U.K.

 September 1999—Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is published in the U.S., again ahead of schedule, with a first printing of 500,000 copies.

 1999–2000—The Harry Potter books are the most challenged (read: censored) books during these years, says the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom.

 July 2000—Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is published simultaneously in the U.K. and U.S., selling 5 million copies in the first forty-eight hours. It’s released on a Saturday so that kids don’t have to skip school to buy it.

 November 2001—The movie Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has a record-breaking opening weekend take: $90 million in the U.S.

 November 2002—The second Harry Potter film nets $88 million opening weekend in the U.S., making it the third-largest opening ever, trailing only the first Harry Potter film and Spider-Man.

 June 2003—Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has a record U.S. first printing: 6.4 million.

 July 2005—Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince sells 10.8 million copies in the first twenty-four hours. Another first: Braille and large-print editions are released simultaneously.

 2005—Rowling’s fortune is estimated at a whopping £500 million.

 June 2007—More than a quarter of a billion Harry Potter books have been sold worldwide. They’ve been translated into more than sixty-one languages, including Urdu, Afrikaans, and Tamil.

 July 21, 2007—72 million copies of the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, sell in twenty-four hours worldwide.

 2010—The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park is scheduled to open at Universal Orlando Resort.