Galleons, Sickles & Knuts

The unprecedented success of the Harry Potter series is reflected through the millions of fans including myself and the individual in the video I’ve linked below. So what numbers does this sensation translate to; well let’s take a look.

Apart from Harry Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint and author J.K. Rowling are amongst the most memorable personas of this series. Prior to the release of part one of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, each had amassed a wealth of £42 million, £22 million, £20 million and over $1.1 billion respectively. And the grand total thus far in sales for the entire series; approximately $6.5 billion! To put that in perspective, that would mean that each of the roughly 4,200 brilliant pages crafted by J.K. Rowling translated to about $1,550,000 in revenue of some form.

Here are a few more interesting tidbits: the print series which is available in 69 languages has netted over $400 million (I’m truly sorry to the numerous publishers that denied J.K. Rowling prior to Scholastic), 30 owl species are endangered in India after adoption as pets spiked, part one of HP7 sold out 2000 theaters prior to the actual show time, there are over 400 major Harry Potter brand products and 46 teams competed in this year’s fourth annual Quidditch World Cup in New York City.

If anything, these numbers are just another testament to the true greatness of Harry Potter.