Special3 06-25-07 CNET HarryPotter0622

HARRY PALOOZA
A little
HISTORY
SAYING GOODBYE TO
1. Harry Potter and
the Sorcerer’s Stone
(US title)
Release date: June
26, 1997 (UK); Sept. 1,
1998 (US)
Page count: 309
US sales: 17 million
Hardcover: 6.1 million
Paperback: 10.9 million
HARRY
By PHIL KLOER
Cox News Service
Atlanta
The announcement that the seventh and final “Harry Potter” book,
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be released July 21 touched
off the usual frenzy among the millions of Harry-philes, but this time it
was tinged with something new: melancholy.
The 10-year run of books will end for good with No. 7, author J.K. Rowling has said repeatedly, and fans are already wistful.
Before you pull out your hankie, take a moment to celebrate the legacy of
the story of the boy wizard that has brought millions back to reading.
2. Harry Potter and the
Chamber of Secrets
Release date: July 2, 1998
(UK); June 2, 1999 (US)
Page count: 352
US sales: 14.8 million
Hardcover: 7.3 million
Paperback: 7.5 million
How it all
What we
STARTED
3. Harry Potter and the
Prisoner of Azkaban
Release date: July 8, 1999
(UK); Sept. 8, 1999 (US)
Page count: 448
US sales: 12.8 million
Hardcover: 7.6 million,
Paperback: 5.2 million
1995
The year Rowling finished
typing the last pages of the
first “Harry Potter” novel on an
old manual typewriter
12
Number of
publishing
houses that
rejected it
64
Harry Potter
MANIA
Number of languages
the books have been
translated into
4. Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire
Release date: July 8, 2000
(UK/US)
Page count: 734
US sales: 12.3 million
Hardcover: 8.9 million
Paperback: 3.4 million
Some things are certain to happen in the final
book. Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here.
1,000
Number of copies the
(then) small Bloomsbury
publishing company agreed
to print
325
Millions of books sold worldwide, making it the most popular
series ever
$3.5
5
Number of hugely popular feature films created from the books;
the fifth in that series, “Harry
Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix,” will be released on
July 11, 10 days before
the book
KNOW
Amount in billions that the
movie franchise has grossed
Midnight
Time when “Hallows” will be
released on July 21, which will lead
to another huge round of bookstore
parties and mob scenes as fan rush
to get the first copies
• Harry will turn 17. As seventh-year
Hogwarts students, he and friends,
Hermione and Ron, will take their NEWTs
exam, the toughest wizard exam.
• No quidditch — the game where wizards
fly on brooms — this time around.
• Harry will have a final battle with
Voldemort. No saying on the outcome,
though.
• At least two characters will die. Rowling
has said that one character that she
originally thought would perish is off the
hook, but the evil Voldemort doesn’t mess
around and will certainly target the main
characters.
• It has been known for awhile that the
last word in “Deathly Hallows” is “scar,”
but Rowling has since said the final word
might change after editing.
$5,000
Prize on Amazon.com,
which is holding a contest to
find “The Harry-est Town in
America” — the town where
preorders of “Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows”
are the strongest
5. Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix
Release date: June 21, 2003
(UK/US)
Page count: 896
US sales: 13.7 million
Hardcover: 12.2 million
Paperback: 1.5 million
Initial printing: 8.5 million; 5
million sold on the first day
Still more
0
AWAITS
Number of future
books about Potter, but
Rowling said she might
write an encyclopedia
of sorts for charity
that includes all of
the extra bits she
has recorded
6. Harry Potter and the
Half-Blood Prince
Release date: July 16, 2005
(UK/US)
Page count: 672
US Sales: 16.2 million
Hardcover: 13.5 million
Harry Potter
Paperback: 2.7 million
park,
theme
Initial printing: 10.8
set to open
million; 7 million
in late
sold on the
2009
first day
1
7. Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows
Release date: July 21, 2007
Page count: 784
Initial printing: 12 million
PHIL SKINNER / Cox News Service
Not spoiling the ending has been a big deal for
families like the Gerlach’s, of Chamblee, Ga., who
share one copy of the Harry Potter books.
“One thing has stopped me collapsing in a puddle
of misery on the floor. While each of the previous
Potter books has strong claims on my affections,
‘Deathly Hallows’ is my favorite, and that is the
most wonderful way to finish the series.”
J.K. Rowling
From Rowling’s online journal
—Scholastic, Inc.
Bridge used in Potter movie an inspiration for the final book cover
By KARL RITZLER
Cox News Service
Scotland
Does Harry Potter have his final, fateful battle
with Lord Voldemort down a back road in the
Highlands of Scotland?
The cover of the U.S. version of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the upcoming and
last of the series of books about the boy wizard,
appears to show the Hogwarts Express in the
background crossing over an arched viaduct.
Neither cover artist Mary GrandPre nor
anybody at publisher Scholastic Books is saying, but it looks like the bridge made famous in
the “Harry Potter” movies, located in real life
between Fort William and Mallaig, Scotland.
It’s all part of the magic — real and Hollywood-style — of Scotland. Whether they are
adapting one of the countless tales spun by
Scottish storytellers, recounting the history of
its famous residents or just using the rugged
mountains, desolate moors or ruined castles as
backdrops, filmmakers have given moviegoers
a tour of the country, whether the viewers have
realized it or not.
You can get a double spell of Harry Potter
outside the village of Glenfinnan.
First is Loch Shiel and a shoreline monument
to Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The prince — subject of several films himself — was the leader of the Jacobites, who
hoped to restore his father, the son of deposed
King James II, to the throne of England. The
monument marks where the prince supposedly
landed in Scotland in 1745 from exile in France
to launch the rebellion.
But more contemporary visitors are looking
for the young wizard. A sign at the visitors center notes the “Harry Potter” movie locations.
The view down the loch is used in several of
the films as the site for Hogwarts. But you’ll
need your imagination to see it. Movie magic
added the castle on the right shore and deleted
Bonnie Prince Charlie’s monument.
“People come for Harry Potter, but they learn
about the history while they’re here,” said
Lorna Byrne, senior property assistant at the
National Trust for Scotland’s visitors center.
Behind the center is the Glenfinnan viaduct,
over which the Hogwarts Express travels in
several of the films. The stone arches of the viaduct make a sweeping curve, but they’re hard to
see from ground level.
If you want to experience the Hogwarts Express, the West Highland Railway Line’s steam
train, used in the movies, runs excursions from
April to October that cross over the viaduct.
KARL W. RITZLER / Cox News Service
Hogwarts Express passes over Glenfinnan viaduct in the “Harry Potter” films. The
cover of J.K. Rowling’s upcoming book shows similarly arched viaducts.