Harry Potter: A Look at a Successful Film Franchise

The story of Harry Potter started out as a series of books and escalated into one of the top film franchises of all time. There were seven books and eight films made out of the story of Harry and his friends. The films have grossed a total of $7,709,205,984 worldwide. The Harry Potter series is so immensely popular that you must be living under a rock to not know who he is. But for those who have, I’ll bring you up to speed.

Harry Potter was an average boy who found out he was actually a wizard at age 11. Ever since that fateful night he has gone on a whirlwind of adventures with his friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, to ultimately kill Lord Voldemort, the dark wizard who is not only out to take over the wizarding world, but the muggle world too.

The first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was published in 1997. The film adaption, however, was not released until November 16, 2001. It was ranked in the number one spot at the box office for the first three weeks after its release. After the fourth week, it started to steadily dwindle down on the box office charts.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second installment in the Harry Potter series, was released almost exactly a year later on November 15, 2002. This film did not do as well as the original installment, but it still did far better than many hoped, grossing $878,979,634 worldwide.

The next five films stayed in the $796K - $975K range for worldwide income. It was not until the final installment – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – did the worldwide gross jump to over one billion.

From these films came eight video games, countless Harry Potter products (such as an iPod), an interactive website where fans can immerse themselves into the tale (Pottermore), and even it’s own theme park, located in Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.

With the books, the films and all other products, the Harry Potter brand has been estimated to be worth an astounding $15 billion.  

It is clear that the Harry Potter Franchise has made a lot of money, but the real question is why? How did this lonely boy make us love him so much? Why did fans camp out to get their tickets to the midnight premieres?

The main reason that Harry Potter did so well at the box office is because of all its faithful readers. The film’s popularity stemmed from the books. There are tons of films that come out every week that don’t produce the kind of fandom that Harry Potter has. The book drives the people to the theater.

Other top film franchises such as Batman, Spider-Man, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, and The Hunger Games have all done well because each franchise had a large fan base before the films even came out. It is very easy for a film to do well when they already have a large group of people who will go see the movie whether it is good or bad. Everyone wants to see their favorite book – or comic book – come to life before their very eyes. This happened with Harry Potter to a level far beyond the rest. 

The Harry Potter franchise is a model for any aspiring book writer. A great book will lead to a great film, and ultimately to a successful franchise (and a ton of cash).