100 Facts About Harry Potter

Harry Potter is a globally recognized brand worth billions of dollars

It's also home to hundreds of facts, stories, and theories that will have even some of its biggest fans scratching their heads

So hold on to your Nimbus 2001, because today we're listing 100 facts you didn't know about Harry Potter

And here we go. To state the obvious, Harry Potter is a fantasy novel series written by J.K. Rowling

The original book was published on June 26, 1997 by Bloomsbury Printing in England and Scholastic Press in America

In the UK, the initial entry into the franchise was released with the title Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In the US, it was released with the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The book made it to the top of the New York Times best-selling fiction list in August of 1999

J.K. Rowling was born on July 31, 1965. At the time she was writing the first book, she was nearly homeless

living off of welfare and going to a local coffee shop every day to work. Legend has it that after Rowling lucked into finding an agent at the Christopher Little Literary Agency

the book was submitted to 12 publishing houses. She was turned down by 11 of them

But finally, after a year of waiting, she received word that Bloomsbury was interested in publishing the book

But don't think that just because J.K. Rowling got a publishing deal that she was all of a sudden rolling in money

Because she wasn't. Her advance? £1,500, roughly $2,000. The first print run of The Philosopher's Stone, when it was finally released in 1997, was 1,000 copies

Despite being one of the most famous authors of all time, J.K. Rowling was not accepted at Oxford

and instead attended Exeter University, where she studied French. Forbes claimed that Rowling became the first billionaire author

Chamber of Secrets was released in July of 1998. It won the Smarties Prize for children's literature

December of 1999 saw Prisoner of Azkaban released. It also won the Smarties Prize, making her the first author to win the award three years running

The fourth book, Goblet of Fire, was released in July of 2000. It was the first in the series to be released simultaneously in the UK and the US

The book sold 372, 775 copies in its first day. Rowling was named Author of the Year by the British Book Awards in 2000

There was a three-year gap in between The Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix. This led many to believe she had writer's block

But come on, the woman just literally birded the franchise overnight. Give her some time

The sixth book The Half Prince was released July 16 2005 It won the British Book Awards Book of the Year Deathly Hallows was released on July 21 2007 It sold 11 million copies on its first day of release In October of 1998 Warner Brothers purchased the film rights

to the first two novels for an undisclosed amount. As the books gain a rising popularity

they get banned in many schools and libraries across the US. The books were even featured on 60 Minutes

for their potential use of Satanism and magic. The initial stages of the potential feature film version

of Harry Potter were going to involve Steven Spielberg directing an animated version of the series

and Haley Joel Osment to be the voice of Harry. After meeting with many directors, the final two that were approved by Warners and Rowling

were Terry Gilliam and Chris Columbus. Rowling was pulling for Gilliam, however, Columbus got the job

Steve Clothes was then hired to write the screenplay. Rowling pushed for the cast to be kept British

auditioning legions of children for the principal trinity of young Hogwarts attendees

Daniel Radcliffe was discovered when one of the producers spotted him in the attendance of a theater performance

and asked if he'd be interested in auditioning. The film had its world premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London

on the 4th of November, 2001. Chamber of Secrets began principal photography on November 19, 2001

only three days after release of the first film. Roger Pratt was hired to take over as director of photography in order to age the film up a bit

by giving it an edgier and darker feel. Francis Nolan, of University of Cambridge, was hired to design and create Parcel Tongue

the language spoken to snakes in the film. The film was released on November 3, 2002

Next up on the adaptation block was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, directed by Alfonso Cuaron and written by Steve Kloves again

With this installment, the production of the Potter film switched to once every 18 months, as opposed to one episode every year

Principal photography began in February 2003 at Leavesden Film Studios. Much of the film was shot on real, practical sets

It was released on May 31, 2004. Goblet of Fire was directed by Mike Newell

Principal photography for Goblet of Fire began May 4, 2004. The film was released November 6, 2005

Order of the Phoenix took on a new director, who would prove to be the franchise steward for an extended period of time, David Yates

The film was written by Michael Goldenberg, making it the only one in the main Potter franchise not written by Steve Kloves

Yates shot so much footage that the original runtime for Order of the Phoenix was close to three hours

He cut roughly 45 minutes to pull it into a shape that was actually releasable. A video game version of the film was designed by EA UK and was released June 25 2007 to about the normal level of reaction that games based on movies based on novels usually get 2009 Half Prince saw David Yates and Steve

Kloves returning to the film franchise. When asked about the process of getting him to return

Yates said, I was still working in Order of the Phoenix when they asked me to do Half-Blood Prince, so they were really delighted with the material

that they were seeing while we were in post-production. The other crisis that the production had to contend with

is that Emma Watson almost didn't return to play Hermione. However, after some contract negotiations

and some serious thought, she decided the pluses outweigh the minuses. Principal photography began for Half-Blood Prince on

September 24, 2007. The film beat Twilight to set the record for most money made for midnight

openings, pulling in roughly $27 million. And so the juggernaut that is the Harry Potter

film franchise rolled into its final two installments. The two films were shot back-to-back

from February 19, 2009 to June 12, 2010. The costumes for the films were designed by Janie

Tami. Deathly Hallows 1 was released November 11, 2010. While the film was in release, Yates and

Company were still hard at work preparing Deathly Hallows 2 to be released just one year later

As stated previously, the film was shot in conjunction with Deathly Hallows Part 1. However, many of the principal cast returned for reshoots for the epilogue scene that took place at least in film studios on December 21, 2010

In 2016, the Harry Potter franchise was valued at $25 billion. In 2011, it was announced that Sony and J.K. Rowling were going to be partnering on a project dubbed Pottermore

The site's first feature was a very exclusive function that allowed the first million fans to register and complete the Magic Quilt Challenge

Potter fans could use the site to brew their own potions and on-screen cauldrons that would produce different attributes

Users also had the ability to learn and practice spells, 33 spells in total

The users who were allied with the specific houses would use the points they generated making potions and dueling with spells to compete in the house cup competition

Typically, these house cups coincided with the release of the various films. The various pieces of artwork that were utilized throughout the site were created by Adam Hawk Design

On September 22, 2015, the site launched a new design scheme in news articles, features, and previously unpublished writings by Rowling

However, they eventually brought back the sorting ceremony. Pottermore closed down in October 2019

In 2016, a theatrical production titled Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was put together by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne

The story of the Cursed Child takes place 19 years after the events of the Deathly Hallows and follows Harry Potter now the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and his son Albus who is attending Hogwarts The play is split into two halves with the audience coming back on two consecutive days for the viewing experience The script for the production was published on

July 25, 2016. Clocking in at roughly 330 pages, the book was a massive success. It sold roughly

two million copies in its first two days. The casting of Noma Doom as Weenie as Hermione caused

some minor controversy, as many felt that a Caucasian actor should have played her in the stage play. However, Rowling pointed to the fact that within the book's text, it only ever says that

Hermione had dark skin and curly hair. The play has gone on to numerous productions, including a lengthy run on Broadway

where it has been nominated for multiple Tonys. June 18, 2010, saw the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

at Island of Adventure at Universal Studios Florida. However, it was rumored to be in the planning stages as far back as 2003

Disney and Universal were in bidding negotiations for the rights to produce the theme park attractions

Surprisingly, Disney actually looked like they were going to be the winner, when in 2004, Rowling signed a letter of intent

that would have allowed Disney to produce theme park attractions for the film and novel series. However, the deal fell apart at the 11th hour

In 2007, About.com ran a rumor that said Islands of Adventure's Lost Continent was going to be rebooted as a Potter-themed land

May 31st, 2007, Warners and Universal announced that the project was officially full steam ahead

July 15th, 2014 saw a Potter attraction open at Universal Studios Japan, which featured two additional attractions, Hogwarts Black Lake and Live Owls

April 7th, 2016 saw the opening of Universal Hollywood's Potter attraction. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a prequel spinoff series that stars Newt Scaramander, played by Eddie Redmayne

The film sees David Yates return to direct, and this time, J.K. Rowling herself comes in to write the film

The film was released on November 10th, 2016. It was nominated for five BAFTAs and two Academy Awards, and won the Best Costume Oscar

2018 saw the release of Fantastic Beasts Crimes of Grindelwald, which was also directed by Yates and written by Rowling

There are currently plans to shoot Fantastic Beasts 3, 4, and 5. 3 was supposed to shoot this year, however the pandemic has delayed that

These days, J.K. Rowling has been making comments that many would categorize as deeply bigoted, transphobic comments on Twitter

Many have said these comments will be a black mark on her legacy. Today, Harry Potter's novels alone have grossed $7.7 billion

But all that is irrelevant. The true value of Harry Potter is that it's widely pointed to as being the book that sparked the renewed interest in reading for an entire generation