Brand of the Day: Harry Potter
Welcome to Brand of the Day, where we pick the brand making headlines and explain what you need to know about why it's in the news.
On the 18th anniversary of her debut book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, JK Rowling announced that her Harry Potter stage play would open in London’s West End next year.
Titled ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, the play will have a focus on Harry’s early years and will tell the story of his parents.
The play will be directed by Scottish director John Tiffany, who holds two Tony Awards for Best Director, and was written by Jack Throne in collaboration with Rowling.
The play is the latest extension of the Harry Potter brand which also includes upcoming movie trilogy Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Here’s more on the Harry Potter brand.
The Harry Potter brand is estimated at around £15 billion which has been generated through seven best-selling novels, eight blockbuster films, eight video games and more than 400 licenced products.
The Pottermore website where Rowling distributes Harry Potter e-books featuring unknown parts of the series generates millions in revenue. Rowling held on to the e-book rights rather than sign them over to her publishers and is the only author in the world to have negotiated such a deal.
Twelve publishing houses rejected JK Rowling's original Harry Potter manuscripts before Bloomsbury Publishers wisely accepted. The Harry Potter book series has been translated into 77 languages.
The fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire took so long because having written half of the book, Rowling realised she had created a giant hole in the plot which she then had to go back and fix.
The 'Daily Prophet' newspaper from the Harry Potter films provided the inspiration for Facebook’s massively successful auto play video feature which generates billions of views a day.