Harry Potter films turns 25 ahead of new TV series' release
Nov 4, 03:14 PM
On November 4, 2001, London's Leicester Square became a world of witches and wizards. The occasion was the world premiere of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (released in the US and India as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone").
"Thousands of excited fans, some dressed up in wizard hats and cloaks, gathered to catch a glimpse of arriving celebrities," the BBC reported at the time.
Daniel Radcliffe , who played Harry Potter , was just 12 years old and clearly impressed by the spectacle. The BBC quoted him as saying, "It is so cool. I have never heard my name shouted so much in an hour."
The crowds showed just how far Harry Potter fever had spread in only four years.
The first Harry Potter book was published by Britain's Bloomsbury in June 1997, with an initial print run of just 500 hardcover copies.
About 5,000 paperback copies were also released around the same time.
Today, first editions are prized collectors' items, with hardcover copies commanding high prices at auction . In mid-October, one sold for $400,000 through US auction house Heritage Auctions.
At first, the book's popularity grew largely by word of mouth among schoolchildren. Media attention followed when it won the prestigious Nestle Smarties Book Prize later that year.
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