Scholastic reports that sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh book in J.K. Rowling’s series, outstripped even its predecessor, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In the 24 hours following the 12:01AM release on 21 July, Scholastic reports sales of 8.3 million copies of the book (beating Half-Blood Prince‘s 6.9 million copies.
“The excitement, anticipation, and just plain hysteria that came over the entire country this weekend was a bit like the Beatles’ first visit to the US,” according to Lisa Holton, President of Scholastic Trade and Book Fairs. “This weekend kids and adults alike are sitting on buses, in the park, on airplanes, and in restaurants reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The conversations the readers have been waiting to have for ten years have just begun.”
Another data point, which may or may not be related to the magnificent sales of Deathly Hallows is that the fifth movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (which opened less than two weeks ago) has already dropped to #2 Variety‘s list of top box-office grossing films. As we said a few days ago, it took in $175 million between 11 and 19 July. For this past weekend, however, that gross dropped to $32.2 million (behind the new #1, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which took in close to $35 million).