Research Report: The Success of Harry Potter: "The Secret" 

By Derek Isa, Book-to-Film Franchise Project

Abstract: The Baltimore Sun article “The secret to Harry Potter’s success,” summarizes journalist, Michael Sragow’s opinion of why the Harry Potter franchise thrived.  He published this article three days following the release of the final installment of the film series.  The primary advantage the Potter films had over other book-to-film is the diversity of its audience it is able to attract and sustain.  From children to adults, the studious to jocks, and boy to girl, Harry Potter touches all ranges of individuals.

Description: Michael Sragow, a writer for The Baltimore Sun, gives his hypothesis for the sweeping success of the Harry Potter films.  In his article titled “The secret to Harry Potter’s success,” Sragow initially describes the audience turnout for the eighth and final installment of the movie series.  The viewers from opening night ranged from children to “groups of college pals,” according to the article released three days after the premier.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two, at the time of its release (2011), had the biggest opening day in history and the top grossing opening weekend with nearly $168 million.  The crowd drawn in for the final opening weekend accurately reflected the diversity of the franchise’s vast following: 46 percent male and 54 percent female.  Further stressing the financial success of Harry Potter, Sragow informs the reader of the franchise’s $6.4 billion income from the first seven films.

            One of the primary reasons for Sragow’s analysis of the success of Harry Potter is the worry that no other film series will ever reach the realm of this series.  The writer presents two movies, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Green Lantern, as examples of the failure to appeal to broad audiences.  These two movies simply lack the quality content and intriguing plot line that Harry and his companions provide to their fanatics.  Sragow makes it evidently clear that J.K. Rowling’s hit tale has set the precedent for book-to-film adaptations.  For past and future adaptations, critics will always look back to this groundbreaking series as the form that all other movies desire to follow.

            In order to back his own theories about the secret behind the popularity of the franchise, Sragow cites Steve Kloves, the writer of seven of the eight films.  According to Kloves, the books represent ‘a kind of Ellis Island for readers [and filmgoers] eager for the adventure the story promises.’  This open style of reading interpretation is a key aspect to the story that gives the Potter franchise such an edge on other series.  However, Sragow states the key to the book and film’s success, according to unanimous opinion of Potter fans, is the ability to hit home with both sexes “equally and simultaneously.”  This important factor leads The Baltimore Sun writer to mention J.K. Rowling’s debate of choosing her protagonist’s gender.

            Rowling apparently heavily contemplated making Harry a boy.  Ultimately, her choice to make her protagonist a male came down to the fact that girls are more likely to read stories about a boy lead than vice versa.  In order to compliment a male protagonist, Rowling added Hermione, whom the girl readers could relate to.  Most importantly, Harry was made out to be a “real” boy, with flaws, sensitive moments, and other relatable qualities.  Giving the protagonist such realistic internal struggles and allowing the readers to grow with Harry through such a developmental time of his life, Rowling created a unique bond between his admirers.

            Moreover, the producer of the Potter films, David Heyman, advised future creators of new series to stray away from making “the next Harry Potter.” He argues that Rowling invented a world so unique and revolutionary that it cannot be replicated.  Adam Birnbaum, a film booker for Charles and Senator, claims the success of the Potter series is actually rather practical.  He references how both the novels and the movies were released over the span of a decade, with the films coming only four years after the first book.  As a result, a large enough generation gap emerged and might be the cause of such a wide variety of fans from different age groups.

Statement of Relevance to Team Project: The article provides an intriguing hypothesis for the reason behind the booming success of Harry Potter, both as a novel and a film.  For book-to-film adaptations, the prosperity of the book might not translate well over to the big screen.  With the final Potter film holding the third spot for highest-grossing opening weekend in box office history (only behind Marvel’s The Avengers and Iron Man 3), it is clear how successful this franchise became.  Yet, the question for the Book-to-Film Franchise project becomes: what exactly contributes to such a thriving adaptation such as Harry Potter? As the article infers, the secret is the ability for a story to “hit home” with the widest variety of individuals.  Rowling’s story has a little bit of everything for each type of person who will pick up her books.  Romance, adventure, character development, friendship, and the triumph over evil; it’s all there for this encompassing tale of Harry Potter.

Conversely, series, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, targeted a specific group of Christian readers for the story is rather heavily religious oriented.  Therefore, when a group of producers chose to create a film adaptation of the Narnia series, they attempted to alter the religious undertone of the story.  This led the filmmakers to believe that a broader audience, like the one for the Potter franchise, would flock to the Narnia movies.  The issues with the Narnia series reach far beyond just the religious aspect of the books.  However, the article limits the reader to the understanding of the Potter franchise’s success and not the Narnia series’ subpar results.  An interesting topic this article brings up in relation to the Book-to-Film Franchise project is how closely the movies follow the original story and how this correlates to its success.  While both Rowling and Lewis produced such prosperous pieces of literature, only the former’s work translated well to the screen.

Resources for Further Study:

Bibbiani, William. “The Top Ten Things the ‘Harry Potter’ Movies Left Out.” Crave Online, 15 July 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

Box Office Mojo: All Time Box Office Opening Weekends. Box Office Mojo, 22 Nov. 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

Joffe, Robyn. “Harry Potter and the Adaptation from Novel to Film.” The-Leaky-Cauldron. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.

Novikov, Eugene. “’The Chronicles of Narnia’ vs. ‘Harry Potter’: It’s All in the Magic.” Movie fone, 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.