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The Wall Street Journal dives into Pottermania 2.0

By Dan Selcke

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From books to plays to movies and more, Harry Potter is back in a big way. The Wall Street Journal takes a close look at Pottermania 2.0.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child officially opens on July 30. It’s booked through May of 2017. The script for the play is being released the day after. Scholastic is printing 4.5 million copies for distribution in the U.S. and Canada, even though scripts of new plays from prominent playwrights usually get an initial order of around 5,000 copies. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Harry Potter spinoff movie, is coming out in November, and two sequels are on the way. Pottermania is back, but for how long?

The resurgence of the series is a subject of an engrossing article over on The Wall Street Journal. It reflects what a lot of Harry Potter fans have been thinking. After all, Warner Bros. released Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—Part 2 in 2011. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh book in author J.K. Rowling’s series, came out in 2007. Harry Potter wasn’t exactly idle in the meantime—no series with multiple theme park locations around the world was ever going to just go away—but it wasn’t like this.

Why is the series having such a comeback?

UNIVERSAL CITY, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 05: View of Hogwarts Castle at the opening Of ‘The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter’ at Universal Studios Hollywood on April 5, 2016 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Getty Images)

WSJ identifies two main reasons. First, even though the book and movie series ended, the demand for Harry Potter stories never did. “I always called her our patron saint. The patron saint of booksellers,” said James Daunt, managing director of Waterstones, the U.K.’s largest bookstore chain. The script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has pulled in over 100,000 preorders there. “There’s simply no question of it being anything other than our biggest book of the year, by multiples.”

Hollywood wants a piece of Pottermania, too. After Kevin Tsujihara was named Warner Bros.’ new chief executive in 2013, one of his first acts was to ink a new long-term deal with J.K. Rowling. (According to WSJ, this “resolved some existing tensions between the studio and author,” although its sources are anonymous.) Tsujihara considers Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as one of the three main franchises that will drive the studio’s growth going forward, along with DC superheroes and Lego. He wants to milk Rowling’s world for all its worth.

"The universe and characters and stories Jo has created are so compelling and so totally immersive. People want to experience them in every possible way—books, movies, plays, online forums, theme parks, concerts."

And what’s the other reason for Pottermania 2.0? J.K. Rowling herself. The author took a break from Harry Potter for a while, but when she returned, it was with a clarity of vision. Her deal with Warner Bros., for example, allows her to write the Fantastic Beasts screenplays herself, whereas the Harry Potter movies were written by experienced Hollywood guys. She stays involved in merchandising for the series, and in general retains a lot of control over what happens to her creations, which is impressive when you consider how many things her creations get up to.

“She knows exactly what she’s doing and what she wants,” said Miraphora Mina, who co-runs MinaLima, the graphic design firm behind the films and theme parks. For example, Rowling took an interest in small details from the movies, like the cover of “The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore” prop. According to WSJ, she wanted it to look like “a trashy airport novel.”

Rowling’s internet presence has been another key part of the series’ comeback. She has an enormous following on Twitter and takes full advantage of it, weighing in on politics and interacting with fans. She even breaks news on Twitter, like when she said that she and her team would like to take Harry Potter and the Cursed Child overseas.

Pottermore, the official Harry Potter website, underwent a redesign last September, and has become a important element of how Rowling gets the word out about her work. The site has around 45 employees, has a former Sony executive for a CEO, and received an average of 5.6 million visitors per month during the first half of 2016, according to data firm SimilarWeb.

Then, at the end of June, Rowling posted background stories about Fantastic Beasts, accompanied by a quiz sorting users into one of four Houses in Ilnermorny, a new, American wizarding school. During the 28-day period ending July 11, 9.8 million people visited the site. Clearly, it’s a big draw.

All this without J.K. Rowling having any “professional social media coaching,” according to her spokesperson. I’m not sure how far that kind of training could go anyway, but it’s cool that Rowling has been able to leverage her fanbase using only her instincts and good sense.

Next: Win a copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, courtesy of Waterstones

So how long will Pottermania 2.0 go on? Considering its popularity and Rowling’s natural talent, probably for as long as she wants it to.

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