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'Harry Potter' Advance Sales at 'Historic Level'
Sunday, November 11, 2001 2:59 PM EST
Tickets to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" already are vanishing a week before the movie debuts.
Although most boxoffice outlets decline to disclose totals, they said the tickets were selling faster than any other film this year. "In terms of movie page views (online), 'Harry Potter' is probably 100 times bigger already than any other blockbuster film we've had before," AOL Moviefone senior vp and general manager Tommy McGloin said, adding that ticket sales are running much higher than previous levels achieved by "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" or "Grinch." Though the company does not release specific sales figures, McGloin said Moviefone - another cog in the AOL Time Warner wheel - expects to sell "millions worth" before the film even opens.
Kim Holt, spokeswoman for Movietickets.com, said the Potter sales were already five times higher than the company's previous recordholder, "Pearl Harbor." "It's at a historic level," she said. Rival online ticket seller Fandango.com also reports booming "Potter" business. "We're running at 40%-50% over what we were selling for 'Pearl Harbor,' " spokesman John Singh said.
In London, theaters have already sold nearly 500,000 advance tickets. The $125 million movie is set to open Friday. Theaters began selling advance opening-weekend tickets Nov. 2. All of the scheduled viewings are filling up fast, according to Rich King, spokesman for AMC Theatres, which has 2,792 screens in the United States. "Most advance tickets are bought in pairs, and in this case every time somebody buys tickets it's four to five tickets. That tells us that a whole lot of families are planning to attend the first weekend together," King said. Sales this early are unusual, he added. "Most advance ticket sales usually peak two to three days before the show," he said. "It's never anything like this."
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