Fans rush for Harry Potter on DVD

By KATHERINE HOBY

As Harry Potter fans overseas prepare to enter his Chamber of Secrets, a second wave of Pottermania has reached New Zealand with the release of a DVD and video.

The second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, is due for release in the United States in November.

But for New Zealand fans of the boy wizard the hype is still with the first record-breaking movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, released here on video and DVD yesterday.

Harry Potter fans snapped up 1.25 million copies of the video and DVD in Britain on just the first day of sales, making it the most successful video release there. It broke the record held by Titanic, which sold 1.1 million copies on day one.

The national operations director for distributor Warner Bros, Mark Crooke, said the first day of Harry Potter sales had gone well, with more than 100,000 DVDs and videos shipped out to stores.

"It is the biggest shipment in the history of Warner Bros New Zealand.

"Harry Potter just blows anything we've ever done out of the water.

"We expect it to be as huge in New Zealand as it has been in the UK."

Mr Crooke said they had had reports of shops selling out of the product.

Last night Whitcoulls on Queen St had nearly sold out. An employee said a steady flow of people had been buying the video and DVD, and another shipment was expected today.

Sales were also going well at The Warehouse in Manukau, where a number of people had ordered it in advance.



The United Video group has bought close to 3500 units for its 77 stores, giving an average of 45 copies a store.

"We haven't bought those sort of numbers in for years," said purchasing manager Vikki Christiansen.

"That's a big number."