In Singapore, some fans held a prize-giving ceremony and a hunt for the Snitch-a type of ball used in the wizard sport of Quidditch in the Potter books. The e-book is priced at $14.99, while the retail version of the book will cost fans $17.99, and will be available at most brick-and-mortar booksellers.
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It’s an astoundingly large order, but paltry in comparison to the 12 million copies published of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Harry Potter enthusiast Mariette Lewis and her mum Lisa were among the first muggles to converge on Dymocks Books on Sunday morning. Last year, “Game” scored a dozen Emmys.
Excited muggles, witches and wizards have queued outside bookstores around the country for hours in anticipation for the launch of the long-awaited eighth instalment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Rowling quickly shut down speculation that the stage production and the publication of its script could herald a new outpouring of Potter stories.
Co-producer Sonia Friedman said she had big hopes for the show, which has been more than two years in the making and is slated to run in London at least until December 2017.
In an interview on the red carpet, Rowling added she was proud of fans who had kept the secret and not shared the play’s plot.
“It’s mostly about Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy – which is odd because Harry and Draco were enemies”.
Firstly it’s the script for a play, so it’s quite different from reading a novel.
“My anticipation for the “Cursed Child” mostly has to do with the excitement we all felt as children”.
Rowling said fans have “been awesome, they’ve been incredible”.
“My brother’s seen it and he loved it, he knows I’m going to love it”.
Another spectator, 32-year-old Ashley Nottingham, said he was left speechless: “It’s blown away every theatrical boundary I’ve ever known”.
But finally, she swears, no, really, Harry Potter the character is on the shelf.
The British writer said she found it easy to put her Potter creation onstage thanks to the vision for the show.
“(It) chimed perfectly with the material I had about the next generation and I could see it would work perfectly.
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“It is the most extraordinary fandom, so I’m kind of not surprised, because they didn’t want to spoil it for each other”, she said.
