The first four novels in the Harry Potter series were released in rapid succession between 1997 and 2000. While the adventures of the boy wizard were already enormously successful leading up to the summer of 2000, Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire signaled a shift not only in the story of Harry but also in the commercial success of the series. As “Pottermania” swept across the world, book sales skyrocketed, and midnight book drop parties were staged worldwide as fans eagerly waited to discover what happened to Harry and his friends.

By the time The Goblet of Fire was released, the New York Times Best Seller List had been expanded to include a children’s best seller list to accommodate the record-breaking book sales of the Harry Potter series. In 2000, The Goblet of Fire broke the record for the largest initial print of a novel in history with a run of 3.8 million books. The record was broken again in 2003 when the fifth novel, The Order of the Phoenix, had an initial print run of 8.5 million books, and the last two novels in the series had even larger numbers. In 1999, fans’ dreams came true, and the film adaptation of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was announced.