Harry Potter and the Cursed Child breaks NZ sales records

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Parts One and Two Script Book
(Special Rehearsal Edition)
Published by Hachette NZ, $49.99 RRP

[11/8/16] The play script of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child Parts One and Two has shot straight to number one in New Zealand, recording the highest first week of sales for a book since Nielson Bookscan began reporting on the local market.

The sales here reflect the phenomenal success of the book worldwide. In North America 3.3 million books were sold in the first week, the UK saw sales of almost 850,000 books, while the Australian market saw over 200,000 copies cross bookstore counters.

Melanee Winder, Sales & Marketing Director of Hachette NZ said: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has had an incredible first week of sales in NZ, breaking all sorts of records and making a lot of NZ readers very happy indeed. We are continuing to work closely with local retailers to ensure this title stays at the top of the bestseller chart right through to Christmas and beyond.”

New Zealand stores have struggled to keep up with demand, with some reporting such strong pre-orders they sold through their initial order before the book even went on sale.

With the book selling to fans of all ages, it seems likely to be the year’s biggest fiction release in the New Zealand market.

It has received sensational reviews, both here and internationally. The New York Times lauded it as a “compelling, stay- up-all-night read” and the UK’s The Telegraph pronounced, “It’s difficult to overstate how exciting it is to read a new story set in this widely loved fantasy universe. The thrill of a new Harry Potter book, even in script form, is its own kind of magic spell.”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two, a play by Jack Thorne based on an original story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, opened at The Palace Theatre in London’s West End last Saturday (July 30th) to critical acclaim. The following day the Special Rehearsal Edition of the script was published containing the complete script, including stage directions, used by the original West End production during the play’s preview period.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two is the script book of an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, and is a new play by Jack Thorne written to be enjoyed on stage.

The Special Rehearsal Edition of the script book (hardback, $49.99 RRP) was published at 00.01 on 31st July 2016 (11.01am NZT), following the play’s opening in London’s West End on 30th July, thereby bringing the eighth Harry Potter story to a wider, global audience. The script ebook was published by Pottermore simultaneously with the print editions, in collaboration with Little, Brown Book Group in the UK, and Scholastic in the US and Canada.

2. The Special Rehearsal Edition will be available for a limited time, to be replaced by the Definitive Edition to be published early in 2017. This final and complete edition will replace the Special Rehearsal Edition, both in print and digitally. The Definitive Edition will contain the perfected, definitive script with final stage directions and annotations, as seen on opening night on 30th July 2016 and beyond. This edition will also include extra content, such as writing from the play’s creative team.

More details about the Definitive Edition will be announced in due course.

3. J.K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books, published between 1997 and 2007, which have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, are distributed in more than 200 territories and translated into 79 languages, and have been turned into eight blockbuster films.

She has written three companion volumes in aid of charity: Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in aid of Comic Relief; and The Tales of Beedle the Bard in aid of her children’s charity Lumos.

In 2012, J.K. Rowling’s digital entertainment and e-commerce company Pottermore was launched, where fans can enjoy her new writing and immerse themselves deeper in the wizarding world.

Her first novel for adult readers, The Casual Vacancy, was published in September 2012 and adapted for TV by the BBC in 2015.

Her crime novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, were published in 2013 (The Cuckoo’s Calling), 2014 (The Silkworm) and 2015 (Career of Evil), and are to be adapted for a major new television series for BBC One, produced by Brontë Film and Television.

J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard commencement speech was published in 2015 as an illustrated book, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination, and sold in aid of her charity Lumos and university–wide financial aid at Harvard.

In addition to J.K. Rowling’s collaboration on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two, she is also making her screenwriting debut with the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a further extension of the wizarding world, due for release in November 2016.

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