‘Fantastic Beasts’ Tops DVD Sales and Rumors Could Mean Big Things for Potter Fans

This week is full of big news for Potter fans. Not only did Fantastic Beasts have a successful first week after it’s  DVD/Blu-ray release, but we’ve also heard some new rumors that could mean a new Harry Potter game as well as some upgrades for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Even though it was only released on Wednesday of last week (March 29th), Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them topped the national home video sales charts for the Week of March 27th to April 2nd, according to Variety. The film took the No. 1 spot on both the NPD VideoScan overall sales chart, which combines sale numbers for both DVD and Blu-ray, and the NPD’s Blu-ray Disc sales chart.

Research also noted that 61% of total sales for Fantastic Beasts were from Blu-ray. Fantastic Beasts’ release bumped Sing down to the No. 2 spot, while Moana took No.3. For the full top 20 list of last week’s sales click here.

Warner Bros. recently released a job ad for a senior game writer with some details that have made Potter fans hopeful. The job description posted on Warner Bros. career pagestates:

“We are looking for a talented storyteller with a deep understanding of British culture and grammatical presentation. Applicants should be creative self-motivated problem solvers who enjoy collaborating with other writers and designers to create an immersive game narrative.”

The post also lists these under the job requirements:

“Collaborate with the story and design team to develop compelling narratives. Provide British authenticity to the tone of the project.”

Though the project is clearly very early in the works, their need for someone who has an understanding of British culture definitely has gotten the minds of fans churning. Since Warner Bros. owns the right to Harry Potter it makes it a logical option, and there aren’t many other game possibilities that would require authentic British grammar that would interest an American gaming company.

The game is likely to be a role-play style game with the request for someone with storytelling abilities and the mention of immersive narratives. Even though this is all just speculation, it has us crossing our fingers that an incredible new Harry Potter themed RPG may soon be in the works!

Another new patent from Universal has been released to accompany the ones we reported on last week, this one possibly involving an update to the windows on the Hogwarts Express.

According to the Orlando Business Journal, the patent, titled “Display for immersive window effect,” describes the new window effects in detail:

“The displays of the present disclosure additionally or alternatively enable the guest to look to the right and to the left, and thereby view additional, different sections of the landscape. For example, if the guest is in an attraction where the display is a window in a train car, the guest might look to the left to see a view of the landscape that is oncoming (e.g., a forward portion of a path and a forward section of the train and tracks), while if looking to the right, the guest might see a view of the landscape that has just passed, along with a rearward section of the train and tracks. Indeed, the simulated landscape may also move horizontally, vertically, or in any direction relative to the observing guest to simulate a changing landscape associated with a real or simulated movement of a passenger platform.”

The new windows will allow the images displayed to appear more realistic to viewers at more angles and distances than the current displays allow. It will also the displays to transition more seamlessly between scenes, allowing a passenger on the train to see approaching features from the front curves of the window the same way one can when riding in a real train.

While it seems like the windows are ideally for use in the Hogwarts Express according to the images included in the patent, they could also be used for other parts of the park such as in shop windows. We can only hope that we will see some of these patent ideas brought to life in the park in the upcoming years.

You can see the rest of the images from the patent here.