Jubilant Warner Bros. executives reported

Jubilant Warner Bros. executives reported that “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” – playing on an unprecedented 8,200 screens in 3,672 U.S. locations – had far surpassed the $72.1 three-day opening record set in 1997 by “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” “There were 15 possible industry records and every one of them was shattered,” Dan Fellman, Warners’ head of distribution, told The New York Post.

Forbes Magazine commented on these numbers: “the constant setting of box-office records is a function of changes in the movie business and is not owed to merit or even the popularity of the record-setters.” Harry Potter opened on about one out of every four screens in America. “In 1997, when the old three-day record was set, the average movie theater ticket price was $4.59. By 2000, the price had risen 17% to $5.39.

(If you’re thinking it’s been a long time since you bought a movie ticket for under $6, you’re not alone. N.A.T.O. admits that the ordinary ticket price in every large city is at least $8.50, but it says the average price is driven down by matinees and by child and senior discounts).