News Mash-up: Famous Franchises

First-edition Harry Potter sells for world-record price, says US auction house A first-edition copy of Harry Potter sold for $471,000 (¥53 million) on Dec. 9. The auctioneers, Texas-based Heritage Auctions, said it was a world-record price for a 20th-century work of fiction. Heritage said the hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was “magical, incredibly bright and so very near pristine.” The copy is one of the first 1997 British editions. Only 500 were printed, Heritage said. “Not only is it the most expensive Harry Potter book ever sold, it’s the most expensive commercially published 20th-century work of fiction ever sold,” Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in a statement. British author J.K. Rowling went on to write six more books about the adventures of the boy wizard. They have sold some 500 million copies worldwide in 80 languages, according to U.S. publisher Scholastic. (Reuters) Spider-Man: No Way Home becomes 1st pandemic-era film to reach $1 billion globally Spider-Man: No Way Home unwrapped the best Christmas gift of all, becoming the first pandemic-era movie to cross $1 billion (¥116 billion) at the global box office. Since its premiere on Dec. 13, Sony’s comic-book epic has eclipsed the $1 billion milestone in a near-record 12 days, tying with 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the third-fastest film to reach the billion-dollar benchmark. Only 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame were quicker, smashing the coveted tally in 11 and five days, respectively. It’s impressive that Spider-Man: No Way Home managed to blow past $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide given the rapidly spreading omicron variant. No other Hollywood film has come close to nearing those box office revenues in the last two years. (Reuters) These articles were provided by The Japan Times Alpha.