Warner Brothers announced today that the studio will partner with Coca-Cola in a $25 million campaign to push the video release of the number one box office film ($320 million) of 2001.  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone will be available both on videocassette ($24.99 SRP) with five minutes of extra footage and in a two-disk DVD format ($26.99 SRP) with hours of extra features.   The DVD will actually be available in two different versions, a widescreen edition and a pan and scan version.  The DVD is clearly aimed at a young target audience since it includes all sorts of games and interactive features (a '360 Degree Self-Guided Tour of Hogwarts' etc.), rather than the kind of filmmaker commentaries that are typically included in cinephile DVDs aimed at an older audience.

 

The enormous marketing campaign, which is bigger than many films receive for their theatrical release, testifies to the increasing importance of DVD sales to the studios, which make a significantly higher profit percentage on video sales than they do on theatrical admissions.  Given the popularity of the original film and the size of the marketing campaign, the Harry Potter DVDs and VHS tapes will be ubiquitous in the mass market.