21 years ago, no one heard the name J.K. Rowling or Harry Potter.
Rowling was out of work, on welfare, supporting a young child and suffering from depression to the point of contemplating suicide, when she finished her manuscript for a book about a boy wizard.
But that all changed on June 26, 1997, when the very first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published in the U.K.
A little over a year later, in September 1998, the book, with a slight title change, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, was published in the U.S.
Just a MONTH after that, Warner Brothers bought the rights to the first two novels for almost $2 million.
The rest is history.
20 years after the first release, the franchise continues to earn an insane amount of money every year through, book and movie sales (both Harry Potter books and films and NEW connected films), theme park experiences and a new stage play scheduled to debut on Broadway in 2018.
In 2016, J.K. Rowling earned $95 million, making her the world's highest paid author.
It continues to be a phenomenal success story....and it's all thanks to the 'Boy Who Lived.'
Check out Handel's segment about the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter.