Wild About 'Harry'

By Stephen M. Silverman

Tuesday April 14, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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Even though the movie version of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" won't hit movie screens until November, a big audience for it is already waiting in the wings, according to a recent survey of more than 1,500 adults and children conducted by the consumer research NPD Group and reported by The New York Times. The national survey results show that 67% of Americans between the ages of 6 and 17 had read at least one of the four "Potter" books, and among them, some two-thirds plan on seeing the picture. Of the 14% of the adults who read at least one of the books in the series, half plan to see the movie, says the survey. This should spell big numbers for the movie's box office take. The film is being directed by Chris Columbus ("Mrs. Doubtfire") and produced by Warner Bros., which, like PEOPLE, is part of AOL Time Warner.