Look out Luke Skywalker, go home E.T., and Leo, you may not be the king of the world after Friday when Britain's boy wizard, Harry Potter ( news - web sites ), debuts in movie theaters in one of the most-anticipated films of the year.
It's easy to see why the children's story " Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone " ("Philosopher's Stone" overseas) will likely be a blockbuster.
Author J.K. Rowling ( news - web sites )'s books about the 11-year-old's exploits at the Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft have sold some 125 million copies around the world and drafted legions of fans into a ready-made audience for the movie.
The film will open in over 3,500 locations in the United States -- a near record -- and about 70 countries over the next three to four weeks. Early reviews have been positive and advance ticket sales are taking off like a witch's broom.
Beyond the film lies a marketing and merchandising campaign built on the idea of "less is more," and that, experts said, could mean billions of dollars in year to come for the film's producers at Warner Bros. and parent AOL Time Warner Inc. .
Before the money can come rolling in, however, the movie had to remain true to Rowling's books in which kids are plucked from a world of non-magical "muggles" and taught wizardry by the likes of Professors McGonagall, Snapel and Dumbledore.
"I'd heard these horrendous, and actually quite amusing, stories about how some directors wanted to adapt the book, like changing the locale to a Hollywood High School," said director Chris Columbus . "(But) to destroy the foundation of this world and the characters would alienate our audience."

In London's Kings Cross Stations off platform 9-3/4, special kids can catch the Hogwarts Express to a medieval castle where they will learn to cast spells and battle evil.
Harry (played by Daniel Radcliffe) is one of those kids, dropped off at the home of his cruel aunt and uncle Dursley, after his own parents -- wizards -- were killed by a demon.
Potter doesn't know why his forehead is scarred with a lightning bolt or why he communicates with animals. But he does know there is a special place for him somewhere in the world.
Harry's real home is at Hogwarts, and after admission letters begin arriving at his home on his 11th birthday, he is finally taken to the school where his mother and father met.
Hogwarts' grizzled old Rubeus Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) becomes Harry's guardian, and it is Hagrid who shows Harry the mound of gold coins his parents left him, outfits the young wizard with his first wand, and buys him his white owl.
But Harry's real Hogwarts friends are fellow first-year students Ron Weasley (Rupert Grant), a happy-go-lucky kid with only B-grade magic skills, and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), a smart-as-a-whip girl and a master in the ways of the wand.
Their lives at Hogwarts are filled with fun and adventure, mystery and intrigue, three-headed dogs, dragons and unicorns. Over the year, they unravel a mystery surrounding a "sorcerer's stone" that could give infinite life to Harry's evil nemesis.
"The script is faithful, the actors are just right, the sets, costumes, makeup and effects match and sometimes exceed anything one could imagine," writes movie critic Todd McCarthy of showbiz newspaper Daily Variety.
Now, if only the business of "Harry Potter" can measure up. As with the film, Warner Bros., working with Rowling, has tried to avoid overhyping Potter products. The film studio only has one global marketing partner, soft drink maker Coca Cola.
"Our mantra was read the books and you'll understand. When you have a brand like this that originates from a literary property, by it's very nature, you handle it differently," said Diane Nelson, senior vice president of family entertainment.
There are other reasons for the "less is more" campaign. In recent years, licensees of many film products have felt burned by paying a high price for the licenses only to see products vanish quickly from retail shelves as the movie hype wore off.
Two of the first major movies to suffer that fate, experts said, were 1999's "Stars Wars: Episode 1 -- The Phantom Menace", a box office hit ($922 million globally) and merchandise flop, and 1998's "Godzilla" with ticket sales of $375 million.
"Many movies stopped clicking emotionally with consumers ... and a child or teenager has to feel like this is something they want to be part of their lives," said Seth Seigal, co-chairman of licensing company, The Beanstalk Group. "Also, there were just too many products in stores."
The "less-is-more" campaign, too, helps protect what Warner Bros. hopes will be a moneymaker for years to come.
If all goes well, financial analyst Jill Krutick of Salomon Smith Barney figures, the Harry Potter movie, consumer products, video, DVD, TV and other sales could reap $450 million to $700 million in operating income for AOL Time Warner.
That is only from the first movie. A second Harry Potter movie begins shooting next week and a third is in the works.
It's enough money to make any muggle think there's a lot of magic to this young British orphan's world. And it's no fantasy, it's reality, and it all begins on Friday.