On this day in 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released as the first novel in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series.
The book would go on to be a huge success, spawning six sequels, a big budget Hollywood film franchise, and an endless supply of toys, games, and other merchandise.
So just how much money has Harry Potter earned. A staggering $25,000,000,000.
Here is a breakdown of the revenue that the franchise has made.
As you can see the books, films, and toys each make up roughly a third of the revenue, with sales of DVDs and rentals adding in the rest.
If we break out each film as its own source of revenue we get another look at things.
The lowest grossing film, Prisoner of Azkaban, earned almost 800 million. The highest grossing film, Deathly Hallows part 2, earned more than 1.3 billion.
And the franchise will continue to grow. This data doesn't even include the newest entry to the series, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as it's planned sequels.
By any measure Harry Potter is a huge global success, and just 20 short years ago, no one had ever heard about the boy who lived.