MILLIONS TAKE 'HARRY' HOME ON VIDEO.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

The video version of ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' sold a record 9.8 million copies in the United States during its first week, casting the same magic spell over home video as it did in theaters.

Warner Home Video officials said Thursday that the video sales for ``Potter'' surpassed the previous record-holder, ``Shrek,'' which bowed with sales of approximately 9 million copies last fall.

``Potter,'' based on the popular book by J.K. Rowling, grossed $317.6 million at the domestic box office and was the most highly anticipated video so far this year. The film follows the adventures of an 11-year-old wizard named Harry and his friends as they enter the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

``We're very excited about the sales of 'Harry Potter,''' said Mark Horak, executive vice president of worldwide marketing for Warner Home Video. ``The books have established a terrific franchise, the theatrical people at Warner Bros. did an excellent job of marketing to moviegoers and we're happy that so far we've been able to hold up our end with the video release.''

Demand for the video was so high that, based on pre-orders alone, the film topped the Amazon.com, Wherehouse Music and Walmart.com sales charts for several months before actually hitting stores May 28. Several chains, including Wherehouse Music and Tower Records and Video, held extended hours and began selling the film on release day at 12:01 a.m.

Warner Bros. has also sold 20.8 million units of the film internationally, releasing the movie a few weeks earlier than in the United States because it feared being overlooked because of the World Cup.

``The international markets are much more focused on the World Cup soccer competition and we wanted to precede it by going in mid-May in those markets,'' Horak said. ``It has already set records around the world, including in the United Kingdom and Japan.''

Approximately 1 million of the copies sold were to U.S. video stores for rental. According to figures released Thursday by the Video Software Dealers Association, ``Potter'' topped DVD rentals with $5.74 million in earnings and also dominated VHS rentals with $7.75 million in revenue.

In order to become the biggest-selling home video of all time, ``Potter'' will have to sell more than the 30 million units of Disney's ``The Lion King.''

``The jury is still out if it will grow to become the No. 1 selling video of all time,'' Horak said. ``We hope that it will.''

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Photo:

(color) Borders employee Brenda Gilpin hangs balloons near the ``Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' display at the Woodland Hills store on May 28.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer