Hogwarts fans cannot ignore this tale about the Harry Potter universe. In June 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone hit UK bookshops. It took J.K. Rowling more than five years to write the first part of what would become one of the world's most popular literary and cinematic sagas, making its cast immensely wealthy before they even came of age.
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But in order to make it a success across the Atlantic and around the world, Scholastic Corporation, the company that owned the rights to the first book and had sniffed out the story long before anyone else, decided to change the name of the work for marketing purposes.
Thus, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone became Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. A carefully considered change that can be explained by the silliness of the readers and spectators.
The word 'philosopher's stone' considered too clever
The reason we couldn't appreciate the title of the original work is because of Arthur Levine, the man behind the Harry Potter publication at Scholastic Corporation. He didn't believe in the use of the word 'philosopher' in the title. He felt that the term was too complicated and that the magical reference was not obvious enough.
In the United States, the term philosopher is generally used to describe a specialist in philosophy, rather than an alchemist or a magician. This is why Scholastic suggested Harry Potter and the School of Magic as a new title. J.K. Rowling was initially opposed to the change but later decided in favour of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
When the first book was made into a film in 2001, Warner Bros. retained Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as the official title, except in the United States and a handful of other countries. The change required more work from the actors as they had to redo scenes to add the word 'Wizard' every time the philosopher's stone was mentioned in the film.
This article was translated from Gentside FR.
Sources used:
-IMDB: FAQ - Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers
-ScreenRant: Philosopher's Or Sorcerer's Stone? Why Harry Potter's First Book Has Two Titles
