‘Harry’ Is Keeping His Secrets, for Now

Warner Home Video doesn’t want Muggles to know the secrets behind the movie magic of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” So don’t look for any audio commentaries or “how the film was made” featurettes on the double-disc DVD ($27) that arrives in stores today in both full-screen and wide-screen editions. A VHS version is also available for $25.

“We wanted to set this DVD apart by keeping it in the world of Harry, knowing that it is a disc appealing to younger viewers,” says Paul Hemstreet, vice president of special features/DVD for Warner Home Video. So while it is loaded with extras, they aren’t the kind that DVD fans are most accustomed to.

For those, they’ll have to wait for a second DVD issue, release date unknown.

Director Chris Columbus, already busy on the second film in the series, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” due for release this fall, “has expressed a desire at some point to go back and do commentary,” Hemstreet says, and Warner Home Video has massive amounts of behind-the-scenes footage shot during the production of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” last year in England.

“Every day was documented,” Hemstreet says. “We had crew there. There is a tremendous amount of information that could be used, but we didn’t want to cross that line at this point and show the wires.”

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” based on J.K. Rowling’s phenomenally successful novel, stars Daniel Radcliffe as the orphan boy who learns on his 11th birthday that his late parents were powerful wizards and that he has inherited their magical powers. The film raked in more than $320 million in U.S. ticket sales and is expected to bring in another bundle on the home video market.

The first disc of the DVD is the movie itself; the second is comprised of a series of interactive features that ultimately allow viewers to access deleted scenes. (The VHS also includes the excised scenes.) Among the DVD’s other features:

* An interactive tour of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the Great Hall, Harry’s bedroom and the Gryffindor Common Room.

* A visit to the classrooms of professors Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick.

* Interviews with Columbus and producer David Heyman.

* A visit to Diagon Alley that allows viewers access to Gringott’s Bank, Ollivander’s Wands and Eeylops Owl Emporium.

* A lesson in the game of Quidditch, played on flying brooms.

* A visit to the Hogwarts library.

“It seemed natural to have a tour of Hogwarts,” Hemstreet says. “These incredible sets are really built at 360 degrees and the detail was incredible. We wanted to convey that and show it in a fun way.”

There are more features if the DVD is played on a computer. There, thanks to One Voice Technologies, the One Voice option on the DVD-ROM gives viewers the opportunity to navigate the extras by speaking directly into the computer’s microphone. The commands are available in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian.

Once into the DVD-ROM, viewers can take a personalized tour of Hogwarts, play several interactive games, enjoy trading cards and personalized owl e-mails and even be sorted into one of Hogwarts’ houses.

Warner Home Video began working on the DVD extras while the film was still in production; they were nearly a year in the making. Hemstreet and his staff consulted Columbus and Heyman throughout the process. Rowling, though, wasn’t involved in the planning. “She was very busy with certain things having to do with the release of the theatrical film and also with the writing of her next book,” Hemstreet explains. “She had a very full agenda.”

Though Warner Home Video has been heavily publicizing the DVD release of “Harry Potter,” Hemstreet becomes a virtual chamber of secrets as to how many copies are being shipped to stores.

The latest Amazon.com “Hit List,” though, illustrates the magnitude of fans’ demand for the title. The wide-screen version of “Harry Potter” has spent 14 weeks at No. 1 on the DVD best-seller list since becoming available for pre-order on Feb. 5. The full-screen edition is currently No. 4 and the VHS version has spent 15 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the video best-seller list.