'Harry Potter' play tickets sell out in hours
Following in the footsteps of Star Wars: The Force Awakens just over a week ago, the launch of ticket sales for the upcoming Harry Potter stage play on London's West End caused widespread pandemonium online on Wednesday morning.
The first batch of tickets for performances of the two-part Harry Potter and the Cursed Child went on sale at 11 a.m. GMT, selling out in a matter of hours. By 7 p.m., after the producers released tickets for the second period going up to Jan. 2017, more than 175,000 had been bought, with many customers complaining of the website crashing or being stuck in virtual queues for hours.
Just moments after selling out, many of the tickets began resurfacing on Ebay and re-sale websites, with prices topping $2,000. The play's official Twitter account issued warnings that people shouldn't look to resell their tickets on alternative platforms, but almost 50 were still for sale on Ebay Thursday morning.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which will start previews at the Palace Theater next summer, is set 19 years after the events in Harry Potter and the Death Hallows Part 2, and follows the former boy wizard and his son Albus, who struggles under the weight of his family legacy.
Tickets for an additional booking period are set to be released on Oct. 30.
READ MORE: 'Harry Potter' Play Plot, Poster Revealed
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