"Potter" Enchants Fans with $58M Open
A long school break has been kind to "Harry Potter."
After a two-year gap since the last film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" opened with a whopping $58.4 million domestically in its first day, distributor Warner Bros. said Thursday.
"Half-Blood Prince" also conjured up $45.8 million in 33 other countries where it opened Wednesday, among them Great Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Japan. That gave the film a worldwide total of $104.2 million.
Domestically, the movie had the best single-day haul yet for the franchise and the fourth-best daily gross ever, behind last year's "The Dark Knight" at $67.2 million, this summer's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" at $62 million and 2007's "Spider-Man 3" at $59.8 million.
"Half-Blood Prince" receipts include a record $22.2 million from midnight screenings alone, surpassing the previous high of $18.5 million for "The Dark Knight."
The sixth installment in the "Harry Potter" series had the second-highest debut ever for a movie opening on Wednesday. It trailed only the "Transformers" sequel opening last month.
The new movie generally has gotten the best reviews yet among the big-screen adventures of teen wizard Harry (Daniel Radcliffe).
"Half-Blood Prince" has Harry struggling to pry a critical memory loose from a new Hogwarts teacher who possesses key information in the coming showdown between the young hero and the evil Lord Voldemort.
The two-year lag since the fifth movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," was the longest in the franchise's history. "Order of the Phoenix" started with a $44.8 million opening day on a mid-July Wednesday in 2007 and went on to gross $139.7 million by the end of its first weekend.
The big launch for "Half-Blood Prince" could put it on track to pass that mark over its first five days. The film also has a solid launch to challenge the franchise's all-time best earner, which remains 2001's original movie, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," with $975 million worldwide.
"It certainly gives us something to look forward to, but we have to take it one week at a time," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution.
Warner has had great luck with mid-July debuts, opening "The Dark Knight" and "Order of the Phoenix" over the same weekends the last two years. The studio has carved out that weekend again next summer with "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan's follow-up, the sci-fi thriller "Inception," starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The final "Harry Potter" movie follows on July 15, 2011, the second half of a two-part adaptation of the last book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series. The first movie in that two-parter hits theaters Nov. 19, 2010.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. After a two-year gap since the last film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" opened with a whopping $58.4 million domestically in its first day, distributor Warner Bros. said Thursday.
"Half-Blood Prince" also conjured up $45.8 million in 33 other countries where it opened Wednesday, among them Great Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Japan. That gave the film a worldwide total of $104.2 million.
Domestically, the movie had the best single-day haul yet for the franchise and the fourth-best daily gross ever, behind last year's "The Dark Knight" at $67.2 million, this summer's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" at $62 million and 2007's "Spider-Man 3" at $59.8 million.
"Half-Blood Prince" receipts include a record $22.2 million from midnight screenings alone, surpassing the previous high of $18.5 million for "The Dark Knight."
The sixth installment in the "Harry Potter" series had the second-highest debut ever for a movie opening on Wednesday. It trailed only the "Transformers" sequel opening last month.
The new movie generally has gotten the best reviews yet among the big-screen adventures of teen wizard Harry (Daniel Radcliffe).
"Half-Blood Prince" has Harry struggling to pry a critical memory loose from a new Hogwarts teacher who possesses key information in the coming showdown between the young hero and the evil Lord Voldemort.
The two-year lag since the fifth movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," was the longest in the franchise's history. "Order of the Phoenix" started with a $44.8 million opening day on a mid-July Wednesday in 2007 and went on to gross $139.7 million by the end of its first weekend.
The big launch for "Half-Blood Prince" could put it on track to pass that mark over its first five days. The film also has a solid launch to challenge the franchise's all-time best earner, which remains 2001's original movie, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," with $975 million worldwide.
"It certainly gives us something to look forward to, but we have to take it one week at a time," said Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. head of distribution.
Warner has had great luck with mid-July debuts, opening "The Dark Knight" and "Order of the Phoenix" over the same weekends the last two years. The studio has carved out that weekend again next summer with "Dark Knight" director Christopher Nolan's follow-up, the sci-fi thriller "Inception," starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The final "Harry Potter" movie follows on July 15, 2011, the second half of a two-part adaptation of the last book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series. The first movie in that two-parter hits theaters Nov. 19, 2010.
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5 Comments Add a Comment
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- Daniel Radcliff appeared on stage Nude in the play "Eques". I'm quite sure he was only 17 at the time.Isn't that against the law? Where we're his parents?
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- He was 18 and legal.
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- This movie wont make what the others did. It was a disaster. The main focus of the movie was the teen romances, which left the majority of the plot out. No battle in the castle between the Teachers, students and the death eaters, no funeral for Dumbledore. The romances were important to the plot but they are not the plot, by leaving that out they ruined the movie.
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- The fourth movie was such a bomb that I forgot to see the fifth movie. Based on this comment, I guess Hogwarts is washed up for me :).
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- I totally disagree with debinok1's critique. Although, I've been following the MOVIES and not the BOOKS so I can't comment on what the movie left out of the books. This new "Harry Potter" film might be the best one yet. The story was intriguing, the action suspenseful, the visual effects stunning and the production design (the look of the film) has never been better. This is the first HP movie that I actually wept during a character's death. It was emotionally touching and director David Yates has created a wonderful film. I LOVED this movie!
