HARRY POTTER Shatters All-Time Midnight Opening Record

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AndyDursin
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HARRY POTTER Shatters All-Time Midnight Opening Record

#1 Post by AndyDursin »

$22.2 million!

Besting TRANSFORMERS 2's $16 million last month and THE DARK KNIGHT's $18 million from a year ago.

Guess plenty of people still care -- and they're talking about a potential $200 million opening 5-days.

First, Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen broke the Wednesday post-midnight record with $16 million in June. Now Warner Bros' 6th film of the Harry Potter shatters that record and more, beating the $18M all-time post-midnight record set by the studio's own The Dark Knight.

Meanwhile Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince not only opened with $20 million in 12:01 AM Wednesday shows but also bested by a big margin the $12M in post-midnight dates that its predecessor Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix debuted in 2007. That HP5 went on to gross $139.7M over its first 5 days.

My box office gurus predict that, this time around, HP6 could haul in as much as $200M from its gigantic release into 4,275 North American theaters for its first 5 days -- despite all those half-price kiddie tickets -- and at least a $100M 3-day weekend.


http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/h ... midnights/

Eric W.
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#2 Post by Eric W. »

Maybe TF 2 isn't destined to win 2009 after all...

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AndyDursin
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#3 Post by AndyDursin »

Eric W. wrote:Maybe TF 2 isn't destined to win 2009 after all...
Maybe. The Potter movies traditionally open huge, but then drop off. Kind of like the old TREK movies they basically all end up grossing the same amount (at least the sequels) -- here are the US grosses for the series (interesting to note that PRISONER OF AZKABAN, the most critically lauded of the series, was also the least successful of all five):

1 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone WB $317,575,550 3,672 $90,294,621 3,672 11/16/01

2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix WB $292,004,738 4,285 $77,108,414 4,285 7/11/07

3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire WB $290,013,036 3,858 $102,685,961 3,858 11/18/05

4 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets WB $261,988,482 3,682 $88,357,488 3,682 11/15/02

5 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban WB $249,541,069 3,855 $93,687,367 3,855 6/4/04

- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince WB n/a - n/a - 7/15/09

The Pessimist
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#4 Post by The Pessimist »

Isn't the lead actor like a 100 now? :lol:
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#5 Post by Monterey Jack »

The Pessimist wrote:Isn't the lead actor like a 100 now? :lol:
Why do people keep making this joke? Radcliffe is 20 now playing 16-17. We're not exactly talking Kevin Spacey in Beyond The Sea here.

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#6 Post by The Pessimist »

Monterey Jack wrote:
The Pessimist wrote:Isn't the lead actor like a 100 now? :lol:
Why do people keep making this joke? Radcliffe is 20 now playing 16-17. We're not exactly talking Kevin Spacey in Beyond The Sea here.
But it seems like he's been around forever.
'Sorry about that one.' -Ed Wood

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#7 Post by John Johnson »

Potter movie sets world opening day record.

The new Harry Potter movie "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" took in $104 million (63.3 million pounds) at worldwide box offices on its first full day of release, setting a record, the Warner Bros studio said on Thursday.
The movie, the sixth in the series based on the books by J.K. Rowling, grossed $45.85 million at the box office internationally and $58.18 in North America on Wednesday, Warner Bros said.

Those figures include a record $22.2 million at midnight showings in the United States.

"Quite simply, we owe this record-breaking opening to the remarkable fans who have stood by us and who stood in line to be among the first to see 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,'" Warner Bros President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said in a statement.

Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com said: "This is a tremendous opening. It's in the box office stratosphere."

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090716/te ... 34b85.html
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#8 Post by AndyDursin »

Huge numbers -- though it didn't beat TRANSFORMERS 2's single-day U.S. record.

Again, the Potter fanatics turn out en mass for these openings. I doubt it has a chance to catch TRANSFORMERS in the end, because once the fans see it, it will fade quicker in its 2nd and 3rd weeks than TF.

Just my two cents...and I have to say, this one I'm not planning on seeing theatrically. The last two movies have both been "meh" to me, completely watchable and entertaining but also completely forgettable. After the first couple of movies all of these films just tend to run together, possessing a "sameness" -- and I'm not sure the filmmakers have really done that great a job, especially since Newell, Yates, etc. have taken over, in making non-readers feel that interested or compelled to watch them. After the last movie, I can't say I really care that much in seeing how it all turns out. But obviously a lot of people do...especially those book fans who already know the outcome.

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#9 Post by Monterey Jack »

Hve you actually read the books, Andy? I'm a bit hazy on that. :?

Anyways, this opening is proof positive that all those doomsayers pronouncing the Potter series "dead" and "replaced" by Twilight and it's forthcoming sequels were talkig out of their a$$es. 8)

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#10 Post by AndyDursin »

Hve you actually read the books, Andy? I'm a bit hazy on that.
Nope. Tried reading the first one, stopped about 50 pages in.

That's why I said guys like Newell and Yates haven't done that great a job for non-readers over the last couple of movies. I'm sure they're respectful adaptations of their respective books but as a viewer, taking these movies for what they are without knowing the outcome, I can't say I really care about what happens next. Maybe I'm just too old, I dunno, but either way, I'm just not into them. I certainly don't feel the crazed anticipation over their release, and I find it curious the people who DO seem to care the most are the fans who have already read the books.

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#11 Post by Monterey Jack »

You really should give the books another try, Andy. The first one is a bit "kiddie", but they get more confident and engrossing as they go along. You're honestly only getting maybe 50-60% of the novels up there on the screen at this point.

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#12 Post by AndyDursin »

Monterey Jack wrote:You really should give the books another try, Andy. The first one is a bit "kiddie", but they get more confident and engrossing as they go along. You're honestly only getting maybe 50-60% of the novels up there on the screen at this point.
I completely believe you MJ. I don't mean to be critical of "the franchise" itself, I actually have liked most of the movies, I'm just not into it all the way a lot of people are.

And I'm just talking about these films as standalone movies, for people who haven't read the books. To be honest with you, before the first movie even came out, I tried reading the first one, got tired of all the names and terms, couldn't get into it and just gave up. I have a couple of friends who absolutely, positively love them -- and young family members too -- so I respect that POV entirely. Maybe it's just not my cup of tea, you know? (Though I'll definitely see the final installment(s) if Williams comes back!).

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#13 Post by mkaroly »

I stopped reading them after book three. It's the same basic plot over and over again to me...but that's because I read the first three books in one month (they are quick reads, I will say that). By the fourth book I had had enough and have no interest in picking them up again- so I suppose it's my fault for overindulging. To be honest though, the stories really didn't encaptivate my imagination...I was forcing myself to read them. So I guess they just don't appeal to me, and outside of Williams' music for the first three films, the film don't appeal to me either. But clearly based on the financial returns I'm in the minority there.

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#14 Post by AndyDursin »

I just finished the film on Blu-Ray and was not impressed. 153 minutes and almost nothing happened until the last 20 minutes.

I also disliked the extensive use of green screen visuals -- I remember how much location shooting they did in the first few movies, and in this film, even scenes in Hogwarts had that glossy "digital" appearance. At times it resembled something you'd see on Sci-Fi Channel, obviously more expensive, but still phony looking. You can always tell when everything outside of characters in the foreground are out of focus or too smooth that it's not real. A lot of this movie had that processed kind of look.

Hooper's score was better than the prior installment, but still nothing overly remarkable.

Overall this was the weakest of the whole series for me. The plot felt disposable, nothing really happened...I just didn't care about it, to be honest.

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Paul MacLean
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#15 Post by Paul MacLean »

AndyDursin wrote:Overall this was the weakest of the whole series for me. The plot felt disposable, nothing really happened...I just didn't care about it, to be honest.
I'm a fan of the books, and still enjoy the work of the cast, and the essential stylistic template of the films as originally established by Chris Columbus.

But...there's considerably less "heart" in the Yates movies. Despite the big budget (and winter location work in Norway!), Yates' efforts feel "small" and less epic than the previous directors' films -- more like a TV movies. I also did not like the Half-Blood Prince's dark, shadowy photography, and its dreary, washed-out color scheme. It was effective in the spookier scenes, but didn't particularly suit the more intimate moments.

I did think the scenes with Tom Riddle were very effective. But I was annoyed by the pointless attack on the Weasly's home, since it wasn't even in the book! Also, why is it that Dumbledor can fix-up a run-down old house with his wand, but the entire Weasley family can't extinguish a house fire with theirs'? :?

I didn't think the film effectively portrayed the budding romance of Harry and Ginny Weasley. The climatic sequence in the sea cave was suspenseful and visually impressive (albeit drab and colorless), but the "big event" at the end of the film was just...unceremonious. It was a powerful moment in the book, but didn't really hit you in the gut on screen.

I loved Chris Columbus's take on the Rowling's stories, which I've described in the past as "Dickens meets Indiana Jones". But it seems like Yates is trying to be David Fincher, and that doesn't exactly suit the the material.

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