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SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Warner Bros’ Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince opened with made $51.8M Wednesday, $21.9M Thursday, $26.8 million Friday and $29M Saturday from 4,275 theaters. With Sunday’s aggressive estimate of $23.2M (too aggressive?), that’s a $79.5M three-day weekend and a $159.7M first-five-day total. 
“Harry Potter 6 won’t get close to Transformers 2,” a rival studio emailed me tonight. “And it’s getting farther behind TF2 every day.” (2007′s Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix finished with a $77M weekend/$140M first five days.) Box office total was $396.7 million including foreign for the strongest Harry Potter franchise start ever.
On Wednesday, HP6 broke the worldwide box office record for opening day with more than $104 million by combining the domestic gross of $58.18M and the international totals of $45.85M. Unlike TF2, HP6 with a PG rating is selling more discounted kiddie tickets. And it had virtually no biz from higher priced IMAX theaters: just 3 venues compared to TF2‘s 169. When Warner Bros delayed the latest pic in the 8-year-old Harry Potter franchise from last November, the studio could book only three IMAX theaters day and date since the rest are committed to Transformers 2 for a one-month exclusive run. And the film based on JK Rowling’s books still has many countries, as well as many Imax locations in North America (nationwide July 29th), to open.
Meanwhile, last week’s #1 movie in North America, Sacha Baron Cohen’s mockumentary Bruno, imploded this weekend in 2,759 venues — down a staggering -80% for just $2.8M Friday and -66% for $3M Saturday to finish in 5th place. And only a $8M weekend and new cume of $49.2M. “When you know it’s going to be bad , it’s always a little worse,” a rival studio exec snarked. Despite omnipresent marketing and huge awareness, Bruno still had problems that the distributing studio couldn’t overcome. The mockumentary’s graphic depiction of male genitalia front and back, its last-minute editing to tone down the content for an “R” rating, the controversy over Sacha’s depiction of homosexuals and heterosexuals, may have all contributed to the film’s difficulty at the box office its 2nd weekend when the watercooler effect kicked in. It was clear from last weekend’s exit polling scores that audiences were unhappy with what they saw on screen. So Universal’s summer losing streak keeps going on and on…
Fox’s Ice Age 3-D: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs was an easy #2 with $5.4M Friday and $7M Saturday from 3,817 dates for another $17.7M weekend and $152M cume. Paramount’s Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen came in 3rd with $4.5M Friday and $5.4M Saturday from 3,857 runs for a $13.7M weekend on its way to a $363.8M domestic cume. And Disney’s The Proposal was #4 with $2.7M Friday and $3.3M Saturday for a projected $8.3M weekend and $128.1M cume. Why? Sneaks of Ugly Truth that sold out everywhere and were mostly coupled with The Proposal.
Expectedly, this will be a big down weekend of $155M — -40% — because HP6 opened on a Wednesday, and 2008′s The Dark Knight alone grossed $158M. Total weekend box office last year was $255M.
FRIDAY AM: Warner Bros says Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince added $21.9 million Thursday. The PG pic’s two-day total is now $80.1M.
THURSDAY PM: Warner Bros announced today that its Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince has broken the worldwide box office record for opening day with more than $104 million by combining the domestic gross of $58.18 million and the international total of $45.85 million. And the PG film based on JK Rowling’s books still has many countries, as well as many Imax locations in North America (nationwide July 29th), to open. But in its first round of day and date territories, HP6 posted the Netherland’s best opening ever, the UK’s 3rd highest, Italy’s 2nd biggest, and Australia’s 3rd largest.
THURSDAY AM: Warner Bros’ Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince opened Wednesday with a total of $58.4 million from a huge release into 4,275 theaters, the 4th biggest single-day gross ever and the second biggest single-day Wednesday gross in box office history. It included a record-breaking $22.8M in post-midnight shows on 3,003 screens. But that’s short of the $62M Wednesday opening grosses made by Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen in June. Of course, there are also mitigating factors. With a PG rating, HP6 is selling more discounted kiddie tickets. And it had virtually no biz from higher priced IMAX theaters: just 3 venues compared to TF2‘s 169. When Warner Bros delayed the latest pic in the 8-year-old Harry Potter franchise from last November, the studio could book only three IMAX theaters day and date since the rest are committed to Transformers 2 for a one-month exclusive run.
WEDNESDAY AM: 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 $22.2 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.
Look, no reason to be coy. This latest Harry Potter, especially because it’s PG, is gonna make a mint. And it’s all the more impressive because Warner Bros, when they delayed the pic from last November, could book only three IMAX theaters day and date since the rest are committed to Transformers 2 for at least another week or two. Meanwhile, WB spent $250M to make the film and another $155M to market and distribute it around the globe. But it will take the pic this week to debut in all its international territories. What amazes me about the Harry Potter franchise is that it’s better than it has to be. Look how the Spider-Man and Pirates Of The Caribbean franchises descended into mediocrity (or worse) after an auspicious start. Not since Lord Of The Rings has a franchise been this fresh and original and true to its books.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Just saw it today. This is one of the best film series ever without question. It’s frightening to think what form this all would have taken in the wrong hands (i.e. virtually with anyone or at anyplace else in town).
Nikki the difference between Harry Potter and indeed Lord of the Rings from say the Spider Man and Pirates movies is the fact that they are literary adaptations and so can use a (rather thick) book as the backbone to draw their scripts. Those other franchises have been made up as they go on. Spider Man draws from many comics, and Pirates from it’s theme park ride! It’s no surprise that the original films are stronger than the sequels. All that being said… the books the adaptations have been drawn from actually have to be pretty good too or you can still end up with a mess.
“What amazes me about the Harry Potter franchise is that it’s better than it has to be.”
As an enormous Harry Potter geek, I want to offer up the idea that it’s NOT brtter than it has to be. They HAVE to be faithful, at least in the overall characters and arcs, because if they were to drop the ball on any one of the films the fans would be so furious we wouldn’t stand for more. What is remarkable is that they have managed to condense some very long books into respectable films without either being too slavish (except perhaps for the first two) or changing too much.
This is also notable because, due to IMAX’s pre-existing exclusivity deal with Paramount for Transformers, the midnight returns do not include IMAX runs, which will all open in two weeks (except for one screen each in NY/LA/Chicago.) The Dark Knight’s midnight grosses included sellouts from several IMAX theaters with their higher ticket prices, and yet Harry was able to dethrone it without that manner of aid.
These movies are all the same! The only thing added to the arc is Harry feigning teenage angst and Ron & Hermione flirting. We’ve known since the first film that Harry was destined to be better than anyone at waving a twig and spouting gibberish. There hasn’t been many wrinkles thrown in since. He’s a tedious character and these films are hollow cgi reels that utterly waste all of the esteemed talent from across the pond. All this series has done is drive into the ground the same tired fantasy formula that LOTR was somehow consecrated for.
My god Nikki, why did you have to go on vacation when Harry Potter’s out. I’m dying for some early Wednesday estimates
I read somewhere that late shows arent playing well and that it won’t even beat Transformers2 opening day! That’ll be so disappointing. I hope your numbers prove them wrong! (and soon!)
Why didnt Warner Bros wait until they could get the IMAX screens — there are some key scenes in 3D — perhaps they were hoping for repeat viewers? I know I won’t be watching it until it’s playing in IMAX in my area.
And isn’t it true that Warners pushed the Fall opening so it wouldn’t coincide with the Broadway run of EQUUS, which features a riveting performance by Radcliffe, including an extended (no pun intended) full frontal nude scene?
@HunderD – Clearly you need to actually FINISH READING THE BOOKS, before you can make such judgments about the characters dying.
@Ethel – Was EVERYONE in the theater disappointed or just you? Cause I had a completely different experience. Don’t assume your opinions are everyones.
….Can not believe HP has been reduced to a teenage chick flick….It was about teenage snogging and not alot else….where exactly was the Half Blood Prince, did I miss him, he was hardly in it at all???….Left out at the expense of teenage love….dull.
@heresjohnny
Before you get snarky with fellow posters, learn how to THOROUGHLY read posts. I wrote “most” not “everyone”. And for the record, there was a local university doing a survey on the way out and 234 out of 250 from the theatre I attended marked “disappointed” and ranked it last of the installments. That would qualify as “most”.
Sheesh Nikki, are you writing Warner’s press releases, lol?
“Look how the Spider-Man and Pirates Of The Caribbean franchises descended into mediocrity (or worse) after an auspicious start.”
So you’re talking about 1 installment of SPIDER-MAN that “descended into mediocrity”, right? Because the second film was one of the best sequels ever made.
One could say GOBLET OF FIRE was pretty mediocre…wasn’t much better than SPIDEY 3 to be honest. And ORDER OF THE PHOENIX was forgettable as well.
“Not since Lord Of The Rings has a franchise been this fresh and original and true to its books. ”
Huh? How can you be “fresh and original” and yet “true to its books”? Translating a book faithfully doesn’t exactly make you “fresh.”
Comic books have at least, 40 years or so of stories, plotlines, and proven concepts that work. In the case of Superman, make that more than 70 years of the same. It takes a lot to screw up proven material, like Spider-Man or Superman. By contrast, the Potter books are relatively recent, and there’s far less of winning storylines, characterizations, and plot lines to choose from.
I don’t know if a mostly female-girl oriented movie like the Potter series has as much pull as Transformers or the comic book movies. Maybe. There’s a lot of competition for the female and teen/tween female market. Guys have relatively little so flock to the comic book movies.
200M in 5 days is Not Possible … 180M in 5 Days maybe …
I’m waiting for HP7 when Harry becomes an instructor @ hogwarts. Big money starts in 3 years…..
Don’t say you didn’t know?
Adaptations are always difficult – kudos to Warner for staying so close to what the HP fandom loves. When that happens, money follows…
Wow! Didn’t know the studios are tracking the worldwide box office record for opening day
Emm..anyone knows who was the previous record holder? I assumed the usual suspects with the likes of Spidey, Pirates..Carribean or maybe Shrek!
Anyone with the info?
I saw it in 35MM and will since it again in Imax 3D. Was a great film and am very happy they are having this much success. Warner Brothers though delaying the film and annoying many fans does nurture and promote this series very well (and why not it is a cash cow for them). I was surprised at the parts that were left out but also pleaseed about how it was done.
The official reason why they pushed it was because WB did not have anything to have this summer that would be huge (and they didn’t need to have any more success last year with the record breaking Dark Knight helping them). People who were upset about this should realize that the next one will come sooner then — next november.
The movie was very good but not great. (Spoiler warning). The only really thrilling moment was when Dumbledore circled the lake with fire.
None of these directors get the wonder of fantasy, because they don’t believe truly believe it’s legit, hence the “romance” focus.
This was the closest since Cuaron’s (#3) to have real mood. Lots of horror movie references incorporated, which while nice, didn’t capture the oppressiveness and fear of the novels.
Biggest disappointment was lack of fight between the Death-Eaters and Team Harry after Dumbledore’s death. I assume it was because the makers of the film felt it would detract from the emotional impact of Dumbledore’s immediate death to have everyone chasing around having a magical fight. (The magical fights are the biggest disappointments of the whole movie series).
A very good movie, but more dramatic than fantastic.
My wife is a middle school English teacher and she was enthralled with the film. I have not read any of the books or have seen any of the movies and I was thoroughly lost and confused with the plot. However, the visual effects were quite impressive and I could enjoy the film on that level.
BTW, we saw it Thursday at an 1130am matinee in Las Vegas, and the theater was about 75% full with a capacity of about 300. Lots of kids, but not as many as you would think.
Beautiful, so it won’t be beating Transformers 5-day tally after all.
Oh Harry, still premature I see. 22 mil midnight and nothing to show for it.
Isn’t this an unfair comparison to Transformers 2 — first of all this is the first sequel of Transformers and more importantly — it’s not getting the added benefit of the IMAX screens — I know I won’t be watching it until it comes to IMAX in my area. So what if it doesn’t beat transformers — it’s still doing really really well and T2 is so much better than the first one.
Wow, it didn’t beat Tardfest 2′s 5-day gross. It MUST be a total dud!
Just some interesting “perception versus reality” thoughts on the box office. Has anyone noticed that ICE AGE 3 is now the number 2 movie of the year in worldwide box office? It’s about to cross 500 million and has plenty more to come! This was pretty much on track to happen last week when according to every media outlet BRUNO was somehow taking over the world. I didn’t see Scrat or Manny on the cover of magazines. For all the crap people like dish out on 20th Century Fox, they are having a pretty good year.
Another thing that went unnoticed and considering all of UNIVERSAL’s flops this year is interesting. MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR grossed over 400 million dollars worldwide last year. Just for perspective. that would put it at #4 on this year’s chart and over 50 million dollars more than Universal’s top grosser (worldwide) of the year, FAST AND FURIOUS. Granted, the year isn’t over, but I find it interesting that the film was pretty much dismissed as a “dusty old franchise” and yet it had more box office muscle than a lot of the perceived smash hits being released this year. Case and point, STAR TREK. I loved it, and am not knocking it, but that dusty Mummy franchise outgrossed the hip, super cool new sensation TREK by millions too. There may be a bit more bank in the weeks ahead for Trek, but again, perception and reality tend to be two very different things. Time to call in Brendan Frasier again Universal.