Harry Potter is number one at the box office (surprise!)

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 4:56pm

1) Harry Potter $101.4M
2) Walk the Line $22.4M
3) Chicken Little $14.8M
4) Derailed $6.5M
5) Zathura $5.1M


HARRY POTTER has the year's biggest opening weekend gross. WALK THE LINE follows with nearly four times less POTTERs gross.
Box Office numbers

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 4:58pm

I hope those estimates hold.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:12pm

That's actually a really excellent figure. By comparison, PoA grossed $93.6m. Does anyone know where I can find a per theatre gross?

[jasonf]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:15pm

How can they say it already when people were literally lined up to see the movie as I exited the theater today at 4:30? GREAT movie, BTW - best in the series by far!

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:15pm

I think the best you'll get will be the screen average which will be available once the estimates are confirmed. Interestingly the first day take of this film was lower than Azkaban's, so either business really picked up or the estimates are off.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:19pm

Jasonf, the box office figures are a tally of Friday and Saturday's actual take, plus an estimate of Sunday's gross, based on those figures. Final figures for the weekend usually arrive late Monday.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:20pm

I always wondered that too, jasonf. How do they estimate Sunday's potential gross to come to those figures?

[Atrias]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:22pm

Wait, does this mean that it was bigger than Star Wars? No way!

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:23pm

Not quite - just checked and Revenge of the Sith grossed $108m. But, to be fair, that was publicized as being the last Star Wars movie ever, so there was a sense of finality to it. HP4 is just an additional volume to a continuing series. (At least, that's what I'm saying to console myself. Star Wars - bah.)

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:26pm

Didn't Episode III open on a Thursday?

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:27pm

http://www.boxofficeguru.com should have the per screen average by later tonite and it will have the final figures later monday evening.

[Atrias]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:27pm

Actually, it did. So that could account for the extra few $.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:28pm

That's an odd day to open. I didn't know that.

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:31pm

there's a research company called exhibitor relations that calls each and every movie theater in the US on sunday to get box office figures.

friday and saturday's figures are known and then the company applies industry knowledge, expectations, demographics, etc. to gauge how sunday will play out for the top films.

many times they are in the ballpark and only rarely are they off by a very significant percentage.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:33pm

What were the projected earning estimates before Friday?

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:35pm

$97 million per boxofficeguru, which is a pretty reliable source. also, it listed $17 million for walk the line so both films opened above expectations.

Updated On: 11/20/05 at 05:35 PM

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:36pm

Thanks.

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:42pm

the $108 million that sith opened with was for the three-day-period. for the four day, including its opening on thursday, it made $158 million.

from boxofficeguru.com: Legions of George Lucas fans lined up and drove the much-anticipated Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith to the top of the North American charts shattering all kinds of box office records in the process and giving the film industry the jolt that was sorely needed. The final installment in the six-part sci-fi epic grossed a record $158.4M, according to final studio figures, over its four-day Thursday-to-Sunday opening weekend domestically and set a new global milestone debuting with a towering $303M worldwide since its Wednesday launch in certain territories.

It was the largest four-day opening ever eclipsing the $134.3M of The Matrix Reloaded from two years ago this month and also soared higher than the $110.2M of Episode II from 2002. Episode III grossed a stunning $108.4M over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday portion of the frame while playing in 3,661 theaters for a scorching $29,619 per-theater average. It ranks as the second largest Fri-to-Sun performance ever behind the $114.8M of Spider-Man in 2002 which launched on a Friday rather than a Thursday like Sith.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:50pm

RobbO, BWW's very own Box Office Guru.

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/20/05 at 5:57pm

it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/21/05 at 10:44am

According to a statement from Warner Bros, Goblet of Fire has opened at number 1 in each of the 21 (21!) countries it debuted in this weekend. If estimates hold, it is the biggest opening weekend in the UK for a film ever, beating out Episode III.

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 9:10am

final monday figures have potter at $102.3, so they did count you jasonf.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 9:38am

So it's one of those rare occasions when the box office people guess LOWER than the final take? Wow. Only one that springs easily to mind where this happened before was the first Spider-Man movie.

[RobbO]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 9:41am

it is rare and bodes well for the second week figures. although typically fans of books translated into movies such as this come out the first weekend, between the holiday in the US and multiple viewings by said fans, the box office for potter will likely only experience a tiny drop.

[shiksa_goddess]

Posted: 11/22/05 at 12:02pm

Just imagine how much the final Potter film will make if GOF almost beat out starwars, three more films to go.