According to a recent report in the movie blog Deadline Hollywood, the Harry Potter franchise has earned Warner Bros in the region of $21bn ($6.4bn from movie ticket sales and $7bn from merchandise, among other streams such as TV and home entertainment). They can add on at least another $1bn if the extraordinary opening weekend of Deathly Hallows: Part 2 will be anything to go by. The series finale grossed approximately $476m worldwide over its first weekend. This will become the first Potter movie to cross $1bn in ticket sales.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 set a North American opening-weekend record of $168.8m over three days, overhauling the three-year mark of $158.4m set by The Dark Knight – another Warner Bros release. Around $43.5m of that comes from midnight previews last Thursday/Friday; it all goes into the pot. The astonishing $307m international debut smashed the short-lived $260.4m record set by Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in late May and included a record UK debut of £23m ($36.6m) from about 4m admissions.
This is all mind-boggling stuff. In a way, I bet Warner Bros top brass are annoyed they only split the finale into two parts. Perhaps they've already set their minions to work on concocting a Rashomon-like sequence of follow-ups. Soon we'll be subjected to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Mrs Weasley's Story, in which Mum of Ron reveals her larger-than-initially-thought role in Voldemort's downfall. Then there might be the hitherto unknown account of Bellatrix Lestrange: a heroic spy within Voldemort's ranks, perhaps, whose covert allegiance to Harry was cruelly overlooked. Etc.
It seems remarkable that a Potter episode hasn't already generated more than $1bn in ticket sales. The much-loved franchise has inspired repeat visits from its acolytes and, as we know, repeat viewings is what turns a big hit into a phenomenon such as Titanic, Avatar, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and, more recently, Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Like all cultural phenomena, Harry Potter is more than its movies. Witness scenes of near hysteria last weekend when a select band of fans was granted access to the Florida theme park for two-hours. See how Emma Watson – not to mention dozens of giddy fans – wept at the London premiere.
Warner Bros chiefs know there's going to be no replacing this franchise. Unless JK Rowling can be coaxed into penning a sequel about Harry's children, the hunt for that magical new property is well and truly on. My bet is that the next big thing will be The Hunger Games. Lionsgate has movie rights to Suzanne Collins's excellent young adult series and has been adapting the first book in time for next March. But even if they nail it, the series only runs to three books. So that makes four movies if the studio splits the finale into two, de rigueur these days if you look at Harry Potter and Twilight.
As I've said before, Woody Allen is his own franchise, and the veteran's 42nd movie, Midnight in Paris, has just overtaken Hannah and Her Sisters to become his biggest hit at the North American box office on $41.8m. Disregarding small details such as inflation adjustment, which means the 1986 comedy is still Allen's biggest hit, this is no small feat for a man whose best years are, some may argue, behind him. All the same, well done Woody.
North American top 10, 15-17 July 2011
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, $168.6m
2 Transformers: Dark of the Moon, $21.3m. Total: $302.8m
3 Horrible Bosses, $17.6m. Total: $60m
4 Zookeeper, $12.3m. Total: $42.4m
5 Cars 2, $8.3m. Total: $165.3m
6 Winnie the Pooh, $8m
7 Bad Teacher, $5.2m. Total: $88.5m
8 Larry Crowne, $2.6m. Total: $31.6m
9 Super 8, $1.92m. Total: $122.2m
10 Midnight in Paris, $1.89m. Total: $41.8m
