Harry Potter May Not Be Top Film of Summer 2009

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will undoubtedly turn out to be one of the highest grossing movies of summer 2009. The question is will it beat out the Transformers movies that came out just weeks ago? It very well may exceed the overall amount that is made during the time it is in theaters, but it looks like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will hold on to the highest grossing opening amount. Transformers reportedly took in close to $200 million in its first week. According to Reuters, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince took in $22.2 million at Wednesday midnight showings in the U.S. This amount is the highest amount ever made during a midnight Wednesday screening. The previous record was held by The Dark Night which took in $18.5 million during midnight screenings, $67.1 million in the first day, and over $200 million in the first five days. According to Brad Brevet of Rope of Silicon, the new Harry Potter film has taken in over $58 million in its first day.

According to some media reports, Harry Potter may have lost some of the fan base that was present in the last five movies. When Harry Potter first came out, a lot of young kids and teenagers went to see the movie, but a lot of those kids have since gotten older. Also, Harry Potter has a lot of competition with the Twilight films as well as Transformers. As of the week of July 10, Transformers has taken in over $347 million in the U.S. alone since its release.

The previous Harry Potter movies have grossed a very large amount of money. Here are the amounts that the previous movies have made as of July 16, 2009 in the U.S. Box Office:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001): $317,557,891

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002): $261,970,615

Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban (2004): $249,358,727

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005): $289,994,397

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007): $292,000,866 ($140 million in first five days.

As one can see, the highest grossing movie up to this point was the first Harry Potter movie. It appears that Transformers has already surpassed every single Harry Potter film in the U.S. to date. It would be safe to say that the final Box Office tally in the U.S. will probably be between $250,000,000 and $300,000,000. Many predictions for the five day total fall in between $125 and $150 million. Usually, movies earn the most money in the first two to three weeks. Assuming that Harry Potter was to earn $150 million in the first week and $50 million in the two weeks after that, that would bring the U.S. Box Office total to $250 million dollars. Whatever money it makes in the weeks to follow would probably bring the grand total somewhere in the $250,000,000 to $300,000,000 range. In the end, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will still fall into the top 50 all time grossing movies in the U.S. Box Office.

Sources:

"Harry Potter Works Box Office Magic at Midnight." Reuters.

"All-Time USA Box Office." IMDb.com

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Opens with $58.4 million." Rope of Silicon.com