Box-Office Breakdown: Nov. 18-20
Well, well, well…not only did Potter absolutely pulverize the competition, but did it in show-off, record-breaking fashion.
Harry, Hermione and Ron breezed to an astounding $102.3 million dollars over the weekend, making Goblet of Fire the most successful opening movie in the Harry Potter series. Prisoner of Azkaban, the last movie, debuted with a total at $93.7 million.
Goblet of Fire is only the fourth film to put in a $100+ million opening in history, joining an elite club composed of: Spiderman, Shrek 2, and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Impressive North American statistics were mirrored by several record performances internationally, including the top three-day openings in the United Kingdom ($25.9 million), Denmark ($2.8 million), Sweden ($2.6 million) and Norway ($2.4 million) and the best four-day opening in Germany ($21.6 million).
I don’t think that anyone had the delusion that Goblet of Fire would be anything but first by a long shot; the series is far too powerful to bomb an opening weekend. We’re talking about a film that broke online ticket sales records, helping both Fandango and MovieTickets.com to a profitable weekend and helping the online ticket industry account for a whopping 20% of US movie income. It has also made Daniel Radcliffe the richest teenager in Britain. At 16, he has signed a deal for $14.4 million to make the fifth installment: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. He’s a pretty down to earth guy, I saw him on a talk show interview while I was in the UK. Personable young man. And wealthy as all hell.
Coming in second this week was Walk The Line, with a strong $22.3 million showing. Non-Potter fans, and Cash fans put their support behind the film and help it out to a decent debut. Now in any other week in the past few months, this total probably would have landed the film in the top spot, and Fox Pictures should be, and likely is, quite pleased with that showing.
The box-office sure is out of its slump, and as Warner Bros.’ head of distribution, Dan Fellman so brightly points out: “There’s nothing wrong with the box office that good content can’t fix“. That’s what us movie-goers have been trying to tell you studio execs for months…
The rest of the top ten played out like this:
1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - $102.3 million
2. Walk the Line - $22.4 million
3. Chicken Little - $14.7 million
4. Derailed - $6.5 million
5. Zathura - $5.1 million
6. Jarhead - $4.8 million
7. Get Rich or Die Tryin - $4.4 million
8. Saw II - $3.7 million
9. Legend of Zorro - $2.4 million
10. Pride and Prejudice - $2.1 million
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