Jul 15 2009'Harry Potter' is King of Midnight (Until the New 'Twilight' Movie, Probably)
Cheer up, Sad Wizard: Harry Potter just broke a record! According to Variety, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened last night to the largest midnight opening ever, earning an estimated $22.2 million, easily besting The Dark Knight's $18 million and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith's $17 million. But don't worry, Batman and Star War, your still hold the shared title for sweatiest, heaviest-breathing male patrons. No one is taking that one any time soon.
Reader Comments
1. Paul - July 15, 2009 3:26 PM
I just knew Sad Wizard would return. Bless you!
2. WickedKitty - July 15, 2009 3:35 PM
Harry Potter as been majorly pwned since Twilight the movie was a rumour.
Also, to make more money, hm, I mean, to please the fans they made the last movie (7th harry potter) into 2 movies. Way to go. But seriously, I can say ALL Harry Potter story ever made in 4 words: Harry Potter is special.
Because the whole point of harry potter is: omg look the kid did that, no one ver did it. wow look its harry potter. Well, bad news for you Harry...
3. Rod-Man - July 15, 2009 3:36 PM
Damn. Harry Potter is above the Dark Knight? That really blows. I mean the Harry Potter movies are good, don't get me wrong, but the following of it is too big. It's ridiculous that this is the record holder.
4. Pat - July 15, 2009 4:21 PM
Who is this Harry Potter person, and why is he so popular this week?
5. pstone - July 15, 2009 4:26 PM
Harry Potter showings weren't only at midnight (at least not in NYC) they had showings as early as 930pm, which the dark knight did not. Clearly a nefarious joker plot if I ever saw one.
6. pstone - July 15, 2009 4:27 PM
or perhaps the riddler
7. BakaFishy - July 15, 2009 7:16 PM
How on could Harry Potter ever beat The Dark Knight? HP is good but not that good...
http://bakafishy1.mybrute.com
8. BakaFishy - July 15, 2009 7:17 PM
Earth*
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9. XX - July 15, 2009 7:43 PM
@2... what the fuck are you talking about? Harry Potter has been majorly pwned by Twilight?
That Twilight crap will NEVER beat a Harry Potter movie as far as revenue goes. The lowest gross revenue that a Harry Potter movie took in was the 3rd movie which was just under 800 million ($795,541,069). The highest gross revenue that a Harry Potter movie took in was just under 1 billion ($976,475,550).
Now lets look at Twilight..... $382,133,300. Yeah, sorry.... not even close.
Go back to your twinkly emo fag Twilight crap.
10. Nathiest - July 15, 2009 9:17 PM
I love Twilight the book series but I like most Twilight fan's HATE New Moon it's a really stupid book that only has maybe a few good moments in it. New Moon the movie will not make as much money as people think.
Harry Potter rules!
11. Janice - July 16, 2009 3:16 AM
Harry Potter "pwnd" by Twilight? What a joke. Every single Harry Potter movie has made more money than Twilight. Harry doesn't have a huge fan base for no reason. The books are fantastic. The new movie did a good job of covering the main points of the novel. Overall it was very entertaining and well-made. Definitely looking forward to the next two!
12. prosperity - July 16, 2009 5:54 AM
After seeing the opening night numbers I may have to begin renting some DVDs. I've never gotten into the series but those are eye-popping numbers.
13. Erica - July 16, 2009 6:11 AM
Sad Wizard win!
14. Saw HP6 3x Wednesday! - July 16, 2009 9:59 AM
except for Heath, the Batman movie was garbage. HP6 absolutely ruled in every possible way. it's beyond amazing. however New Moon could win now that movie theaters see how fun and profitable it is to have midnight showings.
15. WickedKitty - July 16, 2009 2:21 PM
bah Batman sucks. You know what is batman's dream? having actual super hero powers... I HATE ALL BATMAN MOVIES AND COMICS!
What? Of course I already saw the dark knight! How would I hate it then? I sware I'm the most honest person in the world!
... or not. Ok. I didn't saw it. But I hate batman anyway...
16. abby - July 17, 2009 4:00 AM
@7: you say you are a great harry potter fan, and yet you praise the hbp, that's an oxymoron. i saw the movie and from minute one was shocked at what they did to the story. i wish i had that 2&1/2 hours back, and of course the ticket money. hbp was horrible. i have loved all the books, and loved or at least liked all the movies, until now. i understand that to make a movie you have to leave out some parts of the book, but you don't take out the most important parts of the story (especially when you have a couple of sequels that depend on the story), and you don't leave out half of the main characters (who also have important roles in the sequels). you don't add in new scenes that were never in the story, that have no bearing on the plot, and that make no sense, especially if you're cutting out important things.
this was by far the most disappointing thing i've ever experienced at the movies.
17. datingcougar - July 17, 2009 6:08 AM
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18. Klio - July 17, 2009 6:35 AM
We can see the films with Harry Potter according to the definite schedule. For example, speaking about Munich, we can go on http://www.talkmunich.com/forum/cinema-and-films/cinema-night-anyone-interested-in-attending-a-weekly-cinema-evening
Have a nice time!
19. Switcher - July 17, 2009 12:32 PM
OK - whoever dare to say the "Twilight" movie series will stay in memories for its 1. quality 2. box office results is going to be seriously dissapointed, even mentally damaged.
The whole box-office bs for american people is mainly focused on US BO results. The rest of the worlds counts too - and Hollywood knows it big time now - 2/3 of the movie business is in the international scope.
Remember this, Twilight fans :
- Harry Potter : worldwide icon
- Twilight : local icon (US, and Canada maybe ?)
The HP movies are considered as "big budget family" movies, the "Twilight" ones as "emo-teen romance" movies. They are promoted like this. Sad but true.
In Europe for example, the film series is suffering from the book's author mormon imagery - some countries here considering mormon as a sect. A question of culture and history (HP considered as a Witchcraft ad in he US being another example).
20. runescape gold - July 18, 2009 5:41 AM
The Half Blood Prince was disappointing. Too much time was spent on the relationships between Harry/Ginny and Hermione/Ron. I was looking forward to the action sequences near the end of the book. They were omitted. The confrontation between Harry and Snape is also omitted. If you want to see this movie, go at the cheapest time of day.
21. Alex - July 19, 2009 4:02 PM
Some great user reviews of Harry Potter at Twitics Movie Reviews:
http://www.twiticsmoviereviews.com/29660/Harry%20Potter%20and%20the%20Half-Blood%20Prince.html