As we reported last night, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix had an impressive opening night with a reported 12 million dollars in ticket sales from the preview and midnight showings alone. The AP is now reporting that the film broke the Wednesday record for box office totals with $44.8 million on its first full day in theaters. This puts Order of the Phoenix in the record books with the highest grossing one day sales ever. From the article:
“In terms of box office, the law of diminishing returns does not apply to `Harry Potter.’ It seems to be getting better with age,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Media By Numbers president, who noted that the July 21 publication of the seventh and final “Harry Potter” novel likely helped drive interest in the latest film.
“It has the effect of creating even more excitement for both properties,” Dergarabedian said. “It’s a synergistic match made in heaven to have the book and movie come out within a couple weeks of each other.”
Update: We also received word from Warner Bros. this afternoon that along with breaking box office records for regular theaters, IMAX showings of the film produced record breaking levels as well. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took in $1.9 million its first day of release, becoming the biggest IMAX opening in history. The midnight showing of the film grosses $450,000 alone, the press release reports.
Yes, it is very exciting, especially for the die hard HP fans, but “synergistic match” also means ‘marketing ploy’ when you look beyond the fans’ love for all things Harry.
True, Jblon, but let’s face it: Marketing ploys are also important, because in many ways it’s all about money. That’s where the great sets, special effects, huge numbers of famous actors, big salaries, etc. etc. all come from. All the things, in a word, which make Harry Potter bigger than life. Without the bucks, the enterprise becomes greatly reduced.
All I want to know is when Melissa and the leaky staff are going to break their silence and actually review the film… For GOF we had everyones opinion on the film a week before it opened….
I think the upcoming release of the Deathly Hallows brought a lot of fans out to first day showings because Harry Potter is fresh in their minds. It might have decreased sales come next weekend, but it’s hardly going to have decreased sales as I think some may have suspected from Deathly Hallows.
“synergistic match” for now, sure – but wait til next weekend when not a single die-hard fan will be seeing the movie. i think we’ll all be a bit busy, wouldn’t you agree?
I wonder if it will get to a billion like Pirates 2 did last year I bet you the 7th one will though.
I really have a bad memory but did pottercast interview the people and visit the set. So will the interview come out soon or have they already released them and I am blind.
Yes they sure did Victoria. Read yesterdays release on Leaky and read what we all said. Even on Mugglenet, we all agree that wayyyy too much was taken out. The important stuff. It was great, but also not. Those things taken out are major important. And Shaun by the way, I read the review that Melissa gave the New York Post last week. She agrees with most of us. It will come back to haunt them. What they took out. But I will still go see it again on Friday. I love our actors! They did great!
As far as the movies go…your never going to get the books into a movie. Everytime I goto watch one of the HP films I tell myself to enjoy them for what they are and I enjoy myself everytime!
HERE’S MY TAKE ON THE MOVIE. POSSIBLE MOVIE SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!! SPOILERS!!!!
The movie wasn’t perfect, but it was great and the best so far. Daniel, Evanna, and Imelda did a great job! Ron was portrayed differently, in a good way, he wasn’t the wimp he was in the other movies, which he ISN’T in the books! Hermione’s portrayal is still not the best it could be; she’s always too peaky and looks like she’s always on the verge of tears, though there were moments (like with Grawp and in the DA) where she was awesome! I loved Harry’s line in the forest when the centaurs are taking Umbridge away… :D I thought the whole Ministry sequence and until the end of the movie was completely messed up. Sure it was very cool on film but the LEAST canon thing ever! That made me very disappointed. The Ministry’s ‘architecture’ let’s call it… the way the rooms were allocated, was STUPID! Sirius’ death was STUPID and not canon! These things they DON’T need to change from what it is on the books! Everything about getting the prophecy, Harry giving it to Malfoy! OMG! And Harry listening to it right off the shelf! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! Also, why couldn’t they just put in a circular room! Then they could AT LEAST give us a glimpse of the love room which is so important… And then, The whole sequence of Dumbledore explaining it all to Harry (well, more like Harry figuring it all out and Dumbledore saying ‘yes, you’re right’) it was OK, but NOTHING like the book….
So, overall I liked the movie a lot, only I hope that they improve for the next one on sticking to the book more, and giving characters more lines! What was up with Tonks having 2 lines! And Ginny speaks ONCE! Sir Gambon chilled down a bit but he’s still not Dumbledore, so Sir Gambon: go do some meditation or something or take some tranquilizers before you go do a take, because your portrayal is not what it should be! Dumbledore is calmed, cool and collected AT ALL TIMES, except at the end of the 6th book, but we’re not there yet my friend!
END OF SPIOLERS!!!!
So, I give the movie 4/5 stars. Great work, though there’s room for improvement. Also! I can’t believe I forgot! Props to the screen writer (Goldenberg?)! He was much better than Kloves. And direction-wise, the movie was very good. Yates will make a great 6th movie because let me tell you, this was a DAAAAARK, DAAAAARK film! I can’t wait for the 6th!!!
"[Lockhart] didn't even [i]look[/i] at the book we wanted."[br]"That's because he's a brainless [i]git,[/i]" said Ron. "But who cares, we've got what we needed --"[br]"He is [i]not[/i] a brainless git," said Hermione shrilly as they half ran toward the li
Yes, it is very exciting, especially for the die hard HP fans, but “synergistic match” also means ‘marketing ploy’ when you look beyond the fans’ love for all things Harry.