Half-Blood Prince Slips Domestically, Still Leads World Wide Box Office with 627 Million to Date
HBP FilmMedia reports were quick to trumpet the news that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince slipped to number two at domestic box office sales, with the new Disney film "G-Force" nabbing the top spot. Variety reports however that HBP continues to do remarkably well both domestic and notably on the international front as the industry magazine reports: "Half-Blood Prince" remained the worldwide leader, earning a magical
$84.4 million internationally for a total haul of $627.1 million.
That’s the top pace for the "Potter" franchise. Domestic gross was an
estimated $30 million from 4,325 runs.
The LA Times also points out that while HBP "declined 61%. 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which
also opened on a Wednesday in July, fell 57.8% on its second weekend. As
of Sunday, the total domestic gross for "Half-Blood Prince" was $221.8
million. Accounting for the 9% rise in ticket prices over the last two
years, that puts it about $5 million behind "Order of the Phoenix" at
the same point. The new movie does have one disadvantage,
however: It's playing at only four Imax locations, whereas "Order of
the Phoenix" was at 91. The large-size screens carry higher ticket
prices and tend to lose business at a slow pace." The newspaper also reminds us that this week, Half-Blood Prince will indeed be opening on 162 IMAX screens.
Finally the newspaper says that HBP "cost $250 million to produce and about $155 million to market
and distribute. Since studios keep about half of their films' ticket
sales, Warner Bros. is likely to break even on the theatrical run of
"Half-Blood Prince" and profit handsomely on the DVD and in other
markets."
I find it ironic that, after all the advertising money they spent, G-Force only made just $2.2 million more domestically in its opening weekend than Harry Potter made in its second. Yes, only $2.2mil, which isn’t a lot as tickets go.