Half-Blood Prince Shatters Box Office Record
Good news, GWC Harry Potter fans! Earning an astonishing $22.2 million dollars last night alone, the sixth installment of the hugely popular 'Potter series obliterated the record for a midnight showing, eclipsing previous record holder The Dark Knight by a whopping $4 million.
Dark Knight nabbed the record last summer with a midnight release gross of $18 million, edging out Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith, which earned $17 million for its late-night release in May 2005. Half-Blood Prince also nearly doubled the midnight gross of the series' previous installment Order of the Phoenix, which earned $12 million opening night. Go, Harry!
Potter 6 Opens Huge With $22.2 Million Midnight Take [SciFi Wire]
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I didn’t realize it was bigger than Star Wars! I assume the figures are adjusted, but wow.
Though I shouldn’t be so surprised, we live in a town of 40000 people and the 6 screen theater was showing it at midnight on all six screens. All 6 theaters were jam packed, too.
I wonder if this is part of the trend for midnight showings – I remember when I was in high school (oh the 90s) the only movie that had one was Star Wars, and now it feels like every other movie has one. If it’s more normal that films are released at midnight (at least in some markets), it might make sense that more people are going to them, since they’re more common and less unusual. Or I could just be making that up. 🙂