Harry's Spell Weakens On Weekend

Bringing some box-office analysts up short, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Sunday earned about $2 million less than what Warner Bros. had estimated, winding up with $77.8 million for the three-day weekend and $158 million from Wednesday, when it opened. The film actually ended up on Sunday selling fewer tickets than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did on its first Sunday two years ago. Indeed, with the latest Harry Potter sequel the only new movie opening wide, the overall box office took a terrific hit, with weekend business down 38 percent from the comparable weekend a year ago,

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):

1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Warner Bros., $77,835,727, 1 Wk. ($158,022,354 (From Wednesday); 2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, 20th Century Fox, $17,561,406, 3 Wks. ($151,865,987); 3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Paramount/DreamWorks, $13,691,487, 4 Wks. ($363,808,123); 4. Brüno, Universal, $8,318,385, 2 Wks. ($49,533,475); 5. The Proposal, Disney, $8,289,707, 5 Wks. ($128,083,273); 6. The Hangover, Warner Bros., $8,177,272, 7 Wks. ($235,744,423); 7. Public Enemies, Universal, $7,748,325, 3 Wks. ($79,639,205); 8. Up, Disney, $3,172,014, 8 Wks. ($279,583,282); 9. My Sister's Keeper, Warner Bros., $2,828,367, 4 Wks. ($41,507,695); 10. I Love You Beth Cooper, 20th Century Fox, $2,766,863, 2 Wks. ($10,363,239). .

HBP conjures up $396.7 million in five days

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continues to put up impressive numbers at the box office. The sixth installment has made $159.7 million domestically since its Wednesday night opening, and added another $237 million worldwide. This brings Potter's total to an impressive $396.7 million in just five days. Compared to its predecessor:

The sixth movie about the young wizard came in $20 million ahead of the last movie, 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,' which grossed $139.7 million domestically in its first five days two years ago.

The film had the second-highest start ever for a movie premiering on Wednesday.

Half-Blood Prince sets worldwide record

Earlier we told you that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had broken the record for midnight box office sales. Now Reuters is reporting that the film has also set a worldwide box office record--$104 million in its first day in theaters.

"Quite simply, we owe this record-breaking opening to the remarkable fans who have stood by us and who stood in line to be among the first to see 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,'" Warner Bros President and Chief Operating Officer Alan Horn said in a statement.

Half-Blood Prince grosses $58.4 million in first 24 hours

Half-Blood Prince broke the record for midnight box office sales, WB has announced how well Half-Blood Prince did in its first 24 hours:

Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" grossed a magical $58.4 million from 4,275 theaters as it opened Wednesday at the domestic B.O., including a potent $22.2 million in midnight shows.

Film was pacing well ahead of the $44 million earned by "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" on its opening Wednesday exactly two years ago. "Order of the Phoenix" posted a five-day opening gross of $139.7 million.

"Half-Blood Prince's" midnight runs were the best ever for any film, besting the $18 million earned by Warners' "The Dark Knight" last summer, as well as the $16 million grossed by Paramount's sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" earlier this summer.

Select IMAX theaters to get HBP on July 15

Warner Bros. has said that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be available in select IMAX theaters when it is released next Wednesday, July 15, in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

- New York: AMC Loews Lincoln Square
- Los Angeles: AMC Century City 15
- Chicago: OMNIMAX Theater at the Museum of Science and Industry

The film will be available in IMAX 3D in The USA beginning July 29 while some countries will have HBP open in IMAX the same day including Australia.

Over 500 Half-Blood Prince showings sold out

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince became one of the MovieTickets.com Top-25 Advance Ticket Sellers of All-Time on Friday morning," according to a MovieTickets press release.

MovieTickets.com reports the film has already sold out over 500 performances worldwide, including over 300 midnight showings in the U.S. alone. It currently accounts for over 60 percent of ticket sales at MovieTickets.com and these numbers are expected to rise dramatically as the July 15 release date approaches.

Advance Half-Blood Prince tickets outselling Transformers

As some may know, advanced ticket sales for the Transformers sequel were huge, and now The Hollywood Reporter says that ticket sales for Half-Blood Prince are doing even better:

Advance sales of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" are outpacing those of current box-office champ "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and of 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" at a similar point in their sales cycles.

Eight days before its July 15 opening, "Prince" accounted for 65 percent of daily ticket sales, online ticketer Fandango said Tuesday.

Half-Blood Prince press call video

The Associated Press has released a short video of today's press conference with the cast of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson talk about the film while sitting with their fellow castmates. Watch it here.

Half-Blood Prince predicted to make $800M to $1B

Reuters has published a new article looking at Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince's box office potential:

The five movies released so far have grossed $4.5 billion in ticket sales, and box office experts see little reason to doubt that the sixth installment will fall within the $800 million to $1 billion range, a huge amount for a single film.

"This is just a remarkable franchise that has consistently drawn blockbuster numbers each time out, and it is hard to imagine this picture not continuing that trend," said Brandon Gray, president of tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

Pent-up demand is expected to ensure a big opening in the key North American market and in countries like Britain, after which word-of-mouth will be a key factor.

The fact that the Potter story is now complete may mean some fans lose interest, but U.S. advance online ticket sales look strong, according to MovieTickets.com.

HP:HBP Reviews So Far

Two more Half-Blood Prince reviews posted

Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have both posted reviews of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince:

A positive one from Variety: "Director David Yates, after a prosaic series debut on the prior film, displays noticeably increased confidence here, injecting more real-world grit into what began eight years ago as purest child's fantasy; messenger owls and chattering house elves have been superseded by a frank Underground tea-room flirtation, school security checks and raging teenage hormones."

A less-than-positive one that questions some film making decisions from The Hollywood Reporter: "All this has a hurried feeling. Shouldn't there be repercussions to the collapse of a London bridge? The movie never stops to ask. Steve Kloves, who scripted the first four installments but skipped the fifth one, is back to scoot audiences through major events that transpire in a twinkling."

The Sun: HBP "most confident, stylish, individual" yet
There's a great new review for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince online this evening courtesy of The Sun:

The problem with the previous Harry Potter movies, though, is that every important twist and turn has been slavishly crowbarred in.

It has made for some uneven storytelling - the worst offender being the last instalment, The Order Of The Phoenix.

Thankfully, director David Yates has learned from his mistakes and here he turns in the most confident, stylish, individual, warm-hearted and witty Harry Potter yet.

He's also turned up the heat by focusing on raging hormones rather than rampaging beasts, with the main characters more interested in mixing love potions than aceing their exams.

Instead of "going darker" again (yawn), Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, inset, Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) go lighter.

You can read much more right here.

Confirmed! BBFC Lists Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince at 153 Minutes, Given 12 A Rating in UK

The British Board of Film Classification has updated today with the news that indeed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has a run time of 153 minutes and 19 seconds. The film has been given a 12A rating for those in the UK. This matches the earlier report from HPANA on the time of the film.

Half-Blood Prince out in IMAX July 29

While Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be out in theaters July 15, fans will have to wait until July 29 to see the movie in IMAX. Jeff from TV Watch Online emailed IMAX and got this response:

Basically what happened is IMAX Corporation signed a contract with Paramount guaranteeing them a 4 week exclusive window if they filmed parts of Transformers 2 with IMAX cameras onto IMAX film (something that is quite a bit more expensive). Unfortunately that was back when Harry Potter was due to open November 2007 and when Warner Bros. pushed back the opening date Paramount was not willing to renegotiate the contract it had signed with IMAX.

Half-Blood Prince has 153 minute run time

the running time for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is 153 minutes (or 2 hours and 33 minutes). This would make the film the second longest to date, coming behind Chamber of Secrets by a few minutes.