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movie news
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Mon. 07 16. 2007 10:40 AM EDT
'Potter' Whooshes To Top Of Box Office; 'Transformers,' 'Ratatouille' Hang Tough
Flick brings in record $44.2 million on Wednesday alone, breaks series' five-day record with $140 million.
by
Shawn Adler
David Thewlis and Daniel Radcliffe in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
(
Warner Bros.
)
The Top Five
#1 "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ($77.4 million)
#2 "Transformers" ($36 million)
#3 "Ratatouille" ($18 million)
#4 "Live Free or Die Hard" ($10.9 million)
#5 "License to Wed" ($7.4
million)
In "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," Potions Master Horace Slughorn introduces a class of sixth year students to an elixir known as Felix Felicis, which, when taken, causes all the drinker's endeavors to succeed. He warns, however, that if taken in excess the potion can lead to dangerous overconfidence, recklessness and eventual failure. You can only be lucky every once in a while, J.K. Rowling seems to be saying, but if the record-breaking opening for "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" shows anything, it's that you can be good everyday.
Long-running series aren't supposed to get better and more lucrative the longer they continue, but "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth (fifth!) installment in the blockbuster series, spelled doom for competing films this past weekend, racking up $44.2 million on Wednesday (an all-time record), $77.4 million from Friday through Sunday, and $140 overall. The flick's total cume was the series' highest after five days — smashing the previous record, $119 million for 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," by nearly 20 percent.
But there's always more than meets the eye to any weekend box office — even one as seemingly open-and-shut as this one — and that's especially true now with the continued success of "Transformers," which scored another $36 million to bring its overall total to a mega haul of $223 million. The robots can no longer disguise the fact that they're the biggest box-office surprise of the summer.
Equally surprising has been the box-office resurgence of "Ratatouille," which opened poorly (to a meager $47 million), but has continued to show strength in going up against both "Harry Potter" and "Transformers." The culinary critter fell just 38 percent in its third week for a third-place finish and $18 million. While weak by the lofty standards of Pixar studios, "Ratatouille" has seemed to thrive on positive word of mouth: the only critic-proof recipe for summer success there is.
Also in its third week, "Live Free or Die Hard" crossed the magical $100 million line with a fourth place finish and nearly $11 million. Officially D.O.A., however, was "Captivity," the latest gross-out "horror" movie to seek thrills in torture. The flick, starring Elisha Cuthbert, opened in 12th place with only $1.6 million and the lowest per-screen average of any film in the top 15. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "We come here to bury torture porn, AND not to praise it." Good riddance.
How'd We Do?
In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Hagrid shows his students Thestrals: scaly, winged horses who can only be glimpsed by those who have seen death. Can we be so bold as to ask Larry Carroll, our resident movie writer and weekly box-office prognosticator, if he's caught the eye of one or two himself recently? Neville Longbottom has a better chance of becoming Minister of Magic than Larry has at catching Josh, who with 14 weeks to go in our competition, has stretched his lead to an insurmountable 11 points (see "Harry Potter Hopes To Cast A Spell On More Moviegoers, In Projection Booth"). We feel like we say this nearly every week, but his prediction (this time of $120 million for "Harry Potter") was closest to the mark.
Prognosticator (Weeks Won)
Josh Horowitz, MTV Movies editor (21)
Larry Carroll, MTV News writer (10)
Celebrity guest (6)
In Perspective
Will audiences still want to watch Harry Potter after it's revealed that he dies in the seventh book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which gets released next week? All right, we're sorry — that was in bad taste. Truth is, we don't know what happens to Harry (and, for the record, we think he'll live). But one thing we do know is that his movies have all been among the most successful ever. Here are what the first four films made worldwide, and where they rank all-time.
#1 "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" ($976.5 million) (4th)
#2 "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" ($892.2 million) (10th)
#3 "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" ($876.7 million) (12th)
#4 "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" ($789.8 million) (19th)
Next Week
With the release of "Hairspray," a musical update of John Waters' classic, and "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry," a comedy about two friends who pretend to be a married gay couple, next week's box-office is going to be on fire! (I'm talking, of course, about the fact that Adam Sandler and Kevin James play firemen.) Also opening next week is Danny Boyle's "Sunshine," starring Cillian Murphy and Chris Evans as two astronauts on a mission to restart the sun, which, alas, is decidedly less on fire.
This report is from MTV News.
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