While it did break midnight and opening day records, The Twilight Saga: New Moon was unable to beat The Dark Knight's huge opening weekend record, despite being the highest opening weekend of 2009.
The Summit Entertainment sequel took in an estimated $140.7 million domestically over the three day weekend, about $18 million shy of Batman's record $158 million, and even shy of Spider-Man 3's $151.1 million. New Moon will probably beat the life-time domestic theatrical gross of Twilight by the end of the week.
New Moon's worldwide total is $258.8 million, the seventh highest worldwide opening of all time, behind Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
The header image via deathtoll1912, the comic above thanks to ...
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince review (4.5 out of 5). It will rank as one of the best Harry Potter films.
Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:48 AM | From MovieJungle
I have liked all of the Harry Potter movies to various degrees. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is no exception. It is a worthy entry in the Harry Potter canon and sets up nicely the future battle with Lord Voldemort.
These are dark times for Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe). Voldemort practically killed him in the previous film. He is shaken, but determined to win the final battle. His exploits though are bringing him new fans. A waitress at a diner seems especially interested in the young wizard. Before Harry can take it any further, Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) whisks him away with an important task.
Their journey takes them to the house of Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent). He is a former teacher at Hogwarts. The duo convinces him to come back as the potions instructor. He will play a pivotal role in the entire film as his secrets slowly get revealed.
Meanwhile, the Dark Eaters seem more empowered than ever. They are causing chaos wherever they go including destroying a bridge. Voldemort is mostly on the sidelines for this go around. His presence is felt in the dark clouds. Draco (Tom Felton) is given more responsibility in his role in the grand scheme of things. Draco seems more conflicted than usual in what this all entails.
Director David Yates is settling in nicely as the director of the Potter films. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” carries on the dark atmosphere of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”. Yates though balances out the darkness with some well placed humor. This movie is probably the funniest Potter film to date.
Much of the humor is derived from the romantic entanglements of Harry and his two best friends Ron Weasley (Rupert Gint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson). Harry has growing feelings for Ginny Weasley (Bonnie Wright), Ron’s sister. Unfortunately for Harry, she is already taken. Ron starts dating Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave), which makes Hermione extremely jealous. One of the funniest scenes involves a love potion that Ron unfortunately falls under. It is welcome relief with all the evil that is starting to envelope Hogwarts.
Harry and Ron get thrown into the potions class taught by Slughorn. Harry gets a book that is most helpful with spells and potions. This book formerly belonged to the Half-Blood Prince. Harry also is set on a mission by Dumbledore to get close to Slughorn. Slughorn taught at the school when Tom Riddle attended. Riddle of course became Voldemort. Slughort shared information with Tom that changed the course of history. Dumbledore is desperate to get this information.
The supporting characters play a huge role in this adventure. Broadbent is well cast as Slughorn. He is goofy and eccentric. He is also troubled by the past. Broadbent gives great humanity to the role. Alan Rickman as Severus Snape once again brings great depth to Snape. You just don’t know what side he is ever on. Early in the film, he makes an unbreakable vow with Narcissa Malfoy, Draco’s mother. She is concerned by what Valdemort is forcing him to do. We do not realize what this entails until the very end of the film.
Dumbledore is most like Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings” in this chapter. He is more forceful and cunning. This is Gambon’s finest performance in the role. Dumbledore shows early memories to Harry of Riddle before he got to Hogwarts and while he was there. This is where Slughort comes into play. He is suppressing a memory that involved Riddle and they need to know exactly what was said.
Dumbledore and Harry go on a dangerous mission to get an item that might defeat Voldemort. Some of the best special effects are displayed here. They encounter some nasty looking ghost like figures. Dumbledore gets to show off his magical power.
The movie ends on a dour note, but there is hint of optimism in the air. Harry has the resolve now to take on Voldemort. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is an exciting, dark and often amusing film. It will rank as one of the best Harry Potter films.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince cashes in $79 million weekend take
Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:48 AM | From MovieJungle
Warner Bros. Pictures' "Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince" continued to impress at the box office this weekend with an estimated $79.4 million take. "Half-Blood Prince," the sixth offering of the franchise debuted on Wednesday with a record-breaking $22.2 million from midnight showings alone before ending the day with $58 million pulled in. Film has now grossed just under $160 million.
This is the second lowest opening for the franchise, besting the previous film "Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix" but "low" has nothing to do with it. Almost every previous film has posted over from worldwide numbers, bringing the total worldwide take of the franchise to now over $4.48 billion. With the new "Potter" now sitting at $396 million worldwide, the franchise will easily pass the $5 billion mark, a remarkable feat for the J.K. Rowling adaptations.
Second-placed "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" kept going strongly with a small 36% change when posting $17.7 million in its third weekend at play. The animated comedy/adventure has amassed over $152 million thus far.
Parmount Pictures' Gargantuan "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" passed the $350 million mark with ease with a third-placed $13.7 million grossed in it's fourth weekend at play.
Taking the biggest box office beating of all films was "Brüno." The film turned in $8.37 million, showing a huge drop of 73% in it's sophomore weekend. Total for the Sacha Baron Cohen laffer is now at $49.5 million.
Successful crowd-pleasing male comedy "The Hangover" barely moved with a slight 16% change in its seventh weekend with $8.31 earned and may turn the tables on "Brüno" when actual figures come in on Monday night.
Details on MovieJungle.com for "Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince:
CAST & CREW: Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Jom Broadbent, Robbie Coltrane, Timhoty Spall, David Thewlis, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, Mar Williams, Tom Felton, Evanna Lynch, Matthew Lewis, Katie Leung, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Natalie Tena, Bonnie Wright, David Bradley and Warwick Davis.
Directed By: David Yates Written By: Steven Kloves based on the J.K. Rowling novel Produced By: David Barron, David Heyman
PLOT: Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information. Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane's chocolates! And then there's Hermione, simpering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again. Warner Bros. Pictures
Big Surprise: Top Grossing Movies of the Decade Are Basically All Franchise Films
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 4:40 AM | From Film Junk
Here's another list for you to digest as we approach the end of the decade. Jason Kottke [1] recently took a look at the list of highest-grossing films from 2000-2009 courtesy of Wikipedia [2], and makes the observation that only one movie in the top 20 is based on an original screenplay. The rest of the movies are all adaptations of books or sequels to existing franchises.
Now, it's pretty easy to jump on this list and whine and moan about how it means there is nothing original in Hollywood anymore. While I agree that there is a problem with studios valuing brand over concept, don't forget, we are talking about the movies that made the most money here. OF COURSE familiar characters and titles are going to attract more viewers than strange and unfamiliar ones... doesn't that make sense? A lot of people don't even see movies at the theatre, so they don't discover something until it hits TV or DVD. The first installment is the one that introduces the concept, attracts a following and then builds the franchise. Even the first movie from an existing property needs to build an audience -- notice that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Spider-Man are the only movies on this list that are the first in their series?
Anyway, I'm not saying it's good, but it's certainly not surprising. Unfortunately it's this trend that has also resulted in the whole toy and board game movie debacle. Maybe we need a few brand-based movies to fail so that people realize that good stories are also important. Check out the top 20 grossing movies of the decade after the jump. What do you think, is it depressing or deserving?
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. The Dark Knight
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Shrek 2
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
11. Spider-Man 3
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
15. Finding Nemo
16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
18. Spider-Man
19. Shrek the Third
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
[1] http://kottke.org/09/11/the-2000s-according-to-wikipedia
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_in_film
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Villains We Love: Lucius Malfoy
Monday, October 5, 2009 12:21 PM | From Cinematical
I love the Harry Potter series (books and movies), and I care about every teacher and child within Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. I shed tears whenever J.K. Rowling killed off another one of the good guys. But when inevitably my attention constantly strays back to the Death Eaters and while this post centers on Lucius Malfoy, I'm rather entranced by them all: Lucius' wife Narcissa, her sister Bellatrix, Severus Snape, and Igor Karkaroff. They have the best costumes, the nastiest lines, and some of the finest special effects. (The way they operate in black smoke makes even broomsticks seem dull.)
But my favorite Death Eater remains Lucius Malfoy. Chris Columbus' installments have been harshly dismissed by cinephiles, but I think it's time to back down from the cries of "Alfonso Cuaron saved the series!", because Columbus accomplished a very weighty task: He set the stage. Every director following Columbus has been able to dispense with "The Boy Who Lived" origin stories, details, and explanations (something even Rowling could never quite bring herself to do until #7) and plunge right into the best parts of the story. But most importantly, Columbus set the stage for the bad guys. His installments may have erred on the juvenile, but by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets even the smallest kid in the audience knew that Voldemort meant serious business. That's entirely due to the appearance of one Lucius Malfoy.
English filmmaker Mike Leigh has started production on his next new film following the Oscar nominated film Happy-Go-Lucky, which received heaps of critical acclaim. The project is untitled and Leigh is keeping a lid on plot details (much like Woody Allen), but we do know who's in the cast: Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Taking Woodstock), Jim Broadbent (Hot Fuzz, The Damned United, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), Philip Davis (Vera Drake, Cassandra's Dream), David Bradley (Filch in Harry Potter) and Stuart McQuarrie (28 Days Later, "The Bill"). Quite an impressive English cast.
Many of Leigh's regular crew also are on board as well, including Oscar nominated cinematographer Dick Pope (The Illusionist, Happy-Go-Lucky), editor Jon Gregory, casting director Nina Gold, costume designer Jacqueline Durran and hair and make-up supervisor Chrissie Blundell. I wish we had more to tell you about this, but that's all their ...
Box-Office Oracle: Jul. 24 Jul. 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009 7:21 PM | From RopeofSilicon
#1 movie predicted correctly: 2 Weeks in a Row
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I'm not dropping Half-Blood Prince anything nearing Order of the Phoenix's 58 percent. That film faced off against Hairspray and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. Compared to this weekend's competition those two look stout. So I'm going with a [...]
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" grossed an estimated $79 million from 4,325 theaters over the weekend for a five-day domestic opening of $159 million, the best start ever for the franchise. "Order of the Phoenix" grossed $139 million during its five-day opening.
Weekend Box Office - $79 Million Weekend is a Series Best for HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
I’ll admit that the astonishing first day success of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” had me believing in magic. A week ago I would have happily settled for seeing the sixth installment in Warner’s wizarding-world franchise outperform its predecessor - “The Order of the Phoenix”. But then came that record-breaking midnight debut, followed by [...]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Directed by: David Yates
Written by: Steve Kloves (screenplay), J.K. Rowling (novel)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Jim Broadbent, Helena Bonham Carter
It has been eight long years since the Harry Potter series first debuted on the big screen, and while the hardcore fans are still just as dedicated as ever, it's hard to say that the same level of magic and wonder remains for the rest of us. There aren't many other franchises (if any) that have delivered this many installments in such a short period of time, but as Warner Brothers races to finish these movies before the cast outgrows their characters, clearly audience burnout is the furthest thing from their minds.
Truth be told, it's the formulaic nature of the stories that are starting to wear thin for me. I can't say for sure if J.K. Rowling is to blame since I have not actually read any of the books, but I enjoyed the first few movies a great deal, and at this point they're all starting to blur together in my mind. The only thing keeping me interested is the fact that there are brief glimpses of an epic showdown with Voldemort at the end of it all. My hope was that this sixth installment would finally stop peddling meaningless subplots about wacky teachers and concentrate on developing the main story arc. In that sense, it only partially delivers.
Picking up from the intense conclusion of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the story finds Harry still being pursued by Death Eaters and Voldemort's forces growing more powerful. Dumbledore convinces retired teacher Horace Slughorn to return to Hogwarts, but with an ulterior motive: he previously taught a student named Tom Riddle, aka a young Voldemort. Dumbledore is trying to collect memories related to the big V so as to figure out how he attained immortality. Meanwhile Professor Snape makes a vow to help Draco Malfoy perform a task for the dark lord, and as for Ron and Hermione... well, they're just experiencing the joys of adolescence.
One of the most noticeable differences with this movie is that it contains more soap opera fluff and romantic elements than any of the previous films. I guess this is to be expected since the kids are growing up, but it feels like the maturity of the characters are lagging a few years behind its primary cast who are now nearing twenty years old. The way that this stuff is handled is pretty goofy and childish. Some of it is genuinely funny and charming, but a lot of it is unintentionally funny and just plain awkward. The Half-Blood Prince definitely stays in light-hearted comedic territory a lot more often than I thought it would, which seems odd considering that these stories are supposed to be getting progressively darker. But I guess the main problem is that the relationship drama really takes up far too much time while offering little in the way of surprises or character development.
The best thing about this installment is that it is the first one to focus 100% on Voldemort. Yes, there is another new teacher with a secret, but it is all very relevant to the overall plot, and the true villains are laid in plain sight from the very start of the film. The flashbacks to Voldemort as a young wizard are compelling and eerie, but they do come a little too infrequently. Aside from a confrontation with the Death Eaters at the Weasley residence, there isn't a lot of action in this movie up until the finale -- and even the finale feels a little bit underwhelming. From what I understand they omitted a big battle scene because (big surprise) a similar battle also happens in the next book. Go figure.
Every time it seems like a Harry Potter flick might go down a slightly different path, it ends up falling back onto well-worn ground. Early on in this movie there is an exciting sense that the dark magic is starting to bleed over into the real world, as illustrated by a Death Eater attack on the Millennium Bridge in London. Somehow after seeing something like this it's a pretty big disappointment to wind up back at Hogwarts watching Quidditch matches and sitting through potion classes. We already know that Harry is the "chosen one"... does it really matter what he's learning at school anymore? To be fair, there wasn't much in the way of funny candy or strange creatures this time around, but it just seems like every character has to make their token appearance, and very little changes within Hogwarts itself.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is directed by David Yates, who also helmed the last film and will be handling both parts of the Deathly Hallows as well. Visually, I like his style a lot and the cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel (Amelie, Across the Universe) makes this quite possibly the best-looking Harry Potter film yet. The performances are strong, especially the addition of Jim Broadbent who plays Professor Slughorn as both bumbling and guilt-ridden. It's hard to criticize the movie from a technical standpoint, but still... you have to make people care about what's on screen, right? Then again, maybe that part's optional when you've got so many avid readers bringing their own encyclopedic knowledge and die-hard enthusiasm to the table.
It seems that whenever a new Harry Potter movie comes out, the standard response is for everyone to call it the best one yet... but how often does this end up being true? Surely I'm not alone in feeling that the magic has been wearing off for some time now. There are a few standout scenes that show just how much potential this franchise holds, but when you have to sit through two hours of filler to get them, it's pretty difficult to recommend the movie (to non-readers, at least). By all accounts, it does seem like the final movie is guaranteed to be the best, but with their decision to split it into two parts, will we have to contend with yet another snoozefest where nothing really happens? All I know is that the final showdown better be worth the wait, because this is all getting to be pretty damn tedious. -- Sean
