July 11, 2007
FINAL TRACKING: 'Harry Potter 5' with a 5-day target of $128M and Fri-Sun of $76M!
by Steve Mason
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros) debuts today (Wednesday, 7/11) , and there is no question that
HP5 will be a box office monster, but will it follow this summer’s sequel formula?
Let’s look at the five major 2007 summer sequels to calculate a formula to predict the success of the latest
Potter. Please note that I’m not including
Live Free or Die Hard (Fox) in this mix because it’s seven years since the last
Die Hard, and it really isn’t playing like a sequel, especially with the under-25 crowd.
Spider-Man (Sony)
Spider-Man 2 - $88.1M opening – $373M cume
Spider-Man 3 - $151M opening – $334M cume
Opening weekend – up 42%; Total domestic – down 11%
Shrek - (Dreamworks/Paramount)
Shrek 2 - $108M opening – $441.2M cume
Shrek the Third - $21.6M opening – $316.1M cume
Opening weekend – up 11%; Total domestic – down 28%
Pirates of the Caribbean (Buena Vista)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest - $135.6M opening – $423.3M cume
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End - $114.7M opening – $302.1M cume
Opening weekend – down 15%; Total domestic – down 29%
Ocean’s (Warner Bros)
Ocean’s Twelve - $39.1M opening – $125.5M cume
Ocean’s Thirteen - $36.1M opening - $109.5M cume
Opening weekend – down 8%; Total domestic – down 13%
Fantastic Four (Fox)
Fantastic Four - $56M opening – $154.6M cume
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - $58M opening - $124.4M cume
Opening weekend – up 4%; Total domestic – down 20%
There’s a clear pattern here. Three of the five sequels opened bigger than the previous installment, and the other two were down only slightly. Meanwhile, the cume is down drastically for all five. In fact, on average, this summer’s sequels have opening weekends 7% higher than the previous films in the franchise, but their total domestic take is down an average of 20%.
If we plug in those percentages for the first five days of Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, it translates to an opening weekend of $128M and $255M total domestic. These numbers look about right to me. Here’s how I see HP5 penciling out on its opening five days.
Wednesday, 7/11 - $32.5M (including Tuesday midnight shows)
Thursday, 7/12 - $19.5M
Friday, 7/13 - $26.2M
Saturday, 7/14 - $27.9M
Sunday 7/15 - $21.9M
Opening 5-Day Gross - $128M
Friday thru Sunday - $76M
Those would be fantastic numbers, and this would easily become the best opening five days of any of the movies in the HP franchise.
5-Day Grosses of the Harry Potter films
2001 - Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone - $104.5M opening - $317.5M cume
2002 – Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets – $98.4M opening - $261.9M cume
2004 – Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban – $109.3M opening - $249.5M cume
2005 – Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire - $119.7M opening - $290M cume
http://news.fantasymoguls.com/originalcontent/2007/07/final-tracking-.html
Note : I think those #'s are low. I think this movie will be a beast at the box office. 5 days ? 140 to 150 easy. If TF's can do 133 in 5 days. 4,285 theaters for HP.