Harry Potter makes box-office magic for the last time
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 cuts a swathe through the nation's multiplexes, felling other films in its wake
The winner
The final film in a much-loved series of consistent box-office winners. Favourable reviews and colossal publicity. The bonus of a price premium in screens projecting in 3D. There were plenty of signs indicating enormous commercial success for the final Harry Potter film, but, even so, the UK numbers went beyond industry predictions: �23.75m in just three days. For context, it has taken Transformers: Dark of the Moon ? a film that has hardly been a slouch at the UK box office ? 19 days to reach a similar figure.
Before the arrival of Deathly Hallows Part 2, the biggest ever opening weekend at the UK box office was achieved by the previous entry in the Potter franchise, Deathly Hallows Part 1, with �18.32m. Next comes Quantum of Solace, with �15.38m. In other words, the latest Potter instalment is more than �5m bigger than the UK's previous best opening, and more than �8m bigger than the country's previous best non-Potter opening. Those are huge margins.
When comparing opening weekends, the picture can be muddied by distributors' tendency to boost blockbusters with one, two or more days of previews. Take Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, for example, which managed a debut "weekend" of �19.78m, including �7.85m in previews, or Toy Story 3, which posted �21.19m including previews of �9.69m. But Deathly Hallows Part 2 beats all comers, including any film that had its opening inflated in this manner. It's a record that's hard to imagine being beaten any time soon.
Unsurprisingly, the Top 100 Engagements chart, which lists the best results for individual films at individual cinemas, saw a clean sweep for Potter ? no other movie got a look-in. Best was London's Odeon Leicester Square, with a staggering �345,000. Across the UK and Ireland, the film's per-cinema average was �40,813, but of course most of its 582 sites were playing it on multiple screens.
The carnage
With Deathly Hallows cutting a swathe through the nation's multiplexes, existing blockbusters suffered calamitous falls. Transformers: Dark of the Moon plunged 58%, failing to score a third weekend at �2m-plus, a feat achieved this summer by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Hangover Part II and Bridesmaids.
Other pictures suffered even bigger falls, mostly thanks to drastic reductions in screen counts as everything budged up to make way for Potter. The Hangover, Pirates and X-Men all plunged more than 65%, with Pirates clinging on at fewer than 100 screens.
Despite the precipitous falls, the chart is dominated by blockbuster hits to a degree that's untypical even for mid-summer. No fewer than six of the top 10 films have achieved cumulative grosses of �15m. Last summer, the most blockbuster-dominated top 10 saw four films at that level. What this means, essentially, is this year's summer hits are hanging around even longer than usual, with The Hangover and Pirates still clogging the chart after a respective eight and nine weeks of play, and Kung Fu Panda 2 still in the top five after six weeks. Casualties are Larry Crowne, plunging out of the top 10 this weekend with an 86% drop, and Green Lantern doing likewise with an 89% fall.
The Bollywood hit
Unsurprisingly, Deathly Hallows faced negligible competition among new releases, but one other film landed in the top 10: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. The story of three buddies (Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol) on vacation in Spain as a pre-wedding treat, it's more photogenic road-movie drama than the Hangover-sounding bachelor-party premise might suggest. The picture opened with �254,000, the best for a Bollywood film here since February's Patiala House, which starred Akshay Kumar.
Half-year status report
Overall, box-office revenues for January-June are 5.6% up on the first six months of 2010, with total receipts of �545m, compared to �516m last year. That's certainly good news for cinemas, although it comes with a sting in its tail: all of the rise in takings can be accounted by the disparity between June 2010 (when the World Cup occurred) and 2011. In March and April, 2011 takings were significantly down on the same months a year ago. More worryingly, 3D revenues have slid 21% year on year, despite a big increase in the number of films offered in the format. The picture should look a bit brighter when July, and hence Harry Potter, is factored in.
The future
Thanks to Deathly Hallows, the July 15-17 weekend is the UK market's top-grossing three-day period of the past year and probably ever. Despite the equivalent weekend from 2010 seeing healthy returns for Shrek Forever After, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and new entrant Inception, the current frame is up a whopping 94% on those levels. Now the rollercoaster ride is set to plunge in the opposite direction: a year ago, this coming weekend saw the arrival of Toy Story 3, whereas this time we have the less impressive combo of Cars 2 and Horrible Bosses. Cars has proved a rich platform for merchandise, but at the UK box-office it is Pixar's worst ever performer (�16.52m), and the sequel doesn't seem to be finding critical favour normally associated with the animation house's output. Disney's mighty marketing and distribution muscles are facing a tough test.
Top 10 films
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, �23,753,171 from 582 sites (New)
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, �1,990,508 from 472 sites. Total: �23,954,570
3. Bridesmaids, �1,576,780 from 454 sites. Total: �15,858,973
4. Kung Fu Panda 2, �779,183 from 468 sites. Total: �15,115,981
5. The Guard, �368,148 from 71 sites. Total: �1,181,408 (Ireland only)
6. The Tree of Life, �267,866 from 80 sites. Total: �923,161
7. Zindagi Na Milege Dobara, �254,329 from 49 sites (New)
8. Bad Teacher, �203,911 from 225 sites. Total: �7,373,475
9. The Hangover Part II, �101,839 from 132 sites. Total: �32,643,624
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, �58,931 from 89 sites. Total: �32,762,926
Other openers
Deiva Thirumagal, �25,158 from 10 screens
Cell 211, �17,950 from 11 screens (+ �5,222 previews)
Bobby Fischer Against the World, �16,916 from 12 screens
Hobo with a Shotgun, �7,865 from 11 screens
Bal (Honey), �5,855 from six screens
Just Do It, �1,610 from two screens
Treacle Jr, �1,393 from three screens
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2011/jul/19/harry-potter-box-office-magic
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