It’s not surprising that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is breaking tons of box office records this week. But could it have anything to do with the fact that the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises is attached to it? Depending on who you ask, the answer is probably a resounding “Yes” and “No.”
Box Office Mojo is predicting a $145 million weekend for the boy wizard, and some are (facetiously) theorizing that some of that money is also coming from Batman fans waiting to see the first glimpse of that franchise’s final installment. (Warning: that link contains spoilers for the teaser.) Christopher Nolan‘s Batman trilogy will end with The Dark Knight Rises, and very little has come out since it began shooting in May. So the prospect of a teaser trailer is very, very enticing. (We’ll post it as soon as Bat-possible, but you can see a leaked version here that may or may not be taken down by the time you see it. The same link also contains the content of the trailer, so be warned that there are spoilers there, too.)
But can it really take that much credit for Harry Potter‘s box office? It’s probably safe to say that while it’s surely garnering a lot of interest, the teaser for TDKR isn’t what’s bringing people to theaters to see the last Harry Potter movie. Because it’s the last Harry Potter movie. Besides that fact alone, it’s been getting nearly unanimously positive reviews from both critics and the audience — 97% and 93% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively — so, yeah. I think while a lot of people are curious, how many people are going to pay the full price of a ticket and deal with screaming/weeping Harry Potter fans just to see the TDKR teaser that has already been leaked online?
As for those aforementioned record box office numbers: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 shattered the midnight screening record previously set by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, making $43 million in one day. And these are just the people who made the effort to stay up until about 3:00 AM to see this movie. Now that’s it’s the weekend … there might not be any money left in the world anywhere after this. Get ready to barter, everyone.
(ComicBook.com, Box Office Mojo)
Published: Jul 16, 2011 12:55 pm