Heading into the weekend “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” had already made $80M and could make close to $200M in it’s first 5 days.
I saw the film on Wednesday night and was part of nine sold-out screenings that day. The line for our 7:30 show started forming around 6:00. It was the longest I ever waited to see a movie.
Not being a “Harry Potter” regular I didn’t know what to expect from the diehard fans. There weren’t as many people in costumes as I thought there’d be. I was told that a lot of them went to the midnight showing.
There was applause when the movie began, but not as much as there was at the start of “The Simpsons Movie” back in 2007. I was one of those clapping that time.
The original “Harry Potter” film grossed $317M in the U.S. and $1B worldwide. Could this one beat those figures? Considering the huge opening and the big IMAX money that will start coming in at the end of the month “HP-6” could become the highest-grossing of the series here in the U.S., but I don’t think it’ll top the first one around the globe.