ROTTEN TOMATOES: "Harry Potter" Conjures Up Box Office Records

"Harry Potter" Conjures Up Box Office Records

by RT Staff | July 12, 2007

Four years after "The Return of the King" set the $8 million record for a midnight screening, cinemagoers have boosted the latest "Harry Potter" flick above the bar: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" rang up a stunning $12 million for its witching (and wizarding) hour screenings early Wednesday.

"Harry" continued strong as the sun went up, with box office soothsayers predicting a $44.3 million opening for Wednesday alone. If that number holds, the film will surpass the reigning Wednesday champ: "Spider-Man 2," with its $40.4 million.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is the fifth installment of the legendary series. Though "Order" is currently the worst-reviewed "Harry Potter" film, it still stands high with a Certified Fresh 74 percent Tomatometer.

No doubt putting a spell on the boxoffice.

Source: Variety, Fantasy Moguls

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(1-20 of 21 posts) | Reply

synergyred writes:
on Jul 12 2007 03:17 PM

This doesn't surprise me at all. The theater I went to was packed and, despite the fact that it the air conditioner was BROKEN, remained packed for the duration of the film.

Everyone seemed pretty happy with it too.

(Reply to this)

SHARTRON writes:
on Jul 12 2007 06:40 PM

This definitely was not the strongest entry in the series. It seemed like there were parts cut in editing. Like when Sirius called Harry "James" toward the end. I heard that was explained in detail in the novel. WTF? Also, was there more action in the book as well? Still WAY more entertaining than BAYFORMERS!

(Reply to this)

Hot_Soup writes:
on Jul 12 2007 07:46 PM

In reply to this comment (#919988)
[b]I haven't seen the movie but I've read up on cut t[/b]
Sirius calls Harry James because he wants Harry to be James. He complains a few times in the novel about Harry not being more like James, basically he view having Harry as having his best friend back.

There isn't a lot of more action in the book besides Quidditch and the ministry scene is longer.

There's a lot of emotional things in the book that aren't in the movie. For instance Harry is a lot angrier, when he talks to Dumbledore near the end he is screaming at him and breaking his stuff. When Mr. Weasly gets attacked they go to visit him in the hospital. During the hospital stay (during Christmas break) they come across Neville and his parents (his insane because they were tortured by Death Eater parents), they don't talk, and don't know who Neville is, and it's very sad.

The scene where it flashbacks to James and Snape I hear is horribly shortened. That pisses me off to no end. The way it happened in the book Snape went off to do something and left Harry in the room alone. Meanwhile Harry notices the Pensieve (you might remember it from the last movie, took Harry to see the trials of people in the past) which stores memories of people. Harry sticks his head in, because he's retarded, and sees his father and his friends. Snape just walks by and James curses him for no reason making him hang upside down in the air. He acts extremely arrogant and like a gigantic ass. Lily Potter heads over to tell him off, he acts all smooth and tells her he'll let Snape down if she'll go out with him and she gets pissed. Anyway Snape tells her he doesnt' need her help (she's muggleborn) and she goes away.

Basically it shatters Harry's view of his father and it adds depth and understanding to Snape. He asks Sirius about it who explains the situation very well.

You really should read the books, they're very good, and if you like the movies you should know the books are better than the movies, the explain things better and have more detail to events and more events.

(Reply to this)

Daylights writes:
on Jul 12 2007 08:10 PM

[b]Harry Potter is overrated[/b]
It seems like everyone that hated Transformers loves Potter and vice versa.....
Someone tell me what's so great about these movies. I haven't see a Potter movie since the first, largely because that one was so incredibly, unbelievably, routine and boring that I couldn't motivate myself to watch any of the sequels.
And now these movies are breaking records...from spider-man, the legendary SPIDER MAN. I think the only magical spell this Harry Potter conjured is on movie-goers....

(Reply to this)

Mozzy writes:
on Jul 12 2007 09:14 PM

GO HARRY POTTER!

(Reply to this)

SmokeMonster writes:
on Jul 12 2007 09:30 PM

In reply to this comment (#919990)
Maybe if you give the series a chance past the first movie you would see why so many people like them.

(Reply to this)

TheIceGhost writes:
on Jul 12 2007 09:36 PM

In reply to this comment (#919990)
Well, if you're basing your verdict on the whole of HP solely on the first movie no will question that it's a fairly lousy first impression.

The films wouldn't be breaking records if the books weren't as amazing as the numbers suggest. Heck, the movies wouldn't exist without the books and their fans. As a whole the movie series is much (consistently) better than most books that are turned into movies (yes, another exception being LotR). And, as readers of the series know, the story sucks you in. Have you ever heard of an average ol' 12 year old being able to read an 800 page book in a day, prior to HP? That's pretty legendary in itself.

This latest flick is pretty damn impressive. Yes, pretty much everything in the movie was changed in some fashion compared to the book, but you have to remember that this 'is' a movie. Changes have to be made and overall Michael Goldenberg did a pretty excellent job.

Saying that, the last half hour or so of the movie goes downhill. The big problem is none of the story lines are resolved and none of the questions that are answered in the book are answered in the movie. The only thing we get out of the movie is the prophecy (which isn't in full and isn't fully explained). More than anything, we don't get why You-Know-Who was after Harry and his parents to begin with, which is a HUGE REVELATION in the book. Bottom line, we are left with a lot of un-answered questions. If you've read the book you can fill in the gaps but if you haven't I wouldn't be surprised if some became confused.

Also, screen-time. The performances in this movie are top notch (and in the case of the trio, vastly improved), but save Radcliffe, no one really gets sufficient screen-time, which is ashame.

If I were you Daylights, I'd give the series another go. If you just want to watch a movie I suggest Prisoner of Azkaban (this new movie is great too, but you do need a bit of filling in to see it, I doubt you'd understand much if you went to this one with no prior knowledge). Also, READ THE BOOKS!!!

...oh, and, Harry Potter breaking 1st day record=very cool indeed. Both last night and tonight driving home from work (passing the theater around 10pm or so) the place was packed. I'm going to see it again at some point during it's theater run, probably when people stop going, there was an incredibly annoying lady sitting behind me when I first saw it who kept shaking a bag by my ear ( Caught the 11am show opening day..i was surprised how many people popped up at that hour).

(Reply to this)

Rowsdower42 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 12:47 AM

Despite the numerous cuts, I thought this movie was the best of all 5. I didn't like the first two, loathe the third, and tolerate the fourth. There were a few moments that could have used a bit better explaining (the prophecy, Hagrid's tale, and I really wanted to see the attempt to capture Hagrid), and it was a shame to miss out on visiting Mungo's (a Branaugh cameo would have been great!). That being said, the cuts made this into a very good movie, unlike the fourth and especially the third. Gary Oldman is awesome, as always.

Where the movie really succeeds, however, is in some of the characterizations. The movie and the actors really make you hate hate hate Umbridge, make Luna just as spacey as she oughta be, and make Neville a joy to watch as he finally comes into his own.

(Reply to this)

TheIceGhost writes:
on Jul 13 2007 01:30 AM

In reply to this comment (#919994)
Ah! I didn't realize that Hagrid's 'capture' didn't make the cut! Darn, that would have tied that loose-end up tightly too, shame.

And yes, a Branaugh cameo would have indeed been great, oh well...

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 01:45 AM

The only thing i am pissed about is that they ruined the "death" of Black. In the book they never know if a killing curse hit him and it goes into detail about how graceful his body falls, while this thime he is hit by a killing curse yet has time to wink at harry and glide up into the curtain. Oh and i was pissed that they left out the part where Dumbledore explains all the mistakes he made over the year and why harry had to suffer all those years.

(Reply to this)

Bigbrother writes:
on Jul 13 2007 04:10 AM

In reply to this comment (#919996)
Perhaps the wink is because they know something we don't. Wouldn't it be a kick if with everyone asking about "Is Snape good/evil" "Will Dumbledore return" that the big twist is it's Sirius who makes a comeback. He did escape from Azkhaban.

(Reply to this)

themaninthebox writes:
on Jul 13 2007 08:14 AM

In reply to this comment (#919996)
[b]why would you put that in your message[/b]
Fortunately, I've read the books, and its no surprise about the end of the movie. But why would you do that to people that either haven't read the book, or have read the book and haven't seen the movie, and would have liked to see how they handled the ending.

I'm no veteran on posting on this site, but next time, warn people of Spoilers.

(Reply to this)

lavatory love machine writes:
on Jul 13 2007 09:14 AM

just got back from the movie, it's great, so much, in fact that makes me wish that the first two movies were remake (the just OK, but the 3, 4 and specially 5 are on another level)

that kid radcliffe gives a perfect leading performance for a blockbuster

the summer started pretty bad, with spiderman, pirates and shrek being very inferior movies compare to previous entries on the series

but now with ratatoullie and harry potter things are looking much better, and let's hope the simpsons and bourne keep it up before it gets serious

(Reply to this)

abhinavsharma_2006@indiat writes:
on Jul 13 2007 09:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#919988)
i agree with you mate. why can't they made it 3 hours long. if we can watch the pirates which is 168 minutes long;then why not this at least they can explain everything in it but still these movies will stand against the time and tide and will be achieve the cult status like star wars did in70's

(Reply to this)

Sputnik99 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 10:35 AM

After seeing both Harry and Transformers, I will honestly say that Transformers impressed me a lot more than Order of the Phoenix did. It is the dullest, emptiest and most un-rewatchable of all the Harry Potter movies, which I have seen all of numerous times, so you cannot say that I do not know what I am talking about. There is no excitement and very little humor. Transformers blew me away with how fun and exciting it was. The early Harry movies did that to. But not this one. Harry has lost its touch. His anger factor is just not cool.

It's not a worthless movie, but if you're going to go see it, don't get your hopes up. You will be disappointed. Go see Transformers. It's a lot more fun.

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 11:04 AM

In reply to this comment (#920001)
Harry Potter is by far better than Transformers, both were good but Harry was better. And you are wrong, this movie you can watch over and over again and is better than the first couple.

Oh and his anger factor is the main part of the movie like the book. So you proved that you never read the book.

(Reply to this)

THE MANWHORE writes:
on Jul 13 2007 11:18 AM

How about you all shut the hell up!!! Harry Potter & Transformers are both GREAT movies in their own right! Quit the comparisons! Enough said! :-)

(Reply to this)

IMAmoose24 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 12:58 PM

I've seen all the potter films except the latest and I must say the only truely good one was the 3rd.

(Reply to this)

carrierj1 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 02:24 PM

In reply to this comment (#919996)
[b]***Spoiler Alert***[/b]
See how it's done you son of a b*tch! Thanks, you stupid f*ck!

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Jul 13 2007 05:17 PM

Oh the little baby is crying. DUMBLEDORE DIES IN THE 6TH BOOK. HOW ABOUT THAT LITTLE GIRL?

(Reply to this)

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