Potter is going to the bank, first at the box office. According to studio estimates, the PG-13 wizarding movie collected $168.6 million this weekend, surpassing previous record of $158.4 million set by “The Dark Knight” and giving Warner Bros. the two best opening weekends ever. However, when adjusted for inflation, “Knight” would still be king with approximately $173 million in today’s ticket prices.
But that was not the only new record. MovieTickets.com reports that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has shattered multiple online advance ticketing records. In addition to overall records, the final installment of the franchise sold at least twice the amount of tickets than any other movie in 2011. The film also became the highest presale of all time eclipsing all other movie releases in the company’s 11-year history.
Joel Cohen, CEO of MovieTickets.com, stated, “Through the past decade, the popularity and accessibility of MovieTickets.com’s online ticketing has grown with the fervor and demand for Harry Potter. Not only does the film franchise represent 40% of our top ten list, but the records set the past week demonstrate the health of the overall industry, and moviegoers continued enthusiasm for great characters, story and collective theater experiences.”
The film showed early and ramped up momentum with ticket sales for Thursday 7/14/2011 smashing the prior single day record previously held by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on 7/14/2009. This new record beats single day ticket sales by 9.5%.
As the sales exponentially increased, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows – Part 2 eventually broke ticket sales records on Friday, July 15, 2011 becoming the new #1 online ticket pre-seller of all time.