Box Office Results: Harry Potter flies, Bruno falls

Studio Estimates for July 17-19:

1.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $79.5 million
2.  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $17.7 million
3.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $13.8 million
4.  Bruno – $8.4 million
5.  The Hangover – $8.3 million

—

Well well well… this weekend came as a bit of a shocker (slightly).  We all had the same Top 5 predictions, and therefore none of us predicted all of the movies correctly.  We had Public Enemies in the #5 slot and the sleeper hit of the summer, The Hangover, somehow managed to squeak past Public Enemies and The Proposal for the fifth spot.

What else?  Well, Bruno had a horrendous second weekend, grossing only $8.4 million (almost falling out of the Top 5).  Oh yeah, and then there was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that had the all-time highest midnight gross… yet failed to keep up the momentum through the weekend.  Harry Potter grossed (only?) $79.5 million, which was below all of our predictions.

We promise to do a better job next weekend, though that’s going to be tricky.  There are three new releases:  The family adventure, G-Force; the horror film, The Orphan; and the romantic comedy, The Ugly Truth.

Box Office Predictions (July 17-19)

Listen up all you muggles!  The sixth installment of the Harry Potter franchise has hit the theaters by storm!  The incredibly popular boy-wizard was able to collect $22.2 million just during its midnight showings, and totaled $58.2 million for its first day.  What could be the reason for these insane, record-breaking numbers?

For starters, this is the longest break between Harry Potter films for the entire series.  So it’s been two years since children and adults could get their magic-fix at the theaters.  On top of that, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince returned to the family-friendly PG rating.  In the long run, this might be what it takes to pass the PG-13 super-blockbusters like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen or might I suggest, The Dark Knight?

Anyway, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the only wide release this weekend.  So the real question isn’t what film will come in first place this weekend, it’s how much will Harry Potter make?

Here are our predictions…

My Predictions:

1.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $100 million
2.  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $17 million
3.  Bruno – $15 million
4.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $12 million
5.  Public Enemies – $8 million

Chris’ Predictions:

1.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $125 million
2.  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $16 million
3.  Bruno – $15 million
4.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $12 million
5.  Public Enemies – $8 million

Sheehan’s Predictions:

1.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $89 million
2.  Bruno – $27 million
3.  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $22 million
4.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $20 million
5.  Public Enemies – $11 million

Phil’s Predictions:

1.  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – $98 million
2.  Bruno – $20 million
3.  Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – $13 million
4.  Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $9 million
5.  Public Enemies – $5 million

—

The Predictions Panel’s range for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is $89 million – $125 million.  I’m pretty sure the actual weekend gross will lie in-between our range.  As for the rest of our predictions, we all picked the same five films, but Chris and I chose Ice Age over Bruno while Sheehan and Phil picked Bruno for the runner-up spot.

Let’s see how our predictions hold up.  Check back on Monday for the results.