'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2' Passes $1B Marker in Sales

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Monday, August 01, 2011

Warner Brothers has announced Monday that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2” has passed the $1bn mark at the worldwide box office.

“Deathly Hollows: Part 2”, the final chapter of the eight-film “Harry Potter” series, has earned $318.5m in the U.S., and is the first movie in the series to reach the $1bn international milestone.

The first movie in the series, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, previously held the best global earnings with $974.8m in 2001. Considering today’s higher admission price though, “Deathly Hollows: Part 2” has not surpassed “Sorcerer’s Stone” in terms of actual tickets sold.

Get Our Latest News for FREE

Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.

Subscribe

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” was released July 15 and concludes the adventures of the series’ popular wizarding characters. Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for their enemy Voldemort’s source of immortality, and in their effort to destroy the “Dark Lord,” face their biggest battle yet.

The film stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, beside Rupert Grint and Emma Watson as Harry’s best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

The Harry Potter movies have earned over $7 billion, making it the highest-earning franchise of all time, and beating the “Star Wars” series.

James Cameron’s 2009 epic “Avatar” currently holds the record for the most worldwide box office earnings, with $2.8bn.

“Deathly Hollows: Part 2” is predicted to surpass “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” shortly, which is the highest earning movie this year with $1.03bn.

This weekend, newly released films “The Smurfs” and “Cowboys and Aliens” tied for the number one spot in North American box offices. Both movies brought in $36.2m, according to early estimates.

“The Smurfs” voice cast includes Katy Perry and Neil Patrick Harris as the blue 1980s cartoon characters while sci-fi western “Cowboys and Aliens” stars Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde.