IT’S a kind of magic - the movie version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is just a hair’s breadth away from making $1 billion at the box office nearly 20 years after it was released and is about to join a rather exclusive silver screen club as a result.
It’s nearly 20 years old?
The movie - known internationally as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - was the first in the blockbuster franchise that brought the boy wizard’s adventures to life on screen from the pages of JK Rowling’s books. Released in 2001, it stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, in their debuts as Harry, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.
Other big names?
The first two movies also feature Richard Harris as Professor Albus Dumbledore, before he died in 2002 and was replaced in the role by Michael Gambon for the remaining six films. Other big name stars include the late Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape and Maggie Smith as Professor Minerva McGonagall.
It’s still doing box office business?
With a lack of new movies coming into cinemas - that are only tentatively reopening around the world - older releases have been airing in many theatres amid a cautious return to once-normal traditions. And that spells good news for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which made more than $13 million in Chinese cinemas over the weekend, where the film was shown in high definition 4K resolution and 3-D for the first time.
In just one day…
The film earned $4.6 million on Friday, the biggest single-day gross anywhere in the world since cinemas closed earlier this year as a result of the pandemic.
This means?
The near-20-year-old movie has now made $997.8 million worldwide, nearing the $1 billion mark, according to American business magazine, Forbes, with a few more box office sales all that is required.
This will soon see the movie enter an exclusive club?
According to latest box office data issued before lockdown saw cinemas shut around the world, only 46 other movies have surpassed $1 billion.
Including?
Avengers: Endgame, released last year, has a total gross revenue of $2,797,800,000, giving it the top spot, with 2009's Avatar in second place with $2,788,000,000 and 2007’s Titanic in third place, grossing $2,187,500,000. Other movies hitting the $1 billion and counting heights include last year's The Lion King and 2013's Frozen; the latter being the highest grossing animated feature of all time.
There’s another Harry movie in the rankings?
The more recent, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, was released in 2011 and was the final instalment in the series. It earned a box office take of $1,341,500,000.
As for the Harry Potter books?
The Harry Potter tales, penned by Edinburgh-based Miss Rowling, are now the best-selling book series in history. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone alone has sold more than 120 million copies, making it alone one of the best-selling books of all time.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here