As I mentioned in my previous article, the normal schedule for publication of my articles will resume in December once the film awards season begins. There hasn't been much to report in November, until now that is ... the November films are in release now, and some earlier potential Oscar favorites (like my original sleeper prediction Life as a House) have fallen out of the picture.
The biggest film news this month has to be the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It was pretty much guaranteed to be a huge success at the boxoffice, but could have anyone predicted success like this??? It opened this past weekend and set records immediately. Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park no longer holds the title for the best opening weekend ever (it made $72.1 million on its opening weekend in 1997). Harry Potter overwhelmingly took over the record for best opening weekend ever, making $90.3 million in just three days! It should also end up setting the record for the fastest film to make it to $100 million, depending on how the film performs on Monday. That three day record even beats some of the four day records of the past. It obviously looks like this film will become the highest grossing film of the year, likely to surpass Shrek, and it will be interesting to see what kind of legs the film has for repeat viewings to see if it ends up rivaling some of the all time box office champs. Harry Potter also broke the record for the highest single day gross in movie history, beating The Phantom Menace take of $28.5 million in one day, by taking in $32.9 million in just one day on Saturday!
They obviously have a very successful franchise on their hands, as they start production this week on the second film in what could end up being a seven part film series. The film had a built in audience with the enormous popularity of the books, and even glowing reviews by critics (Roger Ebert gave it four stars) are likely getting non-Potter fans into the theaters to see it. I will be seeing it soon (I'm waiting for some of the crowds to die down), and I've never read a Potter book, so I will be interested in analyzing it from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about the Harry Potter story.
