Potter Update: Warner Bros. Report $58.38 Million Estimated Opening Day

July 16, 2009

Warner Bros. has reported an estimated $58.38 million opening day for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, perhaps slightly lower than expected given the incredible midnight business, but still the fourth-biggest day in history.

After earning $22.5 million in midnight screenings, Half-Blood Prince picked up another $36 million or so during the rest of the day. That figure is well below another Wednesday opener from this Summer, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which earned $46 million during the day after $16 million at midnight. The daytime numbers in that case were presumably helped by people getting off work early for the July 4 weekend. Last year's The Dark Knight earned $48.5 million during its first day, along with $18.5 million at midnight. In its case, daytime grosses were helped by it being a Friday.

The early message seems to be that diehard fans turned out in droves for the midnight screenings, but the majority of the audience is happy to wait a little to see the movie. Expect a drop in box office today (Thursday) to around $30 million and then an increase over the weekend. $200 million by the end of the day on Sunday still looks on the cards, but it'll be close.

Filed under: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince