Harry Potter Franchise "bigger than Star Wars"

[cueman98]

From the BBC news web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6988671.stm

[Blu-dock Saint]

I guess it doesnt surprise me too much. The best star wars films came out back in the day and the 3 new ones released in the past few years did it no justice. Kids these days never got to grow up knowing how great star wars is, instead they got harry potter.

[ground chuck]

not surprising. harry potter is to kids today as star wars was to me growing up.

[spam.curitiba]

are they talking money wise? because if they are how much were tickets back when star wars came out compared to now?

[Hatem]

Money wise I'm sure Harry Potter is bigger than Star Wars.

However, i doubt if it has had a greater (or even an equal) impact on culture like the original Star Wars.

I like them both, and just want to see them on Blu!

[Smallville206]

Same here, I like them both. No surprise that it's bigger than Star Wars right now, it's what the current generation has grown up on as others have said. I cannot wait to one day have Star Wars on Blu ray...hopefully.

[The Guardian]

The numbers are misleading - the original Star Wars trilogy earned many of their dollars when movie tickets were half the current prices or less. Maybe after supper I'll look up the figures for these movies adjusted for inflation, but I'm sure Star Wars will be far ahead.

Star Wars also has a far larger computer game series behind them, and a massive number of books which quite possibly outnumber the number of Harry Potter books sold. Not to mention the multiple TV series, and the two spin-off Ewok movies which were likely not counted for this?

[Luis_A51]

Whats more interesting to me is that its grossed more than the James Bond franchise, which has 22 movies.

Considering Harry Potter still has 2 movies to go, and it seems that they're averaging about 900million per movie, they could potentially get 6.5 Billion for the entire franchise...wow

[reiella]

Originally Posted by Luis_A51

Whats more interesting to me is that its grossed more than the James Bond franchise, which has 22 movies.

Considering Harry Potter still has 2 movies to go, and it seems that they're averaging about 900million per movie, they could potentially get 6.5 Billion for the entire franchise...wow

*blink*

Well, yep, I misread that intent of this thread initially. Thought it was refering to the entire franchise, not just the movies.

With the Bond movies, I'm really not surprised at all for the reasons mentioned, those films, for the most part, are pretty old and inflation has changed grosses alot .

Some little things that have very little to the end, as far as I know, Star Wars and the Bond movies never had an IMAX showing either [and those tickets jump up in price].

[ add / edit ]
And here's another fun tidbit, there are more people now that watch movies than did before. Newer titles will continue to gross more and more than their counterparts.

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by reiella

*blink*

Well, yep, I misread that intent of this thread initially. Thought it was refering to the entire franchise, not just the movies.

With the Bond movies, I'm really not surprised at all for the reasons mentioned, those films, for the most part, are pretty old and inflation has changed grosses alot .

Some little things that have very little to the end, as far as I know, Star Wars and the Bond movies never had an IMAX showing either [and those tickets jump up in price].

[ add / edit ]
And here's another fun tidbit, there are more people now that watch movies than did before. Newer titles will continue to gross more and more than their counterparts.

Im pretty sure the article was talking about movies alone. It does not take into account books or other merchandise I believe. That total would be almost unfathomable.

I just recently got into the whole harry potter thing (bought all 7 books about 6 weeks ago, didnt see #5 in theatres). Cant wait for the 6th and 7th movie, and to have all 7 on BD!

[DrinkMore]

I will take HP over SW any day.

[Patranus]

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
$924.3 Million World Wide - 1999 = $1,111.4 Million World Wide - 2006
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
$640.9 Million World Wide - 2002 = $714.3 Million World Wide - 2006
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
$850.0 Million World Wide - 2005 = $878.9 Million World Wide - 2006
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
$552.0 Million World Wide - 1977 = $1,889.2 Million World Wide - 2006
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
$538.3 Million World Wide - 1980 = $1,441.3 Million World Wide - 2006
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
$475.8 Million World Wide - 1983 = $958.2 Million World Wide - 2006

Includes first run box office numbers only.

Total = $3,981.3 Million World Wide
Total (2006) = $6,993.3 Million World Wide

Harry Potter
Too lazy to do the math so I will let wikipedia do the work for me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_P...films%29#Films

Total = $4,470.9 Million World Wide
Total (2006) = $4,818.7 Million World Wide

Harry Potter box office were taken from Wikipedia
First 3 Star Wars (4,5,6) box office numbers were taken from wikipedia
Last 3 Star Wars (1,2,3) box office numbers were taken from boxofficemojo
Inflation Calculator

(maybe i should start doing some "real" work at work.....)

[reiella]

Fun question about the original trilogy numbers, it does appear you are skipping the Special edition rereleases that went to theatres, is that accurate?

[Gamma_Winstead]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

I will take HP over SW any day.

well said! I prefer HP too! oh what, so what if Harrison for grabbing his crotch every three lines gets odl to me? and i am not going to even mention Jar Jar. (I do love SW so don't get me wrong.)

[MrVorhees]

Originally Posted by ground chuck

not surprising. harry potter is to kids today as star wars was to me growing up.

Not only kids

[The Guardian]

Is it just me or did quite a few posts from this thread vanish?

[beavis667]

It was certainly bigger in terms of ticket sales. However, it's not a bigger franchise in terms of importance. Movies are a big deal *because* of star wars. Lucas never received any oscars to my knowledge, but he should get a lifetime achievement award from the academy and anyone else giving out awards for movies.

I find it cute in Reign of Fire where Christian Bale and Gerard Butler are acting out the Star Wars story for the kids. It's "folk lore" in the future. What a tribute!

[MouseRider]

In a way, the true test is will Harry Potter still have a huge fan base 30 years later the way Star Wars has?

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by MouseRider

In a way, the true test is will Harry Potter still have a huge fan base 30 years later the way Star Wars has?

Lol. Here it comes. The if's and's and butt's. Something comes along that is BETTER than SW and the SW fans start going insane trying to justify how SW will ALWAYS be the best.

Blah blah. I need to stay out of these SW threads. The old movies were not that good and the new ones were not much better.

[koreyman]

The differnce is starwars changed the way we look at movies and the way movies are made Cameron, Jackson, and other became film makers because of it of course the former Made Titanic and the later made a 3 part 12 hour film about walking but anyway potter is great but it didnt chage film makeing or toy selling like starwars