Fan Fare

Muggles beware! Pottermania is back

Muggles take note. A new and possibly unprecedented wave of Pottermania is about to hit movie goers, newspaper readers, Internet visitors and other innocent bystanders as Warner Bros gears up for the release of the eighth and final instalment of the Harry Potter film franchise.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2″ is released in theatres on July 15th, and brings to and end one of cinema’s most successful series. For the first time it’s in 3D and there will, there absolutely has to be, resolution of the question — Harry or Voldemort? — by the end.

For those of sturdy constitution, Warner is putting on the whole series again in select British cinemas, starting with “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” on Friday, July 8th and then running through the week until the launch of Deathly Hallows – Part 2 the folloing Friday. We can expect many more such announcements and celebrations in the coming weeks.

Of course, most of the world knows the answer to the key question posed above, as it was in the seventh and final book of the series created by J.K. Rowling. But the lack of a surprise ending is unlikely to dent the box office too badly, with experts predicting another ticket sale bonanza to bid farewell to the fictional boy wizard and his pals at Hogwarts.

That said, for all the impressive numbers — and in Hollywood terms, they are striking indeed — some studies suggest that attendance figures, as opposed to overall takings, have shown a sizeable decline in the United States over the 10-year life of the franchise. It will be interesting to see if the anticipation and marketing ahead of the final chapter help to reverse that trend.

Sandra Bullock scores touchdown at box office

It’s been a wild year at the box office for Sandra Bullock, whose report card this decade has been middling at best.

The actress, 45, returned to theaters for the first time in more than two years in June with the romantic comedy “The Proposal,” which went on to become the biggest film of her career (before accounting for inflation), with $164 million in domestic ticket sales. But then came her September stinker, “All About Steve,” which was one of her weakest entries with $34 million in ticket sales. She is pictured at the premiere of the latter film, looking happier than she should have been.

Bullock bounced back this weekend with the sports drama “The Blind Side,” which kicked off with $34.5 million, a personal best. The opening was good enough for a distant No. 2 behind “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” ($140.7 million, but who’s counting?).

Critics and fans embraced the fact-based saga of a Tennessee housewife who takes in a homeless black teenager and turns him into a football hero. John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) directed from an adaptation of Michael Lewis’ book “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.” It scored a 70 percent positive rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 30 percent for the “Twilight” sequel. Exit polling conducted by CinemaScore gave it an exceedingly rare A-plus across all demographics. There’s even talk of an Oscar nod, which would be a first for the two-time Golden Globe nominee.

“The Blind Side” was produced for $29 million by Alcon Entertainment, which specializes in female-skewing fare like the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” movies. The company is financed by FedEx Corp Chairman Frederick W. Smith, and it has a distribution deal with Warner Bros. Pictures.

Bullock cut her undisclosed fee to star in the film, but will share in the profits. “She’ll make quite a bit of money on the movie,” said Broderick Johnson, who runs Alcon with Andrew Kosove.

Johnson predicted the movie would enjoy “a remarkable run” in North America, and reach the $150 million level. But how will it play overseas? American sports dramas have limited foreign appeal, and so the marketing will emphasize the human-interest side. The strategy seemed to work in North America, where women accounted for 55 percent of the audience. Johnson said the international rollout will be worked out next week, but it would likely be spearheaded by launches in the Bullock strongholds of Britain and Germany (her late mother’s homeland).

‘Harry Potter’ sales fail to live up to opening weekend hype

Remember the breathless reports concerning the record-breaking opening of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in July?

The sixth movie in the fantasy franchise surpassed “Spider-Man 3″ to set new worldwide ($394 million) and foreign ($236 million) records, and its North American tally ($158.0 million) was $18 million higher than that of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” two years earlier. (Note: Data are slightly different in the link as they were estimates, and the final figures were issued the following day.)

“Phoenix” ended up with $938 million worldwide, the seventh-biggest movie of all time before accounting for inflation. So it was only natural to assume that the new one might have a chance to become the first in the series to crack $1 billion.

Not so fast. It turns out “Spider-Man 3″ ($891 million) was a better benchmark for the film. “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” has earned $905.4 million after opening at No. 1 during the weekend in its last market, Greece. It’s the biggest movie of the year, the third-biggest in the series and the 12th biggest of all time. If it can squeeze out an extra $15 million, it will crack the top 10. BUT, it won’t get to $1 billion.

The North American total of $294.3 million just passed “Phoenix” ($292 million) to trail only the $317.5 million haul for 2001′s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” which ended up with $975 million worldwide. Its foreign total stands at $611.1 million, but that’s quite a bit short of the $700 million forecast by Variety on the basis of that opening weekend.

Warner Bros. Pictures, which leads the studio field with eight No. 1 openings in North America this year, never publicly issued forecasts and an executive declined during opening weekend to discuss the billion-dollar possibility. Still, when studios trumpet record-breaking launches, boosted by ticket-price inflation, premium-priced IMAX screenings and simultaneous worldwide roll-outs, not even young wizards are immune to market forces for long.