Friday, July 15, 2011

'Harry Potter' beats 'The Twilight Saga: Eclipse' midnight sales record


Via Twilight Examiner:

As expected, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has taken The Twilight Saga: Eclipse‘s midnight sales record, by bringing in “a mind-boggling $43 million worth of tickets at 3,800 mostly sold-out midnight shows,” per the New York Post.
Eclipse set the record last year with $30 million, but earlier this week, advanced ticket sales figures alone indicated that midnight sales would surpass that number easily; and so it was.

Also of interest, Fandango is reporting that it “has sold more midnight and early morning show tickets for Part 2 than it has for the late night openings of any other movie,” including The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

Harry Potter could also potentially snag the record for highest Opening Day Gross from New Moon (which brought in $72.7 million), as some sources predict today’s opening will yield up to $80 million. If that’s the case, HP8 would also overtake New Moon‘s Single Day Gross and Single Friday Gross records as well.

However! Eclipse still boasts the highest Single Wednesday Gross and highest number of opening theaters (4,416 to Harry Potter's 4,300).

Closer look (inside) at the Breaking Dawn 2012 Calendar!

Just last month, we posted about the official sixteen month calendar for Breaking Dawn - Part 1.
Two Days later, we had the HQ still of the image that's on the front cover, and now, thanks to tweets from Jack Morrissey (Bill Condon's Partner), we have a much closer look at the images inside!

Check 'em out below! (Click for bigger)

Front cover ("The foil letters kinda sparkle!")
Inside Cover
January - Edward
February - Bella
March - Alice
April - Jacob
May - Rosalie
June - Jasper
July - Esme
August - Emmett

September - Carlisle
October - Edward
November - Bella
December - Jacob
Back Cover
Back Cover Again

Twilight Examiner has gone over each of the images, and has this to say:

The character images incorporated into the calendar show a few distinctions between their "look" in this film as compared with the previous three.
First, "Carlisle" (Peter Facinelli) has a new hair-do that, arguably, makes him look a bit younger (in the book, he was described to look around 23-years-old).
Secondly, "Alice" (Ashley Greene) does indeed have shorter hair in Breaking Dawn than in the previous three, as noticed with a look at the first still images from Breaking Dawn. In the book, her character is described as having pixie-like hair which sticks out in various places (thanks to The Guide, we can now know why that is . . . I digress). Another change is Rosalie ("Nikki Reed"), who looks much more fierce and quite beautiful in her character image.

The calendar will be released August 1st,  and is available for pre-order from amazon :)
Will you be buying it when it is released?

Mirror (UK) – Lovefilm.com Enters The Twilight Zone!


LOVEFILM’S 1.6 million subscribers will soon be able to enter the Twilight zone whenever they wish. 
The company has signed an exclusive five-year deal with Entertainment One UK for the rights to stream its films. 
They include The Twilight Saga – starring Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson – and The Three Musketeers in 3D. 
LoveFilm, which was bought by Amazon in February, has already done major streaming deals with Disney, MGM and Warner Brothers.

It means customers have a library of thousands of films they can watch on their TV, PC or PlayStation 3 on demand.

Irish Central: Rob on Harry Potter

Robert Pattinson – “‘Harry Potter’ was massive event in my life”
The London born and raised star was just a struggling actor and musician before his role in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” an installment of one of the most successful movie franchises in film history. 
Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in the movie, and although it was not a major role and the character was killed off in the film, it catapulted Robert into new fame territory. 
“When Harry Potter came along, it was a huge step and a massive event in my life!”
the Twilight actor said to Sheknows.com.
When Robert was 17-year-old, he was working in South Africa and he met the casting agent for the Potter films and it was then that he auditioned for the part. 
“I didn’t know how I would be interpreted, so I went into Harry Potter determined to be a real actor and kind of didn’t speak to anyone for awhile. I didn’t notice the transition to being accepted, but they are all really nice people. It seems like it should have been daunting, but it wasn’t. We did a bonding week where we made fools of ourselves, doing lots of improvising. I paired up with Rupert a lot,”
he said.
Filming the movie was a bit challenging for the neophyte actor as there were complicated sets and stunts he had never been exposed to. Robert declared that he found his role challenging as Cedric Diggory was often involved in the most action packed parts of the film. 
“It was a very physical part. The stuff in the maze, which was done in the beginning, was done on all huge action sets. The hedges were huge and hydraulically operated. I got hit by stuff and was pulled by ropes, and Dan (Radcliffe) and I were running around punching each other, so it was kind of vicious.” 
Since then, Robert has appeared on all of the “Twilight Saga” films as the heroic vampire Edward Cullen and has an incredible following of adoring fans. The actor has begun his attempt of establishing himself as a serious actor by starring in films like “Remember Me” and “Water for Elephants.” 
“Harry Potter and The Globet of Fire” was exactly the push the actor needed to create a fanbase as well as garner the experience necessary to succeed in the film industry and is now one of Hollywood’s leading men.


Do you think Rob's career would have been any different had he not done Harry Potter?
Let us know in the comments section below :)


Source / via

Summit Executives, Melissa Rosenberg, and Chris Weitz Give Credit To Harry Potter Films



Erik Feig (a Summit Executive), Melissa Rosenberg (Twilight Saga screenwriter) and Chris Weitz (the director of The Golden Compass, New Moon and A Better Life) have cited the Harry Potter films as industry inspirations and changers. In the above photo, taken at the A Better Life premiere, Erik Feig is standing to Chris Weitz’s immediate left:
Erik Feig:
‘”There was a sea change with Harry Potter,” says Erik Feig, president of worldwide production at Summit Entertainment, which has made the Twilight movies. “The story has a younger protagonist, but the book series and the movies are greatly enjoyed by older people, too. I devoured the first book and gave it to every grown-up I knew. We saw the same thing with Twilight. We did not ghetto-ize it as a young-adult movie. Nor did they with Harry Potter. They drew all audiences. It was an inspiration to us.”
Chris Weitz:
“The impact of the Potter series has been tremendous in that it has essentially become the idea of a modern franchise,” says director Chris Weitz (Twilight: New Moon; The Golden Compass). “They latched onto something that has its own sequels built in. Now everyone is looking for a literary property that extends enough for them to keep on building.
“It’s led to this speculative bubble in mystical young-adult fiction. Twilight found its own way to hit upon the hunger for the supernatural and a particular time of life. But if you look at the bookshelves now, half of what is coming out in (young-adult) fiction is about a werewolf or a vampire or angels or demons. The other half is about magic and wizardry.”
Melissa Rosenberg:
“The Harry Potter filmmakers and screenwriter Steve Kloves really respected the fans,” says Melissa Rosenberg, who has written the screenplay for each Twilightmovie. “When you’re adapting a book series and you have that kind of fan base, you really have to deliver. You can’t just use the books as a jumping-off basis for another story. When I see a Harry Potter movie, I forget what is missing. Because Kloves is taking me and those kids on the same emotional journey as the book does.”

Do you agree with them?

You can check out the full article on USA Today.
SourceVia / via