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Potter Ranks No. 2 World Wide
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 7:05 PM EST
The magical ride continues for Warner Bros., as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has earned a spellbinding $926.1 million in worldwide ticket sales, officially topping 20th Century Fox's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to become the second-highest grossing movie ever worldwide.
Adding to its already massive pot of gold, Potter officially surpassed Phantom Menace's $922.8 million global take in a little less than three months. It's more than halfway to challenging Titanic, whose seemingly unsinkable $1.8 billion gross leads the all-time international box-office hits list.
With Harry moving up, the new top five worldwide looks like this: Titanic ($1.8 billion), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ($926.1 million), The Phantom Menace ($922.8 million), Jurassic Park ($914.3 million) and Independence Day ($807.8 million).
Despite its overseas success, however, Potter still ranks only seventh domestically, based on its estimated $313.7 million haul as of last week.
The top moneymakers in the U.S. remain Titanic ($600.8 million), the original Star Wars ($461 million, counting reissues and special editions), The Phantom Menace ($430.1 million), E.T. ($399.8 million), Jurassic Park ($357.1 million) and Forrest Gump ($329.7 million).
"While it's not number one or number two domestically, on a worldwide basis, Harry Potter is still pretty impressive," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.
By comparison, Titanic generated $600 million in North America alone while going on to gross an unheard-of $1.2 billion in foreign territories.
"You don't do that without good marketing, good word of mouth, the popular appeal, the critical appeal and worldwide notoriety which created this monster," Dergarabedian adds. "[But Potter's run] is still an amazing achievement considering that, other than Titanic, it's the only non-summer film in the top 10 of all time. It really took moviegoers by storm and really created a sensation."
Dergarabedian also notes that much of Potter's success has to do with its all-ages appeal (none of the top-grossing movies on the list is rated R). The fact that the global phenomenon had already been spawned by J.K. Rowling's monster-selling fantasy series probably didn't hurt, either.
The bespectacled boy magician with the lightning scar has conjured up all kinds of box-office records since unspooling on more than 8,200 screens at 3,672 theaters across the country in mid-November.
Potter cast the biggest single-day gross in Hollywood history, earning more than $33.5 million (trumping the old mark of $28.5 million set by 1999's Phantom Menace). It also edged out Universal's The Lost World: Jurassic Park for the biggest three-day tally, snagging an amazing $90.3 million compared to the dino-sequel's haul of $90.2 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend in 1997.
Not bad for a PG-13 film that ran more than 152 minutes long and received mixed reviews from critics - some of whom complained that it was too faithful to Rowling's book.
For those Muggles who have not yet seen Harry catch a snitch, hang out with Hagrid and do battle with evil wizards and the likes of You-Know-Who, DVD and VHS versions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone are set to hit stores May 28.
The fifth book, meanwhile, is reportedly due sometime between the end of summer and middle of fall.
And Potterphiles looking for further big-screen adventures from Harry will have to wait until November 15. That's when the sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, hits theaters in the U.S.
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