Harry Potter Becomes a Billionaire

Now that's a lot of Galleons.

By the end of today, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is expected cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  It will be the ninth film in history to reach that particular milestone, joining a list that includes Avatar, The Dark Knight, Return of the King, Toy Story 3, Titanic, and, for some reason, Alice in Wonderland.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 is also well on its way to become the highest grossing film in the Harry Potter franchise - beating the record previously held by the first film, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (or Philosopher's Stone, depending on where it was released), which earned $974 million worldwide in 2001/2002.  Granted, 3D ticket sales certainly helped Deathly Hallows there, but the film is still a monster. 

The eight films in the series have earned more than $7 billion worldwide, and recently knocked Star Wars out of the top spot as the highest-grossing franchise in history.

For anyone still griping that splitting the last film into two parts was just a cash-grab by Warner Bros...well, obviously it was, but that experiment was a success:  the two Deathly Hallows films have grossed nearly $2 billion worldwide so far, with Part 2 about to surpass Part 1's $955 million this weekend.  Creatively, I think it was a wise decision as well, since it allowed them the screentime to give the series the finale it deserved.

So, well done, Harry!  To quote the final chapter of the books, "All was well."  I think it will be awhile before we see anything like this again.  And no, it won't be Twilight.  Don't even start with that.