With the Harry Potter release tonight at midnight, it's got the world abuzz with anticipation. Harry Potter is set to be the most successful movie franchise ever, and we've still got 2 more movies after this one! But one new concern is whether Harry Potter will continue to succeed now that there's a new hot teen drama on the scene, one that feels a bit more grown up.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is when the young wizards and witches start taking notice of each other, romantically. You have crushes and dating and a fair bit of "snogging"! However, this is strongly encroaching on the niche Twilight has set up for itself - the sexy side of teen interests. The books have already started the battle, but Harry Potter is still winning with 60% of all 9-11 year olds in the US having read the books. But as they grow up and hit 13-15 and older, the romance and angst in Twilight take hold. Check out this article in the Wall Street Journal for more facts and figures on the matter.
While Twilight crashed on the scene with its $70 million opening weekend, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is poised to be the biggest movie EVER, hopefully beating out Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and maybe even The Dark Knight. It has the potential to break all the records: PG rating makes it fun for the whole family, IMAX and IMAX 3D screenings, and the foundation of one of the best selling book and movie franchises in history. If Harry Potter doesn't come out on top, I honestly don't know what will. My 5 day box office estimate: $205 million, beating out Transformers $200.1 million. I'd guess higher, but it's going to suffer from the lack of IMAX theaters it has until it takes over all the ones Transformers occupies until the week after next.
Photoshopped image from The Geek Files. Movie posters come from The WB and Summit Entertainment.
So readers, which is your teen epic of choice? Do you think Harry Potter can top Transformers?
I never got into Harry Potter, so I have to say my vote is for Twilight! I'm sure I'll go back and watch them someday, though.
ReplyDeleteThere's really no contest here. HP is epic; Twilight will never compare.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I like all the really bad Twilight tattoos there are right now. I should get into the tattoo removal business because they are hilarious and terrible at the same time. Google it for some laughs.
The Twilight books have never appealed to me so all i have to base my opinion on is the movie and that was terrible. I loved Harry Potter and still do! My biases are obvious though, our generation was brought up with Harry, not Edward and because of that alone Harry should have a larger following. I hope he can do it!
ReplyDeleteI gotta say, I was addicted to those Twilight books for a good solid week. But Harry Potter I just reread for at least the 3rd time in honor of the movies coming out. HP will always be my top choice. I guess we'll have to see, because while Harry Potter has been losing momentum (the books are no longer in the NYT best sellers list), the Twilight books are still gaining speed. And this just means the 2nd movie will be even more popular than the first one.
ReplyDeleteIn thier true form, these titles are from completely different genres. Only after the butchering of the Harry Potter story is there even a comparison to make. The Harry Potter recipe was working just fine as it was. Retooling at the last minute to turn it into another teen angst film simply misses the whole point of the story. The love/hate part of HP was covered in the book as a subtle subplot, not as the main one. It could have been done in the movie that way and not alienated a part of the audience. Some folks actually like some action in films, this film lacks any.
ReplyDeleteIf the Twilight II trailer does as much damage to the spontaneity of Twilight II as the HPHBP trailer did to HPHBP, then twilight isn't worth seeing either. I saw the Twilight II Trailer, and something tells me I've seen about all there is to see in the movie.