Harry Potter conjures up profits at the box office

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, based on the fifth book in the series, chronicles Potter and his friends' adventures in surviving school exams and fighting Lord Voldemort. The first four films released have done extremely well in the film industry grossing over 3.5 billion dollars globally. In the United States the first film grossed over 300 million dollars and remained in the box office for 27 weeks. Sales weren't quite as successful for the second and third films in the series. However, the fourth film suggests a growing fan base and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire fared very well, grossing 290 million dollars during its 20 weeks at the box office. Three of the four Potter movies made it into the top 20 highest film profits in the US. The Goblet of Fire and The Order of the Phoenix each have the second most expensive budget at 150 million dollars each, second only to Titanic. The four films also did extremely well in the UK grossing over 200 million pounds. On July 21, the seventh and final book in the series will be released by Scholastic in the US. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows has surpassed its own record for online book pre-sales; almost 1.6 million copies have been reserved on Amazon alone.]]>