'Harry Potter' Poised To Break The Box Office Bank

Posted Thursday, November 15, 2001 at 10:21 AM Central

by John Couture

In case you've been living in a hut the last few months, allow me to inform you that Harry Potter And The Socerer's Stone is set to debut in theaters tomorrow, on November 16th. The expectations are tremendous on this magical book-turned-movie.

For instance, Warner Bros. has stepped to the plate and secured 3,672 theaters for it to open on this weekend. That number represents an all-time high for the number of theaters for the first weekend of release.

Warner Bros. is hoping that the strong theater count will translate into box office green. The pundits are already predicting that it will set a new record for a three-day opening. The current record holder is The Lost World: Jurassic Park with $72.1 million in box office receipts, but that movie opened over Memorial Day weekend in 1997. Some people are even whispering that Harry Potter could surpass Titanic ($600.8 million) as the highest grossing movie of all time.

Time will tell, but if you ask me, filling Titanic's shoes is one tall order for the pint-sized magician...