Harry Potter's 'Goblet' overflows at box office

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

LOS ANGELES - Harry Potter cast a spell over movie-goers during the weekend, as the fourth film in the fantasy series about a young wizard smashed sales records around the world.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire sold an estimated US$181.4 million ($266.76 million) worth of tickets, including US$101.4 million in North America, where it easily eclipsed the first three films and ranks as the fourth-largest opening ever, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said.

It also enjoyed a wide lead over the No. 2 film in North America, the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, which rang up a better-than-expected US$22.4 million in its first three days.

"Potter's" foreign haul of US$80 million was led by Britain with US$24.6 million, a new record for a three-day opening; Germany with US$19.8 million, a new record for a four-day opening; and Mexico with US$6.8 million, the third-best opening.

The film was No. 1 in all 19 foreign territories where it opened, the Time Warner Inc-owned studio said. It adds such markets as Japan, Italy and Spain next weekend, with France and Australia in the first week of December.

The US$130 million movie, based on the book by British author J K Rowling, stars 16-year-old Daniel Radcliffe in the title role, an orphan who confronts death and puberty at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. New additions to the cast included Ralph Fiennes as the evil Lord Voldemort, who helped give the film a darker tone than its predecessors.

Not coincidentally, the film was rated in the United States as PG-13 for "sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images," while the first three carried a milder PG rating. Exit polling showed that more adults turned up than usual, indicating that the franchise's appeal is spreading beyond families, said Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Warner Bros.

The new film was directed by Mike Newell, best known for the 1994 comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral, and the first Englishman to take the helm of the series.

In North America, the three-day haul set a new record for the lucrative franchise, surpassing the US$93.7 million opening of 2004's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. However, that film's US$249.4 million total was the smallest of the three. The most successful was 2001's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which totalled US$317.6 million. The 2002 film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets grossed US$262 million.

The record for a three-day opening is held by Spider-Man, which bowed with US$115 million in 2002. Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith began with US$108.4 million earlier this year, just ahead of Shrek 2 with US$108 million in 2004.

Elsewhere at the North American box office, the tale of country music renegade Johnny Cash struck a chord with moviegoers. The US$22.4 million opening for Walk the Line compares with the US$20 million bow for Ray, last year's movie about Ray Charles, which finished up with US$75 million and yielded an Oscar for its star, Jamie Foxx.

The US$28 million movie, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the "man in black" and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, the love of his life, was released by News Corp's 20th Century Fox after every other studio passed.

The Walt Disney Co cartoon Chicken Little fell to No. 3 with US$14.8 million after two weeks at No. 1. Its total stands at US$99.2 million.

- REUTERS