Box Office Information 13th-15th July 07

The school term is nearly ending for thousands of kids around the country but for Harry Potter and friends, it is back to Hogwarts for the 5th time. Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.) opened in 1st place this weekend taking £16.5m including previews (£3.5m previews), giving it the second highest opening weekend of all time (behind Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire in Nov 05 which took £14.9m excluding previews), and giving it the highest opening weekend of the year so far. In other record breaking news, the film had the 3rd biggest international opening ever behind Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and it has marked the biggest ever launch of a film for the studio. Phew! After strutting his stuff on the London stage in Equus, Daniel Radcliffe a.k.a Harry Potter has put his school uniform back on and is keen to start the new term however upon his return, he discovers nearly everyone believes his encounter with Lord Voldemort was a lie, putting his integrity into question. Furthermore, a new Dark Arts teacher has been employed whose style of teaching threatens to leave the young wizards unprepared to defend themselves against the Dark forces. It is down to Harry to prepare the other young wizards for the storm that is coming. And you thought doing your GCSE's were hard!

Due to Harry's entry to the top spot, Shrek The Third (Paramount) has moved down to 2nd place with a box office total of £30.7m, whilst Bruce Willis and his partner - the white vest- are very much in business still for Die Hard 4.0 (20th Century Fox) is in 3rd place with £9.1m. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (20th Century Fox) is in 4th place with £11.9m, whilst Ocean's Thirteen (Warner Bros.) holds the 5th place position with £12.8m.

The second new entry into the chart this weekend is Moliere (Pathe) which opened in 8th place with £76k. A lavish French comedy-drama, Moliere is a fictional account of what happened to the playwright/actor Moliere (Romain Duris) during a mysterious disappearance in 1645.

The last new entry into the chart is the Bollywood thriller Naqaab (Tip Top) which opened in 9th place on £75k. A love-triangle with a twist, Naqaab is directed by Abbas Burmawalla and Mustan Burmawalla - two of the most successful Bollywood directors.

Interesting film fact of the day: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix director David Yates has already agreed to direct the 6th film in the franchise - Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, due out November 2008

Source: CSA