Potterland - What it means to me

[captainkidd]

I see what you did there



It won't. This is the Star Wars of our generation. Nothing else comes close. Now, people may start to see how outdated most of the attractions are in WDW after they've ridden both Spiderman and Harry Potter...

To call Harry Potter the Star Wars of our generation is pushing it just a bit. The Lord of the Rings movies each made more than any of the HP movies. If you ask 10 people if they've seen every Star Wars movie, I'd say 8 would say yes. If you ask 10 people if they've seen every HP movie, I'd say maybe 5 would say yes, and that might be a lot. The average gross of the HP movies is $268 million. The average gross of the Star Wars movies is $312 million, and 3 of those films were released before 1983. Heck, the average gross of the 3 Spider-Man movies is $373 million. Adjusted for inflation, the HP movies average about $290 million. The Star Wars movies average about $683 million.

The Transformers movies have beat the bejeezus of the HP movies. Even that movie The Hangover has made the same as the average HP movie.

Don't get me wrong, the movies are big hits. But adjusted for inflation, just one of the HP even ranks in the top 100 all time (behind Back To The Future for what it's worth.) Adjusted, here is the list:

1 Gone with the Wind MGM $1,450,680,400 $198,676,459 1939^
2 Star Wars Fox $1,278,898,700 $460,998,007 1977^
3 The Sound of Music Fox $1,022,542,400 $158,671,368 1965
4 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Uni. $1,018,514,100 $435,110,554 1982^
5 The Ten Commandments Par. $940,580,000 $65,500,000 1956
6 Titanic Par. $921,523,500 $600,788,188 1997
7 Jaws Uni. $919,605,900 $260,000,000 1975
8 Doctor Zhivago MGM $891,292,600 $111,721,910 1965
9 The Exorcist WB $793,883,100 $232,671,011 1973^
10 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Dis. $782,620,000 $184,925,486 1937^
11 101 Dalmatians Dis. $717,405,900 $144,880,014 1961^
12 The Empire Strikes Back Fox $704,937,000 $290,475,067 1980^
13 Ben-Hur MGM $703,640,000 $74,000,000 1959
14 Return of the Jedi Fox $675,346,600 $309,306,177 1983^
15 The Sting Uni. $640,045,700 $156,000,000 1973
16 Raiders of the Lost Ark Par. $632,858,500 $242,374,454 1981^
17 Jurassic Park Uni. $618,957,900 $357,067,947 1993
18 The Graduate AVCO $614,402,600 $104,901,839 1967^
19 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace Fox $609,049,300 $431,088,301 1999
20 Fantasia Dis. $596,252,200 $76,408,097 1941^
21 The Godfather Par. $566,664,000 $134,966,411 1972^
22 Forrest Gump Par. $563,957,500 $329,694,499 1994
23 Mary Poppins Dis. $561,345,500 $102,272,727 1964^
24 The Lion King BV $554,524,300 $328,541,776 1994^
25 Grease Par. $552,298,200 $188,389,888 1978^
26 Thunderball UA $537,064,000 $63,595,658 1965
27 The Dark Knight WB $533,345,300 $533,345,358 2008
28 The Jungle Book Dis. $529,021,800 $141,843,612 1967^
29 Sleeping Beauty Dis. $521,814,100 $51,600,000 1959^
30 Shrek 2 DW $510,145,700 $441,226,247 2004
31 Ghostbusters Col. $507,845,800 $238,632,124 1984^
32 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Fox $506,605,400 $102,308,889 1969
33 Love Story Par. $502,586,700 $106,397,186 1970
34 Spider-Man Sony $498,900,500 $403,706,375 2002
35 Independence Day Fox $497,350,500 $306,169,268 1996
36 Home Alone Fox $486,331,500 $285,761,243 1990
37 Pinocchio Dis. $483,955,900 $84,254,167 1940^
38 Cleopatra (1963) Fox $482,377,300 $57,777,778 1963
39 Beverly Hills Cop Par. $482,137,100 $234,760,478 1984
40 Goldfinger UA $476,034,000 $51,081,062 1964
41 Airport Uni. $474,679,000 $100,489,151 1970
42 American Graffiti Uni. $471,828,600 $115,000,000 1973
43 The Robe Fox $469,963,600 $36,000,000 1953
44 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest BV $464,031,700 $423,315,812 2006
45 Around the World in 80 Days UA $463,938,500 $42,000,000 1956
46 Bambi RKO $457,455,400 $102,247,150 1942^
47 Blazing Saddles WB $453,973,600 $119,500,000 1974
48 Batman WB $452,014,200 $251,188,924 1989
49 The Bells of St. Mary's RKO $450,509,800 $21,333,333 1945
50 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King NL $441,843,800 $377,027,325 2003
51 The Towering Inferno Fox $440,677,300 $116,000,000 1974
52 Spider-Man 2 Sony $431,939,800 $373,585,825 2004
53 My Fair Lady WB $430,800,000 $72,000,000 1964
54 The Greatest Show on Earth Par. $430,800,000 $36,000,000 1952
55 National Lampoon's Animal House Uni. $430,012,100 $141,600,000 1978^
56 The Passion of the Christ NM $428,680,800 $370,782,930 2004^
57 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith Fox $425,950,500 $380,270,577 2005
58 Back to the Future Uni. $423,983,700 $210,609,762 1985
59 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers NL $413,786,400 $341,786,758 2002^
60 The Sixth Sense BV $413,418,100 $293,506,292 1999
61 Superman WB $411,831,400 $134,218,018 1978
62 Tootsie Col. $408,570,300 $177,200,000 1982
63 Smokey and the Bandit Uni. $408,060,400 $126,737,428 1977
64 Finding Nemo BV $404,503,100 $339,714,978 2003
65 West Side Story MGM $401,866,600 $43,656,822 1961
66 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone WB $401,455,200 $317,575,550 2001
67 Lady and the Tramp Dis. $400,176,500 $93,602,326 1955^
68 Close Encounters of the Third Kind Col. $399,032,400 $132,088,635 1977^
69 Lawrence of Arabia Col. $397,653,900 $44,824,144 1962^
70 The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fox $395,398,500 $112,892,319 1975
71 Rocky UA $395,187,000 $117,235,147 1976
72 The Best Years of Our Lives RKO $394,900,000 $23,650,000 1946
73 The Poseidon Adventure Fox $394,196,100 $84,563,118 1972
74 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring NL $392,774,200 $314,776,170 2001^
75 Twister WB $392,660,800 $241,721,524 1996
76 Men in Black Sony $392,147,700 $250,690,539 1997
77 The Bridge on the River Kwai Col. $390,592,000 $27,200,000 1957
78 It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World MGM $386,825,500 $46,332,858 1963
79 Swiss Family Robinson Dis. $386,341,400 $40,356,000 1960
80 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest UA $385,460,900 $108,981,275 1975
81 M.A.S.H. Fox $385,452,600 $81,600,000 1970
82 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Par. $384,365,600 $179,870,271 1984
83 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones Fox $383,903,600 $310,676,740 2002^
84 Mrs. Doubtfire Fox $378,273,900 $219,195,243 1993
85 Aladdin BV $376,536,100 $217,350,219 1992
86 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen P/DW $373,530,000 $373,530,000 2009
87 Ghost Par. $369,520,300 $217,631,306 1990
88 Duel in the Sun Selz. $366,326,500 $20,408,163 1946
89 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl BV $363,659,100 $305,413,918 2003
90 House of Wax WB $362,819,100 $23,750,000 1953
91 Rear Window Par. $361,547,000 $36,764,313 1954^
92 The Lost World: Jurassic Park Uni. $358,353,400 $229,086,679 1997
93 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Par. $354,810,400 $197,171,806 1989
94 Spider-Man 3 Sony $351,204,600 $336,530,303 2007
95 Terminator 2: Judgment Day TriS $349,352,800 $204,843,345 1991
96 Sergeant York WB $345,524,500 $16,361,885 1941
97 How the Grinch Stole Christmas Uni. $345,407,000 $260,044,825 2000
98 Toy Story 2 BV $343,466,200 $245,852,179 1999^
99 Top Gun Par. $342,137,100 $176,786,701 1986
100 Shrek DW $339,546,800 $267,665,011 2001

 

[SirGoofy]

To call Harry Potter the Star Wars of our generation is pushing it just a bit. The Lord of the Rings movies each made more than any of the HP movies. If you ask 10 people if they've seen every Star Wars movie, I'd say 8 would say yes. If you ask 10 people if they've seen every HP movie, I'd say maybe 5 would say yes, and that might be a lot. The average gross of the HP movies is $268 million. The average gross of the Star Wars movies is $312 million, and 3 of those films were released before 1983. Adjusted for inflation, the HP movies average about $290 million. The Star Wars movies average about $683 million.

The Transformers movies have beat the bejeezus of the HP movies. Even that movie The Hangover has made the same as the average HP movie.

Don't get me wrong, the movies are big hits. But adjusted for inflation, just one of the HP even ranks in the top 100 all time (behind Back To The Future for what it's worth.)

The legacy with Potter will always be the books.

It is the Star Wars of this generation.

 

[brent2124]

To call Harry Potter the Star Wars of our generation is pushing it just a bit. The Lord of the Rings movies each made more than any of the HP movies. If you ask 10 people if they've seen every Star Wars movie, I'd say 8 would say yes. If you ask 10 people if they've seen every HP movie, I'd say maybe 5 would say yes, and that might be a lot. The average gross of the HP movies is $268 million. The average gross of the Star Wars movies is $312 million, and 3 of those films were released before 1983. Adjusted for inflation, the HP movies average about $290 million. The Star Wars movies average about $683 million.

The Transformers movies have beat the bejeezus of the HP movies. Even that movie The Hangover has made the same as the average HP movie.

Don't get me wrong, the movies are big hits. But adjusted for inflation, just one of the HP even ranks in the top 100 all time (behind Back To The Future for what it's worth.)

Agreed. I have seen all of the Star Wars movies and Im not a huge fan of the franchise. I will never see a single minute of the Harry Potter franchise.

 

[captainkidd]

The legacy with Potter will always be the books.

It is the Star Wars of this generation.

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. To try and say Harry Potter has had the same impact on pop culture as Star Wars is pretty silly to me.

 

[krankenstein]

Agreed. I have seen all of the Star Wars movies and Im not a huge fan of the franchise. I will never see a single minute of the Harry Potter franchise.

It is this kind of blind hate I do not get. I was one of the people who said HP was stupid and childish, but one day my college roommate talked me into watching a film. I was hooked. I have since read all the books multiple times and I watch the movies every so often.

I just think people should give something a chance before bashing it. :shrug:

 

[SirGoofy]

I will never see a single minute of the Harry Potter franchise.

WHy? And why not read the books?

 

[captainkidd]

I just think people should give something a chance before bashing it. :shrug:

I agree.

I had no interest when the first HP came out, but I promised my mother I'd tag along with her to see it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I literally fell asleep during the 2nd one, and lost all interest at that point.

 

[SirGoofy]

I agree.

I had no interest when the first HP came out, but I promised my mother I'd tag along with her to see it. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I literally fell asleep during the 2nd one, and lost all interest at that point.

The first two movies are the worst IMO.

 

[CaptainMichael]

Guess we'll have to agree to disagree. To try and say Harry Potter has had the same impact on pop culture as Star Wars is pretty silly to me.

You obviously are not very familiar with the HP phenomenon. Have you ever heard of any book (besides Potter) having midnight release parties that were anticipated for years? Potter revolutionized the term "fan" with internet, podcasts, fan fiction. It broke new ground in multiple aspects. Many that lawyers, etc were not ready to handle. Then there's wizard rock (which I don't necessarily care for but should be noted) and colleges with official Quidditch teams that compete nationally and worldwide. LSU was in the finals:king:

Sure, Star Wars and Potter are two different beasts (as far as the movies go), but is anything really bigger right now than Harry Potter and has been for the past 10+ years?

 

[Kamikaze]

WWoHP.

And would you not correct me if I called Walt Disney World Disneyland?

Thats not the same thing. Its more like calling just the Magic Kingdom 'Disney' or 'Disneyworld'.

 

[ChrisFL]

As a comparison, I am not a comic book fan, never read ANY of them, never watched any comic book cartoon shows...and I thought (and still think) that Spiderman at IOA is the best attraction on the planet.

The incredibly unique platform and quality of the attraction trumps the actual character in this case and I believe the same can be said for the Harry Potter attractions.

For a Disney comparison, how many people were fans of Mr. Toad OUTSIDE of the attraction? Anyone?

 

[EpcotServo]

Potter revolutionized the term "fan" with internet, podcasts, fan fiction.

Hyperbole. Geeks and Otaku had been doing that for years, just because little kids came and started beings fans of things en masse after the fact about a book series is not a "Revolution." It's like saying GuyxGuy fan fiction was Revolutionized by "Twilight"...
:lol:

I'm just glad I was the right age and got into much better things so when Harry Potter came out, I was the last kid to read it and only thought it was "meh."

EpcotServo: Always a mile away from the Pack...
:lookaroun :lol:

 

[brent2124]

It is this kind of blind hate I do not get. I was one of the people who said HP was stupid and childish, but one day my college roommate talked me into watching a film. I was hooked. I have since read all the books multiple times and I watch the movies every so often.

I just think people should give something a chance before bashing it. :shrug:

WHy? And why not read the books?

I was about 12 or 13 when the first book was released and became wildly popular. My science teacher at the time had a baby and we were stuck with a long term sub for 8 weeks. She was a horrible teacher who gave up on her real job and decided she was going to read to us everyday instead of doing anything else educational. She loved Harry Potter and decided that was what she was going to read. This lady was the worlds WORST reader. No emotion in her voice at all. It was read with no enthusism at all and bored the hell out of everyone. She killed Harry Potter for me. Now Im not a fan of SciFi type books or movies to begin with so I never was excited about it anyway. I gave it a chance and its not for me.

 

[SirGoofy]

I was about 12 or 13 when the first book was released and became wildly popular. My science teacher at the time had a baby and we were stuck with a long term sub for 8 weeks. She was a horrible teacher who gave up on her real job and decided she was going to read to us everyday instead of doing anything else educational. She loved Harry Potter and decided that was what she was going to read. This lady was the worlds WORST reader. No emotion in her voice at all. It was read with no enthusism at all and bored the hell out of everyone. She killed Harry Potter for me. Now Im not a fan of SciFi type books or movies to begin with so I never was excited about it anyway. I gave it a chance and its not for me.

It doesn't really sound like you gave it a chance, but okay.:shrug:

And Potter isn't SciFi, it's Fantasy.

 

[captainkidd]

Have you ever heard of any book (besides Potter) having midnight release parties that were anticipated for years?

Sure, Star Wars and Potter are two different beasts (as far as the movies go), but is anything really bigger right now than Harry Potter and has been for the past 10+ years?

Twilight is actually much bigger right now than HP. Since the 1st book's release, each one in the series has been in the top 10 best sellers. In fact, rarely has a week gone by in the past year where the top 4 best sellers weren't the Twilight books.

The anticipation of the new movie and the buzz is bigger than anything I've experienced in quite some time.

Admittantly, HP has been popular far longer, but you asked if anything was bigger right now. There's no question - Twilight is bigger right now.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

^^^ Twilight is bigger? Nope...This has all the signs of a passing fad. Thankfully.:snore:

Disney and Universal!

Neither can live while the other survives!!!








:lookaroun

Win.

 

[captainkidd]

^^^ Twilight is bigger? Nope...This has all the signs of a passing fad. Thankfully.:snore:

I agree 100% - It will pass. That wasn't the question. The question was, what is bigger now?

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

I agree 100% - It will pass. That wasn't the question. The question was, what is bigger now?

Potter. I don't see Twilightland, do you?

 

[captainkidd]

Potter. I don't see Twilightland, do you?

Yeah, and Disney keeps pushing Stitch. Would you call it more popular than The Litte Mermaid?

I'll say it again, since you didn't see my first two postings - I doubt it Twilight will have the long term popularity of HP, but that was not the question. The question was, what is more popular right now?

Go into any mall, walk around, and tell me what you see more of. Go into any bookstore and see what has more paraphanaleia or display stands. Right now, as of this moment, Twilight is far more popular than Harry Potter.

Litte bit of trivia - In the past 2 years, the Harry Potter books have sold a combined total of 1.7 million copies. In the same time frame, the Twilight books have sold 23 million copies. I'd say right now, Twilight has the edge.

 

[BrytEydBelle]

I'm psyched for Harry Potter...in my opinion, the best books written post 1800s (and I have a Bachelor's in English lit, so I have read a great deal of classic, timeless novels).

The sales comparisons to Twilight for the past two years are not really valid, since Harry Potter had insane midnight release parties with every new release so most of those who wanted one got them at that time, which was prior to two years ago. Twilight books have actually been released in that time, so the sales figures would naturally be higher. If you check back a year from now, I suspect Twilight's sales will be much lower since again, most of those who wanted the novels will already have purchased them (I say this as a passionate fan of the first three, owner of all four Twilight books).

I think that this "island" will definitely draw a lot of visitors. I haven't been to IAO since 2001 because I felt that there were not enough attractions at the time (I was there the weekend after the September 11th attacks when most sane people stayed home, so I rode everything 2-3 times. Fun, but not enough to go back for). I will be planning my next Orlando trip around Universal & Wet& Wild due mainly to Harry Potter. Can't wait to experience some of the things I've been reading about the past 9 years.