Harry Potter's New Movie:The Half-Blood Prince Shows Its Magic Note At Box Office This Friday Collecting 520 crore Gross This Weekend....

`Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' has taken the biggest paid preview opening in India for 2009. Paid previews alone have garnered the film Rs 1.5 crore; 50% of that is said to have come from theatres in Mumbai alone. The film has released across 450 screens in India with 75 prints in English, 180 in Hindi, 40 in Telugu and 50 in Tamil. Trade buzz is also that the film has taken the highest opening-day collections in the history of cinema worldwide, grossing Rs 520 crore. 

"Harry has struck such a stupendous record in India because Warner Bros has versioned (the Hollywood term for dubbed) the content,'' said Mumbai Mantra media and promotions head Vikramjit Roy. Roy also pointed out that Harry Potter was an established equity by now and was in its 6th instalment; so the film had a faithful audience across age groups in India. "Both the book and the film are household names in urban areas,'' he added. 

Harry Potter's opening worldwide has beaten other Hollywood biggies like `Transformers', `X-Men Origins: Wolverrine' and `Terminator Salvation', said trade experts. But it's the paid-preview responses that have been big in India. "Being Harry Potter, we did expect it to open big. But the cent per cent opening even in Hindi-speaking centres like Lucknow, Latur, Aurangabad has come as a pleasant surprise. Advance booking for the weekend, too, is above expectations,'' said Prakhar Joshi, programming head of PVR Cinemas. "The outstanding opening in India has proved Potter's universal appeal,'' Warner Bros Pictures, India, deputy managing director Denzel Dias said.