HARRY POTTER - ORDER OF THE PHOENIX RISING

ORDER OF THE PHOENIX RISING

Warner Bros.' marketing/publicity campaign for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was officially launched Monday with the release of a still photo showing Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, experiencing his first kiss with Cho Chang, played by Katie Leung. A trailer for the film, due to open on July 13, is set to appear in theaters showing Warner's Happy Feet next weekend, then go online on Monday.

The gap between the box-office totals for Sony/MGM's Casino Royale and Warner Bros.' Happy Feet narrowed Monday when Exhibitor Relations released the official count, but Happy Feet remained on top with $41.5 million, narrowly beating Casino with $40.8 million. The two films pushed Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, which had held the lead the previous two weeks, into second place with $14.6 million. Another new film, Universal's Let's Go to Prison, flopped with $2.2 million, winding up in tenth place.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Happy Feet, Warner Bros., $41,533,432, (New); 2. Casino Royale, Sony, $40,833,156, (New); 3. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, 20th Century Fox, $14,602,874, 3 Wks. ($90,757,366); 4. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, Disney, $8,302,661, 3 Wks. ($51,704,119); 5. Stranger Than Fiction, Sony, $6,605,197, 2 Wks. ($22,905,344); 6. Flushed Away, Paramount, $6,596,962, 3 Wks. ($48,588,533); 7. Saw III, Lionsgate, $2,916,062, 4 Wks. ($74,968,353); 8. Babel, Paramount, $2,904,642, 4 Wks. ($12,016,104); 9. The Departed, Warner Bros., $2,585,402, 7 Wks. ($113,841,430); 10. Let's Go to Prison, Universal, $2,220,050, (New).

21/11/2006