It was expected, only not so quickly. By the end of today Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will cross the milestone of $1 billion and join a group of only 8 films which have also done similar business, including the likes of Avatar, The Dark Knight and The Lord of the Rings The Return of the King. It will also be the first Harry Potter film to achieve this.
As of Thursday night, the worldwide total comes to $926 million, meaning that at the close of the weekend, Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be well past the $1 billion milestone. It will also be the fastest film to have done so, having only been released for two weeks. Avatar only hit the billion dollar mark after 4 weeks on release. Like that film, the increased ticket prices for 3D screenings will have helped an awful lot to push it to this milestone so quickly.
For me, it couldn’t have happened to a better film. With all the hard work and effort put in by a loyal cast and crew, Harry Potter fully deserves this. And over the summer, its numbers are only likely to climb higher and challenge Avatar‘s massive $2.8 billion worldwide gross.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter