Movie Magic: The Multi-Billion-Dollar Box Office Success of Harry Potter

Whether you're a magician, a Muggle, or more of a Lord of the Rings fan, you can't deny the indelible cultural impact Harry Potter has had on the literary and movie industries in the last decade.

Eight blockbuster movies, seven bestselling books, one theme park, and hundreds of millions of dollars in J.K. Rowling's bank account later, the beginning of the end starts tonight with the release of the final piece in the Harry Potter saga, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2."

In honor of the final film, I wanted to look back to the beginning and do a quick retroactive piece on the success and impact of each of the past seven movies.

Here is the history of the films of The Boy Who Lived and Made Billions of Dollars:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Released: November 16, 2001
Duration: 152 min
Rating: PG
Director: Chris Columbus
Production Budget: $125,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $317,575,550
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $974,775,550
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
Metacritic Score: 64/100
IMDB Score: 7.2/10
Academy Award Nominations: Art Direction; Costume Design; Original Score

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Released: Novemeber 15, 2002
Duration: 161 min
Rating: PG
Director: Chris Columbus
Production Budget: $100,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $261,988,482
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $878,643,482
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Metacritic Score: 63/100
IMDB Score: 7.1/10
Academy Award Nominations: n/a

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Released: June 4, 2004
Duration: 141 min
Rating: PG
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Production Budget: $130,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $249,541,069
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $795,634,069
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Metacritic Score: 82/100
IMDB Score: 7.7/10
Academy Award Nominations: Original Score; Visual Effects

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Released: November 18, 2005
Duration: 157 min
Rating: PG-13
Director: Mike Newell
Production Budget: $150,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $290,013,036
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $895,921,036
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
Metacritic Score: 81/100
IMDB Score: 7.5/10
Academy Award Nominations: Art Direction

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Released: July 11, 2007
Duration: 138 min
Rating: PG-13
Director: David Yates
Production Budget: $150,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $292,004,738
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $938,212,738
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 78%
Metacritic Score: 71/100
IMDB Score: 7.3/10
Academy Award Nominations: n/a

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Released: July 15, 2009
Duration: 153 min
Rating: PG
Director: David Yates
Production Budget: $250,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $301,959,197
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $933,959,197
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Metacritic Score: 78/100
IMDB Score: 7.3/10
Academy Award Nominations: Cinematography

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

Released: November 19, 2010
Duration: 146 min
Rating: PG-13
Director: David Yates
Production Budget: $125,000,000
U.S. Theatrical Gross: $295,001,070
Worldwide Theatrical Gross (including U.S.): $955,001,070
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%
Metacritic Score: 65/100
IMDB Score: 7.7/10
Academy Award Nominations: Art Direction, Visual Effects

Each movie made (nearly) $1 billion worldwide, and that's not counting DVD sales. Harry Potter really is a worldwide phenomenon, a series so popular it rivals Star Wars in terms of discussing the most financially successful film franchises of all time (another article for another time).

For you box office nerds, here are a few additonal tidbits about the franchise's success:

Harry Potter's Soaring Box Office Success

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the ninth highest grossing film of all time worldwide.
The franchise - to date - contains seven of the top 30 grossing films of all time worldwide (and five of the top 20).
The total combined worldwide gross of the franchise to date is $6,372,147,142, or one dollar per resident of earth.

The final film opens tonight at midnight with sold-out screenings across the country. It already has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and seems primed to end the series on a resounding high note.

One final bit of Harry Potter trivia: The total running time of all the films (including Deathly Hallows: Part 2) is 1,178 minutes, or nearly 20 hours worth of movie-watching magic. Have fun, Muggles.

Data gathered from: