Over the past ten years, three adorable children had grown into handsome young men and youthful girls. The release of the final installment marked the end of a decade-long magical journey for Harry Potter fans around the globe. The premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was described by fans as a "heartbreak."
The finale was filled with emotional moments, and coupled with the sense of farewell, many viewers left the theater with tear-streaked faces and red eyes.
Moreover, the entire series took ten years to complete, accumulating countless fans and immense popularity. As the final chapter arrived, all that fervor erupted in full.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 became a record-breaking machine, successively smashing a series of North American box office records.
These records previously belonged to the super fan-driven film The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Despite widespread criticism of that movie, it did not hinder its ability to leverage fan power and erase a series of box office records previously created by Duke with The Dark Knight.
In this era, fan-driven films were increasingly impossible to ignore, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was no exception.
The previous record for midnight box office in North America was New Moon's $30 million, while Deathly Hallows Part 2 took in $43.5 million in midnight screenings, raising the record by a whopping $13.5 million!
The North American opening day box office record also belonged to New Moon, which grossed $72.7 million in 2009, surpassing The Dark Knight's previous record of $68.36 million and fully showcasing the power of fan films. But the Harry Potter series had more fans, and even crazier ones at that Deathly Hallows Part 2 easily topped it with $92.1 million.
The biggest problem with fan films is their lack of sustainability. The box office trend of New Moon was the best example of that. However, Deathly Hallows Part 2 had high enough quality. Its box office was far more stable than New Moon, though compared to The Dark Knight's steadily rising first-week trend, Deathly Hallows Part 2 still fell short in North America's opening weekend.
In just three days of its North American debut weekend, Deathly Hallows Part 2 raked in $169.15 million, achieving the second-highest opening weekend in history, only behind The Dark Knight.
That was enough to make Duke and Warner Bros. laugh all the way to the bank. The box office revenue was secondary; the real bulk of income came from merchandise. Since Deathly Hallows Part 2 began its large-scale promotions, all kinds of Harry Potter-related products had been flying off the shelves.
According to Warner Bros.' estimates, Harry Potter merchandise sales this year alone would not be less than $3 billion.
The ability of a series like Harry Potter to be filmed continuously for eight installments whether in terms of investment or influence is rare in global film history. As the final chapter, Deathly Hallows Part 2 was arguably the most beloved installment in the entire series, both in terms of storyline and visual effects. Overseas media unanimously praised it as "the best film of the year."
British media even reported that Warner Bros as the distributor of the Harry Potter series, would once again aim for the Oscars with Deathly Hallows Part 2, striving to push the series finale onto the Best Picture platform.
The previous seven Harry Potter films collectively received nine Oscar nominations, including Deathly Hallows – Part 1, which was nominated for Best Visual Effects and Best Art Direction at the last Oscars. But so far, the series had never won any awards.
Warner Bros had indeed submitted this film for various Oscar categories.
However, both they and Duke were well aware that while getting a Best Picture nomination wouldn't be hard after all, the category had expanded to nine films—actually winning the Best Picture Oscar was nearly impossible. Unless J.K. Rowling had an accident before the final Oscars vote, much like Tolkien had passed away, the chances were basically zero.
As Duke said, and as Hollywood had already proven, no one could ignore the impact and sympathy brought by death.
Warner Bros.' intentions were quite simple. As the new awards season approached, they wanted to ride the Oscar wave to further boost the film's box office and merchandise revenue.
Fan films and sequels were far more popular than other original film types. This was also a key reason why Hollywood favored adaptations and sequels and showed little interest in originals.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 further proved this rule. Taking advantage of being the final chapter in the series, it surpassed Duke's Inception which had been playing for over half a year globally in just 24 days after release. By mid-December, Deathly Hallows Part 2 had grossed over $1.133 billion worldwide, while Inception had stalled at $1.0766 billion, failing to reach the $1.1 billion threshold.
It would be very difficult for Inception to ultimately break $1.1 billion since it had already been pulled from North American theaters.
Inception's North American box office finally stopped at $368.97 million.
Originally, Warner Bros. had planned to keep the film in theaters until the final Oscar voting deadline, but Duke vetoed it. He believed Warner Bros. should focus their resources on the upcoming premiere of Gravity, which was the next project to be fully promoted.
These operations involved not just theatrical releases but also the Oscars.
Duke had a very clear goal for the Oscars just one, in fact: Best Actress.
To compete for the award, the first step was to complete post-production of the film. Before late December arrived, Duke basically finished the film and held a small internal screening within Warner Bros. What Duke hadn't expected was that James Cameron, after hearing about the screening, made a special trip to attend.
This wasn't hard to understand Duke had previously stood up for Avatar, promoting it vigorously during its release. James Cameron didn't want to owe him a favor.
Just as Duke had expected, two days after the screening, in an exclusive interview, James Cameron specifically mentioned Duke's new film.
James Cameron stated that during the 90 minutes of watching Gravity, his hand was constantly at his mouth, reminding himself not to forget to breathe.
He especially praised the film's 3D effects, wildly complimenting it as a breakthrough in film production technology. In terms of visual effects and 3D technology, he believed it had set a new benchmark. It perfectly combined CGI and live-action shooting, without a single flaw.
In this television interview, James Cameron even felt that his descriptions were far from enough. He repeatedly mentioned, "If you call this film a thrilling suspense movie, then you're underestimating it," "That alone isn't enough to explain how great this film is," "This movie is far more than just that"...
It's obvious that James Cameron wasn't just repaying a favor to Duke he was genuinely impressed by the film itself.
He even wrote a related post on his Instant Share account for this, which was instantly reposted by hundreds of thousands of fans, becoming one of the most talked-about pieces of online news before Christmas.
"I think Gravity is the best space film to date. I grew up watching space movies they were my passion. I was once a member of NASA's advisory board, and that lasted for three years. I've always longed to go into outer space. After watching Gravity, I felt like my wish had come true."
"The most successful part of Director Duke Rosenberg's work was his authentic portrayal of weightlessness. He takes you into space. You'll feel the vastness of space and see the beauty of Earth that sensation of floating weightlessly in space, the loneliness, the fear, the beauty it made me feel like I had already been to outer space. If you go see this movie, it's hard not to feel the same sense of reality I did."
"Another thing I really liked about this film is that it raised filmmaking technology to a new level. I know it's extremely difficult to film when actors are constantly moving, but they pulled it off and did it brilliantly. I know they used many robotic systems and the latest lighting equipment. These were all new attempts, and the results were excellent. This isn't like the old days where people were just hung from wires to simulate flight this film is far more realistic. You feel the weightlessness, and you see that the astronauts are physically trained. You can really empathize with that."
"Gravity broke new ground in visual effects and 3D technology. It perfectly blended CG and live-action without any flaws. If you call this film a thrilling suspense movie, then you're underestimating it. During the 90 minutes I was watching, my hand stayed at my mouth, and I had to remind myself to keep breathing. Even that doesn't do justice to how good this movie is."
"This is truly a powerful, deeply human, and profoundly moving film."
"Some people might say Duke Rosenberg made a space thriller, but this film is far more than that. It's a story about survival, about a woman facing herself and trying to find a way to live. Scarlett Johansson's performance is flawless. If I were you, I'd definitely go to the theater to see this movie. Don't miss it."
Although there was a sense that James Cameron was repaying a favor, his praise indeed helped the film. Duke even made a special phone call to thank him. With Cameron's personal consent, Warner Bros. would be using his statements in the film's actual marketing campaign.
Scarlett Johansson's performance in Gravity was undoubtedly outstanding, and James Cameron's praise was not exaggerated. Duke shared the same opinion, but if they wanted to get an Oscar nomination and earn a ticket to next year's award ceremony, relying solely on the role and performance wouldn't be nearly enough.
In addition to Scarlett Johansson frequently attending various events to increase her exposure, Duke, Panny Kallis, and Warner Bros. had long begun their work in advance.
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