“Harry Potter” may collect as much as $400M in U.S. ticket sales, positioning Warner Bros. to take 2011 box office crown -

“Harry Potter” may collect as much as $400M in U.S. ticket sales, positioning Warner Bros. to take 2011 box office crown - 

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” may collect as much as $400 million in U.S. ticket sales, positioning Warner Bros. to come from behind and take the 2011 box office crown from current leaderParamount Pictures.

With a record $169.2 million sales in the U.S. and Canada last weekend, the eighth and final movie based on J.K. Rowling’s books may help Time Warner Inc. (TWX)’s film studio retain the annual top spot for a fifth straight year.

“We’re going to overtake them,” Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution for Burbank, California-based Warner Bros., said in an interview. “We’re going to give them a run for the money.”

Warner Bros., second in 2011 ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada behind Viacom Inc.’s Paramount, has 10 more releases this year, according to Box Office Mojo. Those include ‘Happy Feet 2,” a 3-D sequel to a 2006 animated film that grossed $384.3 million globally, and a “Sherlock Holmes” sequel with Robert Downey Jr. Paramount has eight, including “Captain America,” “Mission: Impossible” and Steven Spielberg’s “Tintin”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-20/-potter-box-office-magic-gives-warner-shot-to-retain-crown-for-fifth-year.html

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