By The Numbers: The Economic Power of the Harry Potter Film Franchise

With the Harry Potter film franchise close to an end, Warner Brothers is eager to find their next mutli-saga book-to-movie adaptation. Why? A quick glance at the economic power of the Harry Potter franchise tells the tale. (All numbers are based on gross box office receipts)

• The five Harry Potter films have grossed over $4.3 billion dollars world wide in gross box office receipts. This is more than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over 40 nations including:
  
• Harry Potter Franchise $4.3 Billion
• Niger $3.5 Billion
• Barbados $3.3 Billion
• Guinea $3.1 Billion
• Fiji $2.9 Billion
• Mongolia $2.8 Billion
• The first Potter film Sorcerer's Stone, which has the largest domestic box office revenue of the franchise at $317 million, is more revenue than every 2006 Fortune 500 company except for Exxon
  • 1.Exxon $339 Million
  • 2.Sorcerer's Stone $317 million
  • 3.Wal-Mart $315 million
  • 4.Royal Dutch $306 million
  • 5.BPO $267 million
• Order of the Phoenix so far has grossed $241 million in the U.S. If Order were a U.S CEO, he/she would be #4 of the current top earning U.S. CEOs
  • 1.Steve Jobs - Apple ($646 million)
  • 2.Ray Irani - Occidental Petroleum ($321 million)
  • 3.Barry Diller - IAC ($295 million)
  • 4.Order of the Phoenix - WB ($241 million)
  • 5.William Foley - Fidelity ($179 million)
• 2004's The Prisoner of Azkaban is the lowest grossing (not including Order...) Potter film with $790 million world-wide. This is still higher than the current value of every NBA team according to Forbes
  • 1.Prisoner of Azkaban $790 million
  • 2.N.Y. Knicks $592 million
  • 3.L.A. Lakers $568 million
  • 4.Dal. Mavericks $463 million
  • 5.Chic. Bulls $461 million