While we wait for the full opening day box office for Harry Potter 6, here is a list of the few modern-day franchises that made it to a part VI, and what their respective sixth chapters grossed domestically. Needless to say, with the exception of whichever Star Wars film counts as part 6 for you (Return of the Jedi or Revenge of the Sith), Harry Potter VI will be the highest grossing 6th chapter in two days. Oh, and reboots don't count, so Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are NOT the fifth and sixth Batman pictures, but the first two of a new Batman franchise. To wit -Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith - $380.2 million ($425.9 million adjusted for inflation)
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - $309.3 million ($581.4 million adjusted for inflation)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - $74.8 million ($128.4 million adjusted for inflation)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare - $34.8 million ($59.4 million adjusted for inflation)
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives - $19.4 million ($37.6 million adjusted for inflation)
Halloween VI: The Curse of Michael Myers - $15.1 million ($24.9 million adjusted for inflation)
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - $22.7 million ($115.1 million adjusted for inflation)
Police Academy VI: City Under Siege - $11.5 million ($20.9 million adjusted for inflation)
Not counting the Star Wars pictures (since those could be considered finales of two separate trilogies), the TOTAL domestic gross for those other part 6 pictures is about $178 million, a number that Harry Potter 6 will likely surpass by Sunday. Heck, the adjusted for inflation total of the non-Star Wars entries is just $386 million, which is a possible if not particularly probable domestic total for the new HP picture. So while Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will soon be king of the part 6 kingdom, it won't be a very high mountain to climb. Obviously, if I forgot any modern-day part 6 movies, let me know. For the record, I don't particularly think that the upcoming Saw VI is much of a threat to 'the boy who lived', but stranger things have happened.
Scott Mendelson