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Our friends at Warner Brothers sent us over a little note today, bringing to our attention the fact that the Harry Potter franchise, the eventual seven film behemoth, has become the most successful film franchise of all time. The combined world box office gross for the five Potter films has exceeded $4.47 billion, surpassing the totals of all 22 James Bond films and all six of the films in the Star Wars franchise. In addition to the combined record, the WB press release also calls out the fact that all five of the Harry Potter films are among the top 20 highest grossing films of all time. Not bad, for a weaselly little Brit.

This of course, is nothing compared to the honor that the studio, filmmakers and cast felt when we named Harry Potter as #3 on our Top Ten Most Powerful Movie Franchises of All Time list back in May, right behind Star Wars and Mr. Bond. I would stand firm on that assessment, even now, saying that both James Bond and Star Wars have stood the test of time. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was released in 1997, 20 years after Star Wars: A New Hope started a geek revolution. But then again, I’m just a “muggle”, right? I wouldn’t understand.

On the Side: The sixth film in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will begin filming this month and is scheduled for release on November 21, 2008.