Let me ask you something:
The Chamber of Secrets raked in 8 million pounds in just two days of previews. Terrifying, right?
Answer:
Utterly terrifying. This is "terror's mother opening the door for terror—terror to the max."
Why?
Simple—
Before The Chamber of Secrets, the U.K. record for a two-day preview belonged to The Philosopher's Stone at 6.7 million pounds.
That was just last year.
And now, only one year later, The Chamber of Secrets breaks the record—and pushes it up by 1.3 million?
What kind of ridiculous numbers are these?!
The British film industry hasn't exactly transformed over the past year.
On a small scale: no new theaters, no new screens, no ticket price hikes.
On a large scale: population stable, income mostly flat.
So under those conditions, The Chamber of Secrets breaks a record and raises the all-time high by 19.4%??
That kind of increase—
It's straight-up unscientific!
"Really?"
Isabella still couldn't believe her ears.
"It's true, really true."
Catherine nodded hard and handed over her phone.
"If you don't believe me, call and ask yourse—"
"Riiiing—"
Before she could finish, the Nokia started blaring. Both girls looked at the screen—Daniel's name flashing. No hesitation, Catherine picked up. Next second—
"Ohhhhh—Kesha! Is Isa there?!"
"Put her on! Put her on! The Chamber of Secrets broke another record! OUR Chamber broke another record!!"
"..."
To be honest, even Isabella hadn't expected The Chamber of Secrets to perform this well. In her memory, the only HP film to ever crack a billion was the eighth one—Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
When the entire series hadn't averaged even 1 billion globally, and The Philosopher's Stone hadn't even hit 800 million at premiere, how could The Chamber of Secrets' preview numbers blow past it like that?
It wasn't that she was obsessing for no reason—
In film, the higher the preview numbers, the stronger the total box office—unless the film's reputation collapses, which the HP series never did.
So…
How could The Chamber of Secrets flop after such a start?
At this rate, it should be the first HP film to break a billion!
Isabella was baffled.
But with congratulatory calls pouring in, she didn't have time to ponder economic anomalies. Joy was joy—who refuses success? And besides, she didn't even know the real historical preview figures for The Chamber of Secrets.
So if this run was "unnatural"… well—
That just meant she was awesome.
Because she was the biggest change in the HP universe.
After a while on the phone with friends, their complaints only made her grin wider—
"Daniel, what? You're going abroad for promo?"
"Yeah, Warner's sending me to the U.S.—New York, L.A.—and then in December, to Europe: France, Germany, and finally before Christmas, Asia—China. Warner's investing there, maybe opening theaters, so they want me for the local premiere—"
"Oh, congratulations then! You're about to live the flower-crowned celebrity dream for a whole month."
"I… thanks…"
"Come on, we're friends, no need for thanks~"
"..."
"Rupert, what about you? You're going abroad too?"
"Yeah. Warner's sending me and Daniel to New York, L.A., then I'm off to Australia, Japan, Singapore… I'll barely make it back by Christmas—"
"Ohhh~~ that sounds fun~~ jealous you get to greet fans all around the world~~"
"You… sigh… Isa, can you be honest? Are you really jealous?"
"Hahahaha~~~"
Isabella answered with a wild laugh.
Of course she wasn't jealous.
Who in their right mind enjoys jet-lag and airports?
She was busy enough with The Voice.
Warner had scheduled its release a month later in December, deliberately avoiding The Chamber of Secrets' opening month—because competing with yourself isn't "strategic synergy," it's just brain damage.
So yeah, her real chaos would start next month.
A fifty-step-laughing-at-a-hundred-step kind of situation.
Still, a few days off wasn't bad. Not that she was lazy or anything… okay fine, she was lazy. Her lifelong dream was basically horizontal existence anyway.
Even if she wasn't globe-trotting with Daniel and Rupert, she was emotionally in sync with her crew.
While everyone else ran around, Isabella stayed cozy in her Leavesden dorm, had her mom brew a pot of tea, and leisurely scrolled through The Chamber of Secrets' post-preview feedback online.
Yahoo reviews were glowing:
"The Chamber of Secrets once again pulls me into a vivid magical world! Absolutely amazing!"
"Harry's duel with the basilisk was phenomenal! When he raised that sword—pure hero moment!"
"Isabella's performance blew me away! She didn't have much screen time, but that decisive spell-clearing and her attitude toward Malfoy were so badass!"
"I don't think Rowling even understands HP! Maybe Isabella's the Hermione she wanted to write!"
"Awwww I love Catgirl Hermione! Warner, when's the figurine coming out?!"
"Tom Felton is Malfoy. Every time I see him I want to punch him!"
Of course, there were bad ones too:
"I'm disappointed. Too many key details from the book were cut."
"You can tell the director wanted intensity, but Harry's acting wasn't up to it. He tried to look strong, but compared to Hermione's quick action, he fell short."
"A short novel turned into a long movie—so slow it made me sick!"
A thousand viewers, a thousand Harry Potters.
Mixed reviews are normal. Even the IRS can't make everyone agree—how's a movie supposed to?
When she summarized the comments, she found that over 80% were positive.
That alone proved The Chamber of Secrets had excellent word-of-mouth.
And with the official premiere—
The film delivered.
Excluding previews, it earned 10.9 million pounds in its opening U.K. weekend.
Including previews, The Chamber of Secrets made 18.9 million pounds total—around $29.8 million.
Number one in history.
In North America, the three-day weekend brought $88.4 million.
Yes, that's below Spider-Man earlier this year and slightly under The Philosopher's Stone's $90.3 million, but still—third highest opening weekend in U.S. history.
That's huge.
Only legendary IPs can treat history's "all-time charts" like a seasonal scoreboard.
In fact, Chamber's first week outperformed Philosopher's Stone.
$120 million combined for U.K. and U.S., compared to Stone's $113 million.
A $7 million gap sounds small, but $120 million ranks second in all of history.
And number one?
Ahem—
Spider-Man.
Seriously, that $114 million North American debut was insane.
If it had done that in Britain, it would've been #1 of all time there too. Ridiculous.
Still, whether Chamber was #3 in the U.S., #2 worldwide, or #1 in the U.K., none of that was what Warner really cared about.
They wanted the global crown of 2002.
"Even though Chamber didn't beat Spider-Man, winning the yearly box office title shouldn't be hard," said one exec. "Spider-Man's run is over at $821 million. Chamber just needs to perform normally—it'll pass that easily."
After all, Philosopher's Stone was last year's #1 worldwide, with $974 million.
Warner held an urgent meeting.
With that opening, they saw no way the film wouldn't hit $900 million—maybe even a billion.
And if Chamber could break $900 million, 2002's global box office crown would belong to Warner.
It wasn't arrogance. The competition just wasn't strong.
Spider-Man was a powerhouse, but regionally.
$400 million domestic, $821 million global—proof that the world didn't love it as much as Americans did.
Beyond that, there were only two other real contenders: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
The former—SW—had once been unbeatable. Every release took a yearly crown. The Imperial March played, everyone else just died.
But this time, the myth cracked.
Attack of the Clones' plot was weak, action dull, and its release timing disastrous.
Right before it came Spider-Man; right after, Minority Report.
SW might be a titan, but theater slots are finite. Compete with two hits, and even the Force runs thin.
In the end, Clones finished with only $653 million.
No threat to Chamber.
As for Lord of the Rings…
"It shouldn't affect us much either," said Nathan Bailey. "Fellowship made $883 million last year, impressive—but still $90 million behind Philosopher's Stone. At this scale, that gap's massive."
Nathan Bailey, by the way, had been promoted—now Warner's VP of Operations.
Sure, he hadn't quite achieved Barry Meyer's mission, but loyalty counts. Since he'd taken charge at Leavesden, the outside world hadn't managed to reach Isabella once.
That kind of devotion gets noticed.
And now he was leading the data analysis team.
"So we've got the global crown locked, then?" Barry Meyer smiled, pleased.
"If nothing unexpected happens," Nathan said.
"Unexpected?" Barry's brows drew tight. His tone sharpened.
Tension filled the room.
Nathan smiled, flashing his teeth. "Unexpected as in… New Line buying their own box office. Ted Turner dropping a hundred million of his own money."
"Besides that, I can't imagine Chamber losing."
"None of its competitors are strong enough to pose a threat."
After Star Wars got "sandwiched" by Spider-Man and Minority Report, Warner had meticulously guarded Chamber's release window.
And their research showed: no real challengers nearby.
In Hollywood, "same window" means any film released within two weeks before or after yours. That's your battlefield—since a film's money-making window is about a month.
At that time, Chamber's opponents were The Santa Clause 2 and 8 Mile.
The former, a sequel to the 1994 holiday hit, crashed hard—barely making $30 million opening weekend, then nosediving.
No threat to Chamber's screenings.
The latter—Eminem's 8 Mile.
A gritty biopic about a white kid breaking into Detroit's Black rap scene.
For an R-rated film, $55 million opening weekend was massive.
Even crushed under Chamber's weight the next week, it still pulled another $21 million.
Uh… to put it bluntly,
the reason Chamber of Secrets didn't break any records was because of 8 Mile.
When Eminem's got millions of die-hard fans all paying to see their idol, Chamber inevitably takes a hit in screen share.
But that doesn't really matter—last year Philosopher's Stone was up against Monsters, Inc., remember?
And Monsters, Inc. was a way bigger deal than 8 Mile!
So after that, Chamber of Secrets was confident it could kick 8 Mile right off the board.
Over the next two weeks after Chamber's release, the global market was also going to see Disney's Treasure Planet…
That one wasn't a threat, because Barry Meyer had already called Robert Iger, who straight-up said the movie was "a steaming pile of crap" and wouldn't succeed.
Since Iger needed Jobs' backing, Meyer believed him.
Then Chamber would go up against James Cameron's Solaris…
Cameron's name carried weight, sure—but the star was George Clooney, who couldn't sell tickets to save his life. In Hollywood he was considered a certified box office poison. His fame came from political posturing, not talent.
So once Clooney was announced as the lead, Solaris was officially non-threatening.
Beyond that, Chamber also had to deal with Die Another Day, the new Bond film.
"Are you sure 007 won't affect us, Nathan?"
Barry Meyer's tone turned serious.
Right now, Warner couldn't afford to lose.
They were the box office champion last year; they had to stay that way this year.
And if they couldn't… well, then they'd have to "adjust" a few numbers, because there was no way in hell The Lord of the Rings was getting that title.
"I'm sure," Nathan Bailey said.
Even though Meyer basically controlled his fate, Nathan sounded confident. His spirit had been "refined" during his exile earlier that year.
Translation: he'd already been through hell dealing with Spielberg and J.K. Rowling over contract renewals. Nothing could be worse than that.
He'd already played in god-tier matches!
He'd already peered into heaven!
What was there left to fear?
"Boss, our operations department looked into it. The 007 franchise won't be a problem."
"For example, in North America—"
"The last one, The World Is Not Enough, came out in '99 and only made $35 million opening weekend."
"The one before that, Tomorrow Never Dies ('97), made just $25 million."
"With those kinds of numbers, I'm confident Chamber of Secrets can crush it."
"Remember, last year Philosopher's Stone made $96 million in its second weekend alone."
"That's 3.84 times Tomorrow Never Dies and 2.74 times The World Is Not Enough."
"So even if 007 eats into our audience, it won't hit as hard as Monsters, Inc. did."
"And get this—the North American theater alliance is only giving 007 3,314 theaters. The max is 3,682. With that shortfall, we'll still take #1."
"As for the rest of the world…"
"007 isn't even as big as Spider-Man overseas. It's no threat at all."
Nathan's confident, data-driven spiel made Meyer grin.
"Okay, good."
He nodded approvingly. "With someone as thorough as you in operations, I can relax. Keep a close eye on Chamber—especially the North American market. It's still our biggest gold mine. And after Chamber takes the yearly crown, I'm expecting big things from The Voice's box office too."
"Yes, boss, I'll keep monitoring the market closely!"
Nathan was elated.
The boss thought he was doing great?
That was basically code for "you're underpromoted."
And if the boss gave him more responsibility?
That clearly meant a promotion was within reach.
He was already VP of Operations—next stop, maybe the boss's own secretary?
That'd put him one step below the throne!
And who knows—play it right, maybe COO next?
As Nathan daydreamed about replacing Barry Meyer one day, the North American theater alliance began releasing box office data…
Nov 18: Day 4 of Chamber — $5.32M
Nov 19: Day 5 — $4.74M
Nov 20: Day 6 — $4.03M
That day, Chamber officially crossed $100M in North America.
Sure, the drops looked steep, but these were weekdays—Monday through Wednesday—and Chamber was still #1 every day.
Holding that top spot meant the numbers were solid.
Then came…
Nov 21 (Thu): Day 7 — $3.67M, still #1
Nov 22 (Fri): Day 8 — the weekend boost hit: $11M.
A nearly 200% jump. Beautiful.
In Hollywood, anything over 100% for a second-weekend Friday rebound was excellent.
Philosopher's Stone had only managed 87%.
So with double the industry average rebound, the market's excitement for Chamber was palpable. It looked like a lock for a $1B global gross.
And if it crossed $1B, that meant second place worldwide—easy.
Not even The Lord of the Rings could touch that.
Even James Cameron, king of Titanic, couldn't repeat that feat.
What, his next movie would break $1B too?
What is he, Jesus?
Touch the camera and the faithful flock to the theaters?
Hmph.
But just as Nathan was about to toss the reports aside and enjoy his weekend…
Wait.
What the hell?
Chamber of Secrets… second place?!
The numbers from the theater alliance made him shoot up in disbelief.
How could this be?
After a week of domination, Chamber was still on top everywhere. It had the widest distribution in the country. Losing was statistically impossible!
Yet there it was—#2.
What the hell happened?
When he logged in to the theater alliance backend—the one only the Big Six could access—his pupils shrank at the sight:
#1: Die Another Day — $16.61M
007 had surged past them?!
The 007 franchise that historically never even came close to Harry Potter?!
Oh. My. God.
What the hell was going on?!
Notes:
① The Sum of All Fears was part of Tom Clancy's military series, starring Ben Affleck and Morgan Freeman. It cost $68M and made $193M—not spectacular, but Clancy adaptations (The Hunt for Red October, Crimson Tide, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger) always had a solid U.S. audience. Ubisoft even made Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell from his work. With those adaptations getting guaranteed showings in U.S. theaters, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones had its screens squeezed, contributing to its box office flop.
② Clooney is widely regarded as box office poison. He's less an actor than a political lobbyist who uses films to promote his stances and curry favor with the Democratic establishment. His projects almost always lose money. The Ocean's series is the clearest example: put Pitt, Roberts, and Damon—three A-list draws—together, and the box office still went down once Clooney became the face of it. Ridiculous.