That Wizard Movie...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just opened to the biggest midnight screenings ever ($22 million) and the biggest five-day worldwide opening ever ($396.7 million). It's domestic Wed-Sun take of $159 million isn't a record-breaker (Transformers 2 just did $200 million and The Dark Knight did $205) but it is still running ahead of Order of the Phoenix's opening. The Potter series has gotten remarkably consistent; Half-Blood Prince will end up making $290-300 million in the U.S., pretty much exactly what Phoenix and Goblet of Fire did.

But more importantly to an awards site: what are the reviews like?

On Rotten Tomatoes, it's at a remarkable 84% positive (and 86% if you're only counting the Top Critics). That's better than Phoenix (77%) but slightly under Goblet (88%) and Prisoner of Azkaban (89%).

So what are we looking at? Most likely, a wash. You can talk about Jim Broadbent's terrific performance as Professor Slughorn, but a Best Supporting Actor nomination will be out of the question by the time the category fills up. Besides, the votes would get split between Broadbent, Michael Gambon (Dumbledore), and Alan Rickman (Snape). (And heck, I think Tom Felton (Malfoy) was the real standout of the movie.)

Here are the Oscar nominations that past Potter films have gotten:

Order of the Phoenix: shut out.
Goblet of Fire: Art Direction.
Prisoner of Azkaban: Score, Visual Effects.
Chamber of Secrets: shut out.
Sorcerer's Stone: Score, Costume Design, Art Direction.

As I look back on Half-Blood Prince, what really stands out is its art direction: dark, gloomy, and a big stylistic step up from David Yates's efforts in Order of the Phoenix. Visual Effects maybe, but right now I say Art Direction is the one nomination it gets.

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