MUMBAI: With the excellent opening garnered by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Warner Bros Pictures International (WBPI) has claimed to have passed the $1 billion at the box-office in record time.
WBPI announced its international box-office receipts of more than $1.2 billion last month, making it the first among the Hollywood studios to reach the mark so early in the year. This achievement also marks the seventh time it has achieved the milestone.
However the WBPI claim has been disputed by Fox International, which is said to have passed $1 billion in the first week of April 1998, the year it distributed Titanic.
With Catwoman, The Polar Express and Ocean‘s 12 among the forthcoming films to follow this year from WBPI, the studio could cross the $2 billion for the first time in history.
This is the fourth consecutive year WBPI has passed the $1 billion mark since it has been jointly headed up by distribution president Veronika Kwan-Rubinek and marketing president Sue Kroll.
The last time when WBPI grossed $ 1 billion was in 2004.
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