Comparing book sales, the Potterverse is way out ahead, with a total of over 53 million books sold since 2001 — and Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban,and Goblet of Fire all came out before then, so the actual number is even higher. The Twilight franchise has sold around 25 million, but it has three fewer books and fewer years on the shelf. Since 2008, though, Twilight totally wins: 1,767,272 HP books have been sold, while 22,975,112 Twilight ones have.
At the box office, Harry Potter's cuisine reigns supreme; even though Twilight brought in $36 million its opening day, that doesn't beat Sorcerer's Stone or Chamber of Secrets when their results are adjusted for inflation. Still, it's not as if a $191.4 million haul is anything to scoff at. Chin up, Twihards!
In the end, both franchises are mega-ultra-super-beloved, right? Doesn't that mean we're all winners, PopWatchers? Or can there be only one?
Read more:
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Lisa Schwarzbaum's review of 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'
Harry Potter makes EW's list of the 20 All-Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture
EW's 'Harry Potter' Trivia Challenge
EW University: Online 'Harry Potter' course
'Twilight' exclusive: Graphic novel version on the way!
EW's 'Twilight' HQ
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It’s disgusting you’d even pose such a question. Meyers and co. are doing everything they can to cash in on the books before all their readers outgrow them while Potter is still going strong more than a decade later.
They’re obviously both incredibly popular.
However, it seems to me like “Potter” is unbelievably popular across all demographics (young/old, male/female, multi-culti), while “Twilight” is mostly (how do I say this without getting yelled at?) for girls. (And the women who don’t think of themselves as “girls”.)
Are you guys looking for a flame war because that is EXACTLY is what will happen in the comment section of this post.
I’m a fan of them both, but Harry Potter is still the thing to beat. It’s unfair to look at their numbers since 2008, since that’s when Twilight is/was peaking and Deathly Hallows had been out for a year. I think you have to just compare their numbers adjusted for the number of books or whatever.
The newest Harry Potter film raked in $22 million **from midnight sales alone.** That’ a good OPENING WEEKEND, let alone sales from one set of showings. Add that to $4.5 billion (and fast climbing) in movie tickets and some 400 million copies of the books in dozens of languages. Throw in fandom things like butterbeer recipes, Potter pals, fan fiction, clothing, the musical, etc.
All due respect to Twilight, there’s no comparison. None.
Obviously, based on book sales, Harry Potter has sold more books.
Also, as a film franchise, HP has had 6 big-budget films. It has had time to sufficiently grow into a great film series.
As a film series, Twilight is just starting out. The first film sucked for several reasons (bad score, bad special effects, terrible editing, the awful blue tint, ridiculous dialogue, and Catherine’s desire to turn it into a quirky/eerie action film instead of a classic love story). That being said, 6 months before its release nobody knew what Twilight was. It went from being NOWHERE, to being EVERYWHERE. Also, the DVD sales show that the DVD sold like the DVD of a film that made 260 mill domestically at the box office. HP and the POA made 240 mill. It’s clear that the Twilight fandom is growing exponentially and continuously. The release of the first TEASER trailer was RECORD-BREAKING in terms of how many views it received.
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Is this even a question?? HP wins hands down!
The first Twilight movie was absolutely horrendous. If you’re over the age of 16 and you enjoyed that movie then you probably need a life counselor.
Obviously, right now, Harry Potter is the more successful film series.
But, it’s clear to me that New Moon has the potential to do EXTREMELY well at the box office, based on its ever-growing fanbase.
Also, one should keep in mind that overall book sales don’t necessarily predict box office gross. If that were the case, Passion of the Christ (based on the bible-the best selling book ever) would have been more successful than the Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King, which obviously wasn’t the case. It doesn’t always matter which series/book sold more copies “total”. Often what matters is what’s selling right now.
My point is: HP is obviously extremely successful.
The Twilight film franchise is nowhere near that yet, and it may never be, but I think it has the potential to do very well. I wouldn’t underestimate the franchise or its fans.
Time will crown HP as the winner. HP has proven lasting appeal not to much a much wider fan base. Twilight is more of a tween fad that will die away when its fan reach their 20’s. People like myslef have grown up with HP and I will most likely keep these books forever, I cant say the same for Twilight or its fans.
I agree with Kirsten. Twilight (the film series) has just begun, who knows how well it could do? Based on its fans, I think it could do extremely well.
Also, a common misconception is that most Twilight fans are “tweens”, just like a common misconception about HP (when the first film came out) was that most of its fans were kids. Both series actually have a LOT of adult fans (although I’ll definitely agree that most Twilight fans are women).
I agree with Kirsten. Twilight (the film series) has just begun, who knows how well it could do? Based on its fans, I think it could do extremely well.
Also, a common misconception is that most Twilight fans are “tweens”, just like a common misconception about HP (when the first film came out) was that most of its fans were kids. Both series actually have a LOT of adult fans (although I’ll definitely agree that most Twilight fans are women).
How convenient for the article to mainly point out post-2008 book sales. Well duh Potter sales have gone down since then, seeing as the last book came out in ‘07.
I don’t think anyone denies that Twilight is popular. But it seems like the kind of popularity that will burn hard for a few years and then flicker out. Potter is going on TEN YEARS, and will be about 14-15 years strong when DH2 comes out. If anyone still cares about Twilight in 2015, I’ll be impressed.
And whining about how Twilight “was just starting out” as an excuse for a weak first film is hilarious. Potter films were “just starting out” when Sorcerer’s Stone came out, and yet it still made $317 million in the U.S. alone. Twilight made $30-odd million its opening day. Prince just tallied more than $20 million from midnight alone.
Can this debate finally be over, please? PLEASE?
Harry Potter is a series with broad appeal – not that everyone likes it, but it’s popular with kids, teens, adults, boys and girls. It’s also, you know, really good, with a universal story of good triumphing over evil. Twilight appeals almost exclusively to a small number of girls and women, and is really just cheesy romance dressed up in fantasy stuff. Is that enough to make it successful? Yes, but not enough to maintain popularity in the long run.
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I don’t think that anyone is using the fact that it “just started out” as an excuse. In my opinion, the first film sucked. I hope that the next one will be better. And I agree with others that this fanbase is CLEARLY growing. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
There’s no doubt that Harry Potter has done INSANELY well, so even if Twilight ends up doing extremely well, it’s not like that takes anything away from Harry Potter.
The HP fanbase has been established for a LONG time. It was already established long before the release of the first film. However, with Twilight, during the release of the first film, the fanbase was still growing…and its still growing now. That’s why the DVD sales indicated a larger box office gross than what actually occurred. The fanbase is rapidly growing.
I think this was a bad time for this article to be written. Today is opening day for HP. HP fans will not want to read this today, LOL. Bad timing, EW.
Harry Potter has definitely done very well at the box office. But, I agree with people who have said, who knows what will happen with New Moon? I’m not a Twilight fan, but like a few others have said, it’s clear to me that the fanbase for Twilight is growing a lot.
Is anyone even going to argue against Harry Potter? By pretty much every measure, Harry Potter is superior (average sales of books and films, QUALITY, pop cultural significance, etc.). We’ll see how New Moon does when it opens, but seeing as how Prince just knocked down The Dark Knight’s midnight release record (where’s that front-page story, EW?), I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I think it’s a question of “popularity” vs. “significance.” If you ask which is more popular right now, I’d say “Twilight,” just because it’s got more of the momentum and “Harry Potter” has become something of an institution. Which will last longer has pretty much already been answered by “Harry Potter” still selling out midnight shows 12 years after the first book was published.
Globally, I would say Harry Potter.
http://tvdonewright.com/
EW just wants to start a fight. Its not a fair fight though since Potter is like massive behemoth of a franchise and twilight is a piece of s***… you cant really compare greatness with s*** can you??? enough said.
I think Jess said it perfectly. Twilight is “popular” at the moment and enjoying its honeymoon fad phase. Will it last? Who knows. I do know that several years ago Harry Potter had a similar honeymoon phase, which matured into what is, as Jess said, an INSTITUTION. It’s as culturally ubiquitous as Star Wars, Stephen King, Friends, etc. It’s not flaring hot like Twilight (and remember that all flares burn out), but it’s still a constant, comforting entity. And I know I went to a theater today that was absolutely packed with people of all ages, races, both genders, etc. Something tells me a Twilight film audience would be slightly more homogeneous.
Personally, I feel Offended that these two series keep being compared.
I feel like fans from BOTH SIDES should be angry at the media for always comparing and stirring up drama for no reason.
The Media WANTS there to be a feud between Harry Potter vs Twilight, which is stupid.
Personally, I think that instead of focusing on which is better, we should be focusing on how well BOTH ARE DOING!
Harry Potter just beat The Dark Knight’s record for Midnight Release .
Harry potter 6 is now the HIGHEST grossing film for the midnight release.
Twilight, although I don’t like it, has been doing pretty good itself.
I’m so sick of the media for asking this.
Which is more popular? Personally, Harry Potter. Because even NOW, 12 years later, its STILL breaking records and consistently doing GREAT!
Not to mention that HP’s demographic is people of all ages, both men and woman.
Twilight, well, let’s face it, its mostly females.
I saw HBP last night and when new Moon trailer played….
People started…
I went to the midnite showing and I was very happy to NOT see someone wearing a Twilight shirt
HP in every way. So many previous comments put it better than I could so I’ll leave it at that. I’m just posting really with some fact checking. John Williams only did the score for the first 3 HP films. GoF was scored by Patrick Doyle, and both OoTP and now HBP were scored by Nicholas Hooper.
ooh Jane people started what????
This is going to get ugly…
Wait, is the question what is more popular in the real world? Or in EW’s insane, cougar-baiting fantasy land where every other post is about Twilight?
hey Cindy I heard John williams is gonna score Deathly Hollows…
I think the Twilight popularity logic is circular. Why is it popular? Because the media keeps shoving it down our throats. Why does the media keep shoving it down our throats? Because it’s popular. See what I did there?
I don’t buy that there are more Twilight fans, even now. I just think that the ones there are, are just outspoken about it, which is fine. But when it came down to it, the silent HP majority made their presence known. $22 million in midnight shows alone, 12 years after the series began.
HP has an empire, but it’s based, first and foremost, on a quality story. Even the damn candy they sell is from the books! When I see Twilight diaries and graphic novels and whatever crap they’re making now, it just strikes me as a cynical ploy to milk the series dry while it’s hot. I’m pretty sure that’s why Summit’s in a hurry to get the films made ASAP.