Due to the COVID-19 quarantine, all movie theaters were closed, and many studios were forced to postpone the shooting of new films. That is why old films were showed up in the movie theaters after the quarantine ended in some countries. Thus, old movies got a chance to increase their box office gross.
One of the most striking examples was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It is the first part of a series of eight films based on the books by J.K. Rowling, which was released back in 2001 and became a massive commercial hit, earning $974 million in ticket sales during its initial run.
That month, China launched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 3D and IMAX formats, grossing $13,6 million from 16,000 screens in just one weekend. As a result, the total amount of box office rose to $1,001 billion, which allowed the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone film to cross the billion-dollar mark.
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Before that, the only film from the entire Harry Potter series that managed to gross over $1 billion at the box office was the final chapter in the saga, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which received $1,34 billion in 2011.
In total, the Harry Potter series of eight films grossed $7,74 billion at the international box office.
