Death Happens to Harry Potter, and then came G.I. Joe

A two-week hold on the top of the Thai box office by Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince was broken by the Sahamongkol horror Death Happens (6:66 Tai Mai Dai Tai), according to the Box Office Mojo chart for July 30-August 2.

But then the following weekend on August 6-9, the local releases were blown away by G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Opening on just 74 screens compared to Harry's 134, the death-cheating thriller 6:66 worked a spell of its own to earn US$272,484, or about 9 million baht. The latest chart has 6:66 earning $431,369, or around 14 million -- a decent haul for the low-budget horror from production house Work Point Entertainment, which does mostly comedies and TV variety-game shows.

Coming in behind Death Happens was the GTH travel drama Dear Galileo, which had battled Harry on its July 23 release. Mojo's latest chart has Galileo earning $832,648, or around 28.2 million baht.

The latest chart's top five is rounded out by The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, which edged out another new-release Thai film, the teenage-drugs drama Samchuk.

Upcoming for the long August 12-16 Mother's Day/Queens birthday holiday weekend will be a showdown between the urban action of Jija Deu Suay Du (Raging Phoenix) from Sahamongkol and the country comedy of E-Som Somwang Cha Cha Cha (In Country Melody 2) from Phranakorn.