Spode Under the name 'Spode Ltd' the same factories and business was continued after 1970. In 2006, the business merged with Royal Worcester. The merged company entered administration on 6 November 2008. The brand names and intellectual property were acquired by Portmeirion Group on 23 April 2009. On 23 April 2009, Portmeirion Pottery purchased their rival Royal Worcester and Spode brands, together with some of the stock, after they had been placed into administration the previous November. The purchase did not include Royal Worcester or Spode manufacturing facilities. Many items in Spode's Blue Italian and Woodland ranges are now made at
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) its opening weekend in the United States and Canada at 3,855 theatres, achieving, at the time, the third biggest-opening weekend of all time. This opening also broke "Hulk"s record ($62.1 million) for the highest-opening weekend for a film released in June. "Prisoner of Azkaban" held this record for five years until "" topped it in 2009 with $108.9 million. The film was also No. 1 at the North American box office for two consecutive weekends. "Prisoner of Azkaban" made a total of $796.7 million worldwide, which made it 2004's second-highest-grossing film worldwide behind "Shrek 2". In the U.S. and Canada,