Royal Worcester were made redundant in 2003, and another 100 went in 2005. Fifteen porcelain painters left the Severn Street factory on Friday 29 September 2006, together with 100 other workers. The last trading date for Royal Worcester was 14 June 2009. The company went into administration on 6 November 2008 and on 23 April 2009, the brand name and intellectual property were acquired by Portmeirion Pottery Group – a pottery and homewares company based in Stoke-on-Trent. As Portmeirion Group has a factory in Stoke-on-Trent, the purchase did not include the Royal Worcester and Spode manufacturing facilities. Royal Worcester Royal Worcester was
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,