Harry Potter Sets Franchise High Opening

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 opened to $125 million for the weekend making it easily the biggest start for any film in the franchise to date. It made nearly half of that total on Friday (which included the midnight shows) though and that evidences just how front-loaded it was and that may be a sign it won’t go on to be the highest grossing total when all is said and done.

The other new opener was The Next Three Days which finished flat in fifth place. Despite it being one of the best films of the year (my review here) it was a tough one to market and the ads didn’t do a good enough job getting across its mix of drama and thrills. The $6.7 million opening was disappointing though not really too far off expectations.

Amongst holdovers Megamind finished in second place with $16.2 million and continues a very strong run as it has now collected nearly $110 million in just three weeks. Unstoppable fell a reasonable 42% to $13.1 million while Skyline fell sharply 70% to just $3.4 million in their second weekends.