Shocker: The penultimate entry in the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise brought in enough gold to make the goblins at Gringott’s Bank sit up and take notice. While the midnight audiences didn’t topple the record set by the last ‘Twilight’ film, ‘Deathly Hallows’ still made a ridiculous amount of money. The other big entry in the weekend demolition derby – Paul Haggis and Russell Crowe’s ‘The Next Three Days’ – did not. Read on for specifics! Or, in magical terms: Stupify!
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1‘ won the top spot by a broomstick’s margin, bringing in a whopping $125.1 million. In terms of records set, it’s the sixth biggest opening weekend ever, and the best opening for any ‘Harry Potter’ movie yet. It’s also the biggest IMAX opening ever, besting a record previously held by March’s ‘Alice in Wonderland‘. (Who needs 3-D anyway?) Of course, it’s safe to assume that all of these records and all of this hullabaloo will be obliterated next summer when the final, final, absolutely final chapter of the franchise flies into theaters.
‘The Next Three Days’, the other big movie to enter the ballgame, fared considerably worse. It clocked in at the lame duck spot of fifth place with a weak $6.7 million. Ouch. The movie isn’t very good, not even in the rousing, audience-friendly sense. So it’s not like word of mouth will keep this thing going (like ‘Unstoppable‘, which stuck it out in third place with another $13.1 million). There’s a very good chance that it could drop out of the Top 10 altogether next week. A glut of new releases open up on Wednesday and a bunch of smaller movies will go wider.
Speaking of smaller movies, ‘Fair Game‘ has broken through to the Top 10, at number ten. The real life spy story is a dramatization of the Valerie Plame outing (one of many WTF-worthy Bush White House indiscretions). I really liked this movie, which has a potent mix of espionage elements and human drama (even if the latter comes up a little short). It’s good that more people are checking it out.
Beyond that, the Top 10 is business as usual. How business? How usual? Look below.
The Top 10:
01 ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1’ (Warner Bros) – $125.1 million
02 ‘Megamind’ (Dream Works Animation/Paramount) – $16.1 million
03 ‘Unstoppable’ (Fox) – $13.1 million
04 ‘Due Date’ (Warner Bros) – $9.1 million
05 ‘The Next Three Days’ (Lionsgate) – $6.7 million
06 ‘Morning Glory’ (Paramount) – $5.2 million
07 ‘Skyline’ (Universal) – $3 million
08 ‘Red’ (Summit) – $2.5 million
09 ‘For Colored Girls’ (Lionsgate) – $1.8 million
10 ‘Fair Game’ (Summit) – $1.5 million
