The final Harry Potter installment worked its magic, making all the box office competition disappear and breaking several records. In addition to winning the weekend of July 15, 2011, Potter earned the crown for highest-grossing opening weekend ever. Transformers: Dark of the Moon fizzled into second.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 cast a serious spell over muggles far and wide, banking $168.55 million stateside, along with an additional $307 million overseas. Harry Potter‘s final first weekend broke a slew of records, the biggest being the worldwide opening weekend record, with $475.6 million, and highest-grossing opening weekend domestically. Impressive feat indeed, but Potter actually ranked sixth in attendance domestically, coming in behind The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Spider-Man, in that order.
Among the Potter films, Deathly Hallows Part 2 easily beat out the previous reigning installment, Deathly Hallows Part 1, which clocked a $125 million opening last November.
The Potter movies have thus far banked $2.177 billion and the franchise is on its way to becoming the top-grossing franchise in history, beating out Star Wars‘ $2.218 billion reign. It’s hard to believe Warner Bros. is going to let go of a winner like this, but even harder to imagine how the story can carry on.
With all the muggles watching Potter’s final battle, the other movies in theaters didn’t get much attention. Transformers: Dark of the Moonbanked a quiet $21.3 million. A quiet weekend indeed, but a big landmark. The weekend bumped the film to $302.8 million, making it the first movie of 2011 to cross the $300 million milestone this year.
Horrible Bossestook third with $17.6 million, followed by Zookeeper, with $12.3 million. Cars 2 closed out the top five with $8.3 million.
Winnie the Pooh premiered to sixth place, with a lonely $8 million. Bad Teacher, Larry Crowne and Super 8 followed, in that order. Midnight in Paris climbs back into the top 10 again, taking the final spot with $1.9 million.
This weekend’s new contenders will include Captain America: The First Avenger and Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis’ Friends with Benefits; along with Jenna Fischer’s A Little Help, Another Earth and The Myth of the American Sleepover. Could they have the magic to take Harry down?
Box Office ToP 10
1.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 — $168.6 million
2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon –– $21.3 million
3. Horrible Bosses— $17.6 million
4. Zookeeper— $12.3 million
5. Cars 2 — $8.3 million
6. Winnie the Pooh –– $8 million
7. Bad Teacher — $5.2 million
8. Larry Crowne –– $2.8 million
9. Super 8 — $1.9 million
10. Midnight in Paris — $1.9 million
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