Update: Article updated with final box office data
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the final installment in the worldwide blockbuster franchise, opened to a record breaking $169.189M from 4,375 theaters ($38,672 per theater average) in its opening weekend (“The Dark Knight” held the previous record with $158.411M) and a record-breaking $481.489M worldwide. On the way to its record-breaking domestic bow, the film broke several other records including biggest midnight launch ($43.5M) and biggest opening day/single day ($91.071M).
Debuting in 3D for the first time in the franchise, 3D for ‘Deathly Hallows Part 2’ accounted for approximately 43% of the gross (from a record 3,100+ locations including 274 Imax). Imax grosses reached a record $15.5M (beating “Alice in Wonderland’s” $12.2M). Total 3D accounted for an estimated $72.8M, second all-time to “Alice in Wonderland’s” $81.3M 3D opening weekend gross.
‘Deathly Hallows Part 2’ dropped 53% on Saturday to $42.414M and a further 16% on Sunday to $35.704M. The huge Friday to Saturday drop is a result of film’s enormous opening day which clipped the previous record holder “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” by nearly $20M ($72.704M). The previous single day high for a ‘Harry Potter’ movie was last November’s ‘Deathly Hallows Part 1’ which opened to $61.685M (which also held the previous opening weekend high for the franchise at $125.017M from 4,125 theaters–$30,307 per theater average).
And as a sign of how important this final film in the franchise has become to its fanbase, The opening day gross for ‘Deathly Hallows Part 2’ was larger than the entire 3-day opening weekends of ‘Sorcerer’s Stone’ ($90.295M), ‘Half-Blood Prince’ ($77.836MM), ‘Order of the Phoenix’ ($77.108M) and ‘Chamber of Secrets’ ($88.357M) and nearly ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ as well ($93.688M).
Overseas analysis and top five highlights after the jump.
Disney has released a new movie poster for the upcoming animated film Winnie the Pooh.