Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 has made an estimated 5.1 million at the US box office – the biggest debut for the franchise and the eighth-best opening weekend ever! Just to put that figure into perspective, the previous Potter picture (last summer’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) made .8 million during its first three days – a figure that should be far from being sniffed at, but which is almost m less than this film’s weekend haul.
Over here the film has yielded even greater results by breaking records for the biggest three day opening (and the biggest single day records for Friday, Saturday and Sunday) of all time in UK cinemas.
Quantum of Solace previously held the biggest three day opening with over £15m (£15,384,217) in box office receipts, but now Potter has exposed Bond for the Muggle he is by taking £18.3m in those same three days.
Add these two figures to the total world box office, and the film has now made a staggering 0m (£205.5m) in global ticket sales already!
It’s an amazing achievement and proves just how huge a cultural phenomenon the Harry Potter franchise is. What an incredibly shrewd move on behalf of Warner Bros. too, in their decision to split the last book into two films.
Bet they’re kicking themselves now for not using this device with the other content-heavy books from the series.
Figures courtesy of the BBC News and The Hollywood Reporter.
