It certainly was a magical weekend for Harry Potter fans. The beloved boy-wizard franchise's final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2, opened worldwide to rave reviews and sold-out showings. There were so many sold-out shows, in fact, that the film smashed numerous box-office records, scoring the best midnight debut ever ($43.5 million), highest-grossing opening day ($92.1 million) and the sought-after crown of highest-grossing opening weekend of all time!
Potter raked in $168.6 million domestically from Friday to Sunday, breaking the previous mark of $158.4 million, set by The Dark Knight in summer 2008. Meanwhile, in the coveted overseas market, Potter grossed $307 million in 59 countries, an astonishing number that -- you guessed it! -- makes Potter the largest foreign opening of all time.
In addition to being the biggest opening day ever, the film's $92.1 million in the U.S. on Friday is the largest single-day tally in movie history -- but ticket sales dropped precipitously on Saturday to $42.9 million. Although that's the steepest Friday-to-Saturday plunge ever for a movie opening in more than 2,000 theaters (another record!), that was to be expected, as Potterheads were clearly eager to see the movie the moment it opened.
The IMAX and 3-D figures for the film's opening are also interesting. The large-screen company IMAX reported that the movie grossed a record $15.5 million on its screens, suggesting that moviegoers were specifically choosing to see the film in as big and loud a manner as possible. The 3-D numbers are not as encouraging. Only 43 percent of the movie's earnings came from 3-D theatres in the United States, hinting that America's love affair with the three-dimensional formant may be on the wane. Overseas, however, a healthy 61 percent of the film's earnings came from 3-D showings.
Combine the domestic tally with the overseas numbers, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2 grossed a staggering $475.6 million worldwide in its opening weekend, crushing the previous record of $394 million set by another film in the franchise, 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Famed movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars (the highest possible rating being 4 stars). And, after praising the film in its entirety, Ebert writes, "These films will be around for a long time. And without spoiling a single thing, let me just observe that the final scene clearly leaves an opening for a sequel. I know, Rowling says there won't be one. Just sayin'."
Hey, Potter fans can dare to dream.
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