Weekend Box-Office: July 15-17, 2011

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Potter
breaks Dark Knight record…

I guess the biggest question
going into this past weekend wasn’t whether the latest HARRY
POTTER movie would finish atop the box-office charts (that was a
given), but whether or not it could break THE DARK KNIGHT opening
weekend record of $158M set by Christopher Nolan et al back in
2008. As it turns out, Potter and friends did so with about $10M
to spare! (that said, it actually sold fewer tickets than
TDK, but with inflation and the bloated 3D prices, it surpassed
the Gotham Crusader’s figures). Here are the top 10 biggest
domestic openings of all-time: 

1. HARRY POTTER… DEATHLY
HALLOWS (PART 2): $168M
2. THE DARK KNIGHT: $158M
3. SPIDER-MAN 3: $151M
4. NEW MOON: $143M
5. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2: $136M
6. IRON MAN 2: $128M
7. HARRY POTTER… DEATHLY HALLOWS (PART 1): $125M
8. SHREK 3: $122M
9. ALICE IN WONDERLAND: $116M
10. SPIDER-MAN: $115M

It’s interesting to note that
the only two "original" movies on that list are ALICE IN
WONDERLAND and SPIDER-MAN, while the rest are all sequels of some
kind. Internationally, the latest POTTER film broke yet another
record, this one for the "biggest worldwide opening of
all-time", as it made over $475M in its first weekend
of release, which beat the previous record of $394M, also held by
a POTTER flick (…AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE). Just think about
that first number though, $475M…that’s almost half a billion
dollars in a weekend!! If these numbers continue as such, the
last installment of the POTTER franchise may also become the first
in the franchise to cross the BILLION dollar mark (the
highest overall grossing POTTER film is HARRY POTTER AND THE
SORCEROR’S STONE with $975M).

The latest POTTER flick also
managed the biggest opening day of all-time, scoring $92M on
Friday alone, which was about $20M better than NEW MOON
which held the record since 2009 with $72M. There are actually 3
HARRY POTTER movies in the top 8 for "best opening day"
and 2 TWILIGHT flicks. You can see the entire list HERE.
Some other records that it broke include the biggest debut for a
midnight show ($44M), best domestic opening in IMAX theaters
($15M) and the best worldwide IMAX debut ($24M), which actually
beat the latest TRANSFORMERS movie’s recent debut of $20M. 

But don’t cry for Michael Bay
just yet, his latest TRANSFORMERS movie slipped to #2 this
weekend, but still managed to add another $21M to its coffers,
which bumped its overall domestic total to $302M, making it the
first film of the year to cross the $300M mark and obviously
placing it in 1st
place overall for 2011. It was also nice to see Woody Allen’s
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS return to the top 10 this weekend (it’s very
rare that a film drops out of the top 10, only to return
thereafter), as it officially becomes Allen’s highest-grossing
movie of all-time. I’m a big fan of Woody Allen’s work (mostly his
early stuff and all the way through to the 80s), so I’m happy for
the man, even though his overall quality of work had dropped in
the past decade or so.

Next weekend sees the release
of two "big movies" including the very awesome Justin
Timberlake (sorry folks, I think the dude is uber-talented) and
very adorable Mila Kunis (no need to be sorry here, she
simply rocks!) in FRIENDS
WITH BENEFITS, as well as the final "comic book
hero" movie of the summer in CAPTAIN
AMERICA starring that "flame on" dude from the
FANTASTIC FOUR movies. So how stoked are you to seeing CAPTAIN
AMERICA on the big screen? VOTE
HERE!!!