"Potter and the Breaker of Records"

 










It was a safe assumption that David Yates' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 would be a hugely successful phenomenon. After all, this is the eighth and final film in the beloved franchise that a generation grew up both reading and watching. But I'm not sure anyone could have predicted how massive this weekend was going to be. It turned out to shatter some all-time records.

So, what records did the boy wizard break? Well, with $168.5 million this weekend, it now claims the biggest three-day weekend ever (besting The Dark Knight's $158.4 back in 2008), which isn't too shabby. Additionally, it now holds the best single-day box office, since on Friday it racked up $92.1 million (including a colossal $43.5 million from midnight sales – in New York all of the midnight shows were sold out and many theaters were doing 6 am showings). Also, with $476 million worldwide, it's the biggest global opening of any movie ever. Truly, Harry Potter is going out with a bang.

From my perspective, too, things should continue solidly for a while – many diehard fans of the franchise didn't want to risk the madness of opening weekend, so they'll be back for more next weekend. (This should happen for a few weeks.) And next week's films are ultimately more niche-y than the kind of four-quadrant crowd pleaser that Harry Potter is - Captain America is a second-tier superhero and if people weren't crazy about X-Men: First Class's swinging 60s period setting, then they might not get behind the World War II-era Captain America and Friends with Benefits is an R-rated comedy that everyone already feels like they've seen before (hello No Strings Attached!) So while this may be the last big screen outing for Harry Potter, his reign is far from over!

A pair of comedies showed impressive hold over the weekend – at #3, Horrible Bosses dropped just 39% for a weekend total of $17.6 million. Clearly, not as many people as I would have expected have been using the phrase "painfully mediocre" to describe the film. Speaking of which, Zookeeper, which seemed to be a bit of a bust last week, stayed strong dropping only 38% for another $12.3 million. While it might not be a blockbuster (and quite frankly I'd rather rub shards of broken glass in my eyes than sit through it), it could still qualify as a "sleeper hit" when all is said and done, and not just because parents taking their kids sleep through it. These are the jokes.

On a much gloomier, Eeyore-like note, Disney's sumptuous Winnie the Pooh debuted way down at #6 with $8 million (that's less than Cars 2 grabbed a month into its release). This is a shame because the movie is really, really, really good. One of the issues with this jam-packed summer season, with multiple, big- name titles opening every week, is that it doesn't give something like Winnie the Pooh the chance to survive. Say families will have already seen Harry Potter or Cars 2 in a few weeks, and they want something new – will Winnie the Pooh even still be in theaters? It's sad to think about.

On a much more positive note, however, Harry Potter wasn't the only one setting records this weekend! With another $1.8 million accumulated, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris has officially become the auteur's highest grossing movie EVER. Way to go Woody!