“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2″ shattered the opening weekend record at the North American box office.
A people eager to bid farewell to Harry and friends have helped “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” break records. According to estimated statistics released by Warner Bros., which distributes Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II, the movie debuts at North American Box Office on number one with the biggest opening weekend ever, collecting a staggering $168.6 million. It surpasses previous record holder “The Dark Knight” which grossed $158.4 million domestically.
It broke the milestone for all-time highest single-day gross which was held by The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which garnered $72.7 million when it opened on Friday, November 20, 2009.
On Saturday, it continued with the foray at box office derby, finishing the business with $42.85 million. All told, the finale of the series has also managed to become No. 1 in three other areas: largest midnight gross ($43.5 million), largest opening weekend — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 1, hit the screens last November, previously held that record with $125 million in ticket sales upon its debut, and largest IMAX opening ($15.5 million from 274 theaters).
The series on the adventures of the orphan who discovers he has magical powers are a global phenomenon, with the books available in 69 languages.
More than 400 million copies of the books have been sold since J.K. Rowling, a one-time struggling single-mother on welfare, published the first instalment in 1997.
Rowling has a personal net worth of a billion dollars, reportedly making her richer than the British queen. The Harry Potter brand alone has an estimated worth of some 15 billion dollars.
The first Harry Potter film was released in 2001 and the seven movies so far have earned over 6.4 billion dollars (4.4 billion euros) globally, making stars — and multi-millionaires — out of Radcliffe, Watson and Grint.
Top Ten Movies at Box Office for July 15-17:
- “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” – $168.6 million
- “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” – $21.2 million
- “Horrible Bosses” – $17.6 million
- “Zookeeper” – $12.3 million
- “Cars 2” – $8.3 million
- “Winnie the Pooh” – $8 million
- “Bad Teacher” – $5.2 million
- “Larry Crowne” – $2.6 million
- “Super 8” – $1.9 million
- “Midnight in Paris” – $1.9 million