The weekend isn’t even over yet, but estimates put Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part Two on track to end its opening weekend with $476 million in worldwide ticket sales in the bank. That number, which breaks down to $168.5 million in domestic sales and $307 million in foreign sales, breaks three all-time box office records, for domestic, foreign and worldwide openings.
Half-Blood Prince, the sixth entry in the long-running series adapting J.K. Rowling’s popular novels, was the previous worldwide opening record holder, with $394 million in ticket sales. Deathly Hallows also edged out The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) here in the U.S. and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($260 million) abroad. Warner Bros. touted Potter‘s performance in a press release; the rest of the all-time record figures listed here were provided by Box Office Mojo.
The release also broke multiple foreign records regionally, with top opening box office performances in the U.K. ($36.6 million) and Australia ($26.7 million). The IMAX opening weekend record was also broken worldwide and in North America, with $23.5 million and $15.5 million earned, respectively. And wait! There’s one more! The pre-sales record also fell, with Deathly Hallows, Part Two taking in $43.5 million domestically prior to its release.
Given the mountain of expectations preceding the release of the final film chapter in the Harry Potter series, none of this should come as a surprise. If anyone is going to mobilize the world’s army of moviegoers more than Johnny Depp or Batman will, it’s Rowling and her magical series of novels. If you’re still on the fence about checking out what an early trailer called, not incorrectly, “the motion picture event of a generation,” check out Ryan’s review right here.
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