Even without a 3D premium, IMAX collected a record $12.4 million of the gigantic opening weekend gross of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1.”
The overall domestic gross for the Warner Bros.’ release was in excess of $125 mil., also a record opening for a Harry Potter movie. IMAX collected about 10% of that in just 239 theaters, the most IMAX screens ever for a movie opening.
And it wasn’t even a holiday weekend. Oftentimes, grosses for movies that open the weekend prior to Thanksgiving enjoy a uptick during the holiday.
There was well in excess of a whopping $100 mil. gap between “Potter” and the next-closest movie on the weekend, the DreamWorks 3D animated family comedy “Megamind,” which collected more than $16 million, only a 44% drop in its third weekend to soar past the $100 mil. mark to nearly $110 mil.
The only other Potter movie to have a $100 mil.-plus opening was “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” in its first three days in 2005, according to Hollywood.com Box Office.
“Death Hallows 7A,” as they call it at Warner Bros. was the sixth biggest opening weekend of any movie, a list that is topped by the $142.8 mil. of “Twilight: New Moon” at this time last year.
— By Scott Hettrick