Harry Potter’s Opening Weekend Breaks Box Office Records With $168.6 Million In North America Alone!!

Wow, muggles sure LOVE Harry Potter!! LOL *cue Travis Porter “Make It Rain” Harry and his wizard crew ended their grand finale to the series with a bang!! The film sold $476 million in tickets worldwide and broke records in North America with $168.6 million tickets sold!! I have yet to see this movie, but I def need to go see it!! Hit the jump for more details…

@ItsLukieBaby

(NYTimes)–LOS ANGELES — And now we know the spell for raining cash.

Harry Potter and his wizarding friends ended their decade-long film career by selling a staggering $476 million in tickets around the world over the weekend, breaking major box office records and leaving Hollywood executives shell-shocked.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the first film in the series to be released in premium-priced 3-D, sold $168.6 million in tickets in North America alone — the biggest opening weekend in history, not adjusting for inflation. “The Dark Knight” previously held that record with $158.4 million, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles ticketing data.

“Deathly Hallows: Part 2” also set a new high-water mark for the biggest one-day box office haul; this well-reviewed movie took in over $92 million on Friday in North America, including $43.5 million at midnight screenings, surpassing the $72.7 million generated by “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in 2009. Imax theaters also broke sales records.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com’s box office division, said the weekend’s “massive ticket buying frenzy” reflected the end-of-an-era nature of the film. When it comes to the pop culture power of the Potter franchise, including the books and related merchandise, “it is nearly impossible to overstate the enormity.”

That sweaty brow you see is that of Warner Brothers, the studio that under the leadership of its recently retired movie chief, Alan F. Horn, expertly managed the Harry Potter series over a decade, in particular maintaining a high level of quality that kept audiences enraptured and critics cooing.

But the juggernaut performance of the final Potter film is both terrific and terrifying for the studio. Although recent disappointments (“Green Lantern,” “Sucker Punch,” “Arthur”) are instantly forgotten, Warner must now figure out how to keep profits rolling without the boy wizard. The risky Potter replacement plan involves a heavier reliance on superheroes.

“I’m too old for cartwheels, but it’s close,” said Dan Fellman, Warner’s president for domestic distribution, referring to his reaction to the “ridiculously amazing” box office results. “At the same time it’s bittersweet. It’s also the end of a great franchise, and we’ve watched these talented kids grow up.”

In terms of Warner’s future without the Potter films, Mr. Fellman pointed to high hopes for “The Hobbit,” a two-movie series that starts at the end of next year, and next summer’s “Dark Knight Rises.” And it should be noted that Warner will reap rewards from the Potter franchise for decades through DVD sales and royalties from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a theme park attraction at Universal Orlando in Florida.

The eight films in the series, which hew closely to the storylines laid out in J. K. Rowling’s seven books, have now sold about $7 billion in tickets at the worldwide box office. Depending on how the numbers are spliced and diced, the series ranks either as the No. 1 movie franchise in history or second behind James Bond.

“Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which analysts estimate cost about $200 million to make and $150 million to market, poses major challenges for movies set for release in its wake. Three big movies arrive in the next three weeks — “Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Cowboys & Aliens” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” — and may look puny in comparison.

That was certainly true of the only other new movie that opened against “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” over the weekend, though it was not positioned as competition. “Winnie the Pooh,” a $30 million hand-drawn film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, sold an estimated $8 million and finished sixth at the weekend box-office derby.

Disney hopes its G-rated “Pooh” movie, released in 2,405 theaters in North America (compared with 4,375 for “Deathly Hallows: Part 2”) will perform well in coming weeks at matinees, which have a dearth of offerings for the youngest of moviegoers. But the first job of “Winnie the Pooh” is to boost sales of related merchandise, which have slumped in recent years.

For the weekend “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount Pictures) was second with an estimated $21.3 million in ticket sales, lifting its domestic total to $303 million after three weeks. The R-rated comedy “Horrible Bosses” (Warner) was third in its second weekend, taking in a surprisingly strong $17.6 million for a new total of $60 million.

“Zookeeper” (Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) was fourth in its second weekend, selling an estimated $12.3 million for a new total of $42.4 million. “Cars 2” (Disney’s Pixar) rounded out the top five, taking in about $8.3 million for a four-week total of $165.3 million.