July 18, 2011 by Vinnie Leduc
Well, that didn’t take long. Not only did it abruptly end Transformers: Dark of the Moon‘s reign at the top of the box office for consecutive weeks, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 smashed records on its way to the biggest domestic ($168.6 million) and international ($307 million) openings ever, overshadowing The Dark Knight ($158.4 million) and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides by far ($260.4 million), respectively. The franchise bookend to J.K. Rowling’s massively popular phenomenon attracted muggles from the very start, setting records for biggest midnight release and biggest opening day ever.
Although the eighth and final Harry Potter film actually sold less tickets than The Dark Knight, its debut was bolstered by the franchise’s first venture into the 3-D trend. Domestically, Transformers became the first film of the year to cross the $300 million mark, but it looks like Harry Potter will be gaining in Michael Bay’s rearview mirror soon and likely to overtake the action juggernaut for biggest film of the year as it’s on pace to tally $1 billion in the domestic box office alone. Winnie the Pooh couldn’t find the money pot in its opening weekend, and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris quietly became his top domestic earner.
Here were the top 5 in the domestic box office last weekend via BOM:
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — Weekend Gross: $168.6 million — Total Gross: $168.6 million (new)
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon — Weekend Gross: $21.2 million — Total Gross: $302.8 million (#1 last week)
- Horrible Bosses — Weekend Gross: $17.6 million — Total Gross: $60 million (#2 last week)
- Zookeeper — Weekend Gross: $12.3 million — Total Gross: $42.4 million (#3 last week)
- Cars 2 — Weekend Gross: $8.3 million — Total Gross: $165.3 million (#4 last week)
