HALLOWS: FIRST IN SALES; SIXTH IN ATTENDANCE

It didn’t come close to the $195 million that some of the wildest forecasts envisaged, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 did earn slightly more than Warner Bros.’ Sunday estimate — coming in at $169.2 million, a record for a three-day domestic weekend (versus the estimated $168.55 million). That record was achieved, however, as a result of ticket inflation and 3D surcharges. In terms of attendance, Deathly Hallows ranked about sixth on the list. Box Office Mojo observed on Monday that while the Harry Potter franchise, with $2.177 billion, is close to overtaking the Star Wars franchise with $2.218 billion, the eight Potter movies have generated only 57 percent of the number of tickets sold for the seven Star Wars features. (The number presumably includes the “special edition” of the original film.) The success of the franchise finale helped lift the box office 47 percent above the comparable week a year ago, when Inception opened with $62.8 million. Moreover, the Potter films traditionally open strong, then fall off rather quickly after fans have seen the movie. Repeat business is not especially robust and moviegoers who have not read the Potter books or who have no seen earlier installments of the franchise are not likely to buy tickets to see the latest one. Weekend results appeared to bear out that view. While the film opened on Friday with $91 million, it dropped to $442.4 million on Saturday, then to $35.7 million on Sunday.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Box Office Mojo (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Warner Bros., $169,189,427, (New); 2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Paramount, $21,328,545, 3 Wks. ($302,878,797); 3. Horrible Bosses, Warner Bros., $17,777,464, 2 Wks. ($60,149,603); 4. Zookeeper, Sony, $12,330,512, 2 Wks. ($42,382,978); 5. Cars 2, Disney/Pixar, $8,407,529, 4 Wks. ($165,389,754); 6. Winnie the Pooh, Disney, $7,857,076, (New); 7. Bad Teacher, Sony, $5,152,447, 4 Wks. ($88,457,639); 8. Larry Crowne, Universal, $2,664,550, 3 Wks. ($31,719,560); 9. Super 8, Paramount, $1,970,377, 6 Wks. ($122,287,359); 10. Midnight in Paris, SPC, $1,876,588, 9 Wks. ($41,778,698).