'Harry Potter' global box office tops $330 million
Updated: 2010-11-22 09:52
(Agencies)
British boy wizard Harry Potter made movie magic again at weekend box offices as the newest chapter, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," cast a spell in more than 50 countries and collected $330 million in global ticket sales.
That tally includes a best-ever U.S. and Canadian debut of $125.1 million in this latest adventure of the teenage sorcerer and his friends at Hogwarts school. Six previous "Potter" films collected $5.4 billion globally for the Warner Bros studio.
In the United States and Canada, last week's champ, comedy "Megamind," came in a distant second with $16.2 million, just ahead of runaway train flick "Unstoppable" with $13.1 million. But given the popularity of the "Potter" movies, the other movies had not been expected to be much competition for No. 1.
The $125.1 million for "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" beat the previous best weekend debut for a "Potter" film in the United States and Canada, which was $102.7 million for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in November 2005.
"Deathly Hallows: Part 1" rode up the box office charts to land at No. 6 on the list of all-time best weekend debuts, just behind the $128.1 million from "Iron Man 2" earlier this year.
The movie, which is based on the final installment of the series of best-selling books by author J.K. Rowling, collected more than $30,000 per theater in just over 4,100 U.S. and Canadian venues. By contrast, "Megamind" took in $4,300 per location in nearly 3,800 theaters.
IMAX AND INTERNATIONAL
Giant screen IMAX theaters generated $12.4 million of the U.S. and Canadian total of the "Potter" movie for a new IMAX record, beating "Alice in Wonderland" and its $12.1 million IMAX debut, according to Hollywood.com Box-Office.
The movie played in some 54 overseas countries with highlights being 17.5 million pounds ($28 million) in the United Kingdom and A$15 million ($14 million) in Australia.
Germany turned in a debut of 16 million euros, or around $21.8 million, while Japan showed 1.2 billion yen worth of ticket sales ($14 million), according to Warner Bros.
Paper's Digest
Chinese jet takes on Big 2
First large commercial plane set to ride on demand for aircraft as economy grows.
Super-CPU only for domestic eyes
Specials
Chinese jet takes on Big 2
First large commercial plane set to ride on demand for aircraft as economy grows.
Gaining ground
Doing business in china for westerners has come a long way, Peter batey says.
Safeguarding environment a priority
China continues to face mounting pressure to curb environmental degradation, despite progress in reducing pollution over the last five years, the environmental protection minister warned.