The third weekend in November was heralded by the coming of the seventh chapter in the popular fantasy franchise Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (Warner Bros.), which opened on Friday with over $61 million including Thursday midnights, a new franchise high, before tumbling on Saturday to end up with an estimated $125.1 million in its opening weekend. This makes it the sixth-highest opening weekend for a movie following The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Iron Man 2. The seventh chapter also brought in an astounding $205 million internationally where it opened in 54 other countries for a worldwide total of $330.1 million. Although Warner Bros. decided to forego releasing the film in 3D, “Deathly Hallows” brought in $12.4 million in 239 domestic IMAX locations, surpassing the company’s opening record set by Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland earlier this year, as well as another $16.6 million from 340 international IMAX theaters.
