In its seventh installment, Harry Potter was as potent as ever, whipping up the all-time sixth biggest-grossing opening weekend and a new franchise high. The overall weekend box office, though, paled in comparison to the same period last year (down around 24 percent), which featured the one-two punch of The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Blind Side. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 drew an estimated $125.1 million on approximately 9,400 screens at 4,125 locations, blowing past the franchise's last pre-Thanksgiving debut and previous opening weekend gross high, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which earned $102.7 million out of the gate in 2005. New Moonstill holds the November record with $142.8 million, while the other pictures ahead of Deathly on the overall chart are The Dark Knight ($158.4 million), Spider-Man 3($151.1 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($135.6 million) and Iron Man 2 ($128.1 million). In terms of estimated attendance, Deathly Hallows Part 1's start came in slightly behind the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Goblet of Fire. While some may be disappointed that Deathly Hallows Part 1 didn't break any major records or open much more strongly than its predecessors, it's important to remember that it's the seventh movie in the franchise and still pulled in blockbuster numbers. It's the first part of the finale, in an unprecedented move of adapting the last book into two movies (which Twilight will copy with the Breaking Dawnmovies). It amounted to a delay in what was already a slow build-up to Harry Potter's final battle with Lord Voldemort, and Potter's fans know the good stuff doesn't come until Part 2. http://boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2991&p=.htm __________ Great opening!














