Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 soared into the record books with the highest-grossing opening weekend ever. The series finale drew an estimated $168.55 million on around 11,000 screens at 4,375 locations, dethroning The Dark Knight's $158.4 million. Deathly Hallows Part 2's first weekend flew past the previous franchise high of $125 million, posted by Deathly Hallows Part 1 last November, and it topped the franchise in terms of estimated attendance as well. While its opening gross also out-distanced The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3($151.1 million), The Twilight Saga: New Moon ($142.8 million), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest($135.6 million) and the first Spider-Man ($114.8 million),Deathly Hallows Part 2's estimated opening attendance was less than those titles, ranking sixth overall. After conjuring the opening day record on Friday ($92.1 million), Deathly Hallows Part 2 saw the steepest Friday-to-Saturday drop on record for a non-holiday first weekend, falling 53 percent to an estimated $42.85 million. Its Saturday slotted ninth among the top-grossing Saturdays of all time. Distributor Warner Bros. projected a 22 percent Saturday-to-Sunday decline to $33.6 million, which would rank eighth on the all-time Sunday grosses chart. Deathly Hallows Part 2 marked Harry Potter's first foray into 3D, and it made a splash with the broadest 3D launch ever (3,100-plus locations, including 274 in IMAX). However, the majority of moviegoers still opted to see the movie in the standard ("2D") format. 3D accounted for 43 percent of the gross, which was a lower share than Transformers: Dark of the Moon's 60 percent at the same point but in the ballpark of most of this summer's other big movies. Still, at an estimated $72.5 million, that translated to the second biggest-grossing 3D opening yet, behind Alice in Wonderland (2010)'s $81.3 million. In IMAX alone, Deathly Hallows Part 2 delivered the top-grossing start ever, generating $15.5 million versus Alice's second-place $12.2 million. According to Warner Bros., 54 percent of Deathly Hallows Part 2's audience was female, compared to 57 percent for the last movie, and 45 percent was under 25 years old, compared to 56 percent for the last movie.Weekend Report: 'Harry' Makes History
