Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 earned $24 million from last night’s midnight screenings from a record 3,700 theaters in the U.S. and Canada offering midnight-Thursday performances of the action fantasy. However, while the number of theaters may be a record, the amount of money is not as it falls shy of the $30 million record set by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse earlier this year.
Now the film will face another Twilight record, hoping to top The Twilight Saga: New Moon for best November opening. It’s quite a steep hill to climb, though, as New Moon made $142,839,137 back in 2009. Tracking for Deathly Hallows had it earning $132 million this weekend and RopeofSilicon Box-Office Oracle, Laremy Legel, predicted $134 in his post yesterday with the highest reader prediction clocking in at $157.3 million, while others seemed to waiver just at that record-breaking line.
Potter does have an edge on New Moon in theater counts, screening in 4,124 theaters compared to 4,024, but is the fanbase as rabid? My guess is it’s not. The Twilight fanbase seems more likely to buy more than just one ticket for a weekend while I imagine Potter fans to be a bit more level-headed and simply see the movie once during its opening three days. Of course, we’ll know more on Saturday morning just where exactly all this is headed and I’ll be here to let you know with a complete weekend wrap-up on Sunday. Stay tuned.
