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The 10 Biggest Opening Weekends of All Time and Which Box Office Record Did Deathly Hallows Part 2 NOT Break?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Box Office Round-Ups | Comments (19)

Harry-Potter-and-the-Deathly-Hallows-Part-2-Review.jpg

Which box-office record did Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 NOT break this weekend? Well, it did not break the record for biggest single-day sales for a Saturday. That title, at least, still belongs to Spider-man 3. Otherwise, HP Part VIII cleaned the hell up, breaking the record for highest midnight grosses ($43 million), biggest single-day gross ($92 million), biggest opening weekend of all-time ($168 million), biggest international opening weekend of all time ($307 million), biggest worldwide opening weekend of all time ($475 million), and it was the fastest movie ever to $150 million.

But, accounting only for attendance (and not box-office gross), Deathly Hallows 2 was actually only sixth overall, ranking behind even the first Spider-man, which made $114 million in its opening weekend.

If my numbers are correct, Deathly Hallows Part 2 also holds the record for the worst aging of its stars in the epilogue.

Meanwhile, some other movies may have earned money, too. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, for instance, added another $21 million to cross the $300 million mark. Horrible Bosses held reasonably well in its second week, adding another $17 million; the $35 million movie has already made $60 million now, so someone somewhere is working on a sequel and Jennifer Aniston is practicing her technique with a banana. Zookeeper continues to struggle (small favors), adding only $12 million in its second weekend and Cars 2 is faltering badly. It looks to end up the second to last among all Pixar titles, ahead of only Bug’s Life. It likely will not break $200 million. The lesson here: Pixar, unless it’s Toy Story, cut it the hell out with the sequels.

There is sad news to report, too. Winnie the Pooh opened with only $8 million. Such a wonderful film, too. It’s audience is limited, but if you have a 4 - 7 year-old in your life, take him or her to see Winnie the Pooh. You’ll like it; she or he will love it; and maybe Disney will make another one.

If you’re curious, Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris — the movie I’m asked most about at functions and get-togethers — has now surpassed Hannah and Her Sisters to become Allen’s biggest box-office hit to date.

And because I know you all like to keep up with this stuff, here’s the new and revised ten biggest opening weekends of all time.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: $168.5 million
2. The Dark Knight: $158 million
3. Spider-man 3: $151 million
4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: $141 million
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest: $135 million
6. Iron Man 2: $128 million
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: $125 million
8. Shrek the Third: $121 million
9. Alice in Wonderland: $116 million
10. Spider-man: $114 million










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Comments

Which box-office record did Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 NOT break this weekend?

Your mom?

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at July 17, 2011 9:33 PM

"Midnight in Paris" is pretty fun, pretty good. Glad to see it doing well.

Harry who?

Posted by: , at July 17, 2011 10:19 PM

Just curious:

I know that all these films were released in the last fifteen years, but I can't help thinking that economic adjustments might shift this list around a little.

Posted by: Jerry at July 17, 2011 10:35 PM

Winnie the Pooh really needed to come out during the holiday season, or during spring when there is little else good on. This was just a horrible weekend to be a new movie out that wasn't HP.

Posted by: Matt at July 17, 2011 11:00 PM

I'm guessing the only thing that might break those records again will be the "Hobbit" movies. Damn well done, HP.

Posted by: Figgy at July 17, 2011 11:01 PM

The final Dark Knight will give it a run for it's money. I just can't remember if the Hobbit movies are suppose to be in 3D, or not as that will help as well.

Posted by: Matt at July 17, 2011 11:05 PM

So these are all the records that The Dark Knight Rises will be smashing next summer?

Posted by: Fredo at July 17, 2011 11:06 PM

i'm confused.

where's Avatar in all of this?

Posted by: haplo at July 17, 2011 11:52 PM

One of the problems facing Winnie the Pooh is that in smaller towns with only one theatre is that Harry Potter is playing in two of the theatre rooms, and they will not be playing Winnie for a few weeks. That is certainly the case in my town, and I have heard other parents make similar complaints. I hope that the movie is able to increase its earnings steadily over the next few weeks, and I am sure it will do well with DVD sales.

Posted by: llp at July 18, 2011 1:32 AM

Please everybody, don't bring up inflation.

Posted by: junierizzle at July 18, 2011 1:48 AM

Junierizzle, Avatar only opened with around $70 or $75 million if I remember correctly. But then it made that same amount again that next weekend. And dropped very little the weekend after that.

Partly due to a snowstorm that hit the East coast that weekend, but mainly because of word of mouth, Avatar still became the all time highest grossing movie without having a huge opening weekend.

Posted by: Vick at July 18, 2011 2:41 AM

And that comment was actually responding to haplo

Posted by: Vick at July 18, 2011 2:42 AM

What idiot at Disney thought it was a good marketing strategy to go against the modern children's fantasy series for opening weekend box office? I'm serious. What genius thought opening a simple family film against a bang bang--magical EXPLOSION!--family film was a good idea?

Posted by: Robert at July 18, 2011 9:59 AM

I think this was actually pretty good timing for the Pooh movie. It knew that nothing else would be opening opposite Harry Potter, and there's a good chunk of the family-movie market that is too young for Deathly Hallows. It's not like $8 million is a bad result for Winnie the Pooh -- I think it, despite being up against the biggest opening weekend of all time, opened bigger than two of the last three Pooh movies (the Tigger movie being the exception).

Posted by: Artemis at July 18, 2011 10:51 AM

Saw the Winnie the Pooh movie this weekend instead of HP. Loved it. Hated the mother next to me that cackled, some of the kids were loud but I expected that. I think my friend and I were the only adults in the theater with out kids.

Posted by: Miss Heather at July 18, 2011 1:36 PM

thank you Vick.

Avatar still became the all time highest grossing movie without having a huge opening weekend.

i wonder if this is exclusive to Avatar. Hmm...

Posted by: haplo at July 18, 2011 2:03 PM

The lesson to Pixar shouldn't be to skip sequels, it should be to skip sequels to probably the worst movie in your vault.

I'm afraid Lassiter is going all Tin Cup with Cars. He'll put ten in the water before he gets it right.

Posted by: ed newman at July 18, 2011 5:23 PM

Because this is the last time to ask this question, I will - why does Voldemort have no nose? Do the books address this? Do they specifically describe him as having no nose or describe the manner in which he lost it, or is this unique to the movies?

Posted by: negative 1 at July 18, 2011 7:14 PM

The idea with Voldemort is that, as he practises black magic, he looks more and more like a snake. This is absolutely covered in the books, where he "has pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes, becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul."

Wikipedia is your friend, negative 1.

Posted by: Uriah Creep at July 18, 2011 8:32 PM