Audiences were eager to see the first half of the final “Harry Potter.”
Showings were selling out last week leading up to the Friday opening. Midnight showings across the country started the first half of the final installment off with $24 million in 3700 theaters. That was enough for third all time on the midnight opening list. The first two slots are held by “Twilight” movies.
The solid start helped power “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” to an estimated $61.5 million on opening day. That placed it fifth on the all-time openings list, behind movies from the “Twilight” franchise and “The Dark Knight.”
It also puts the movie on track to have a huge opening weekend.
We’ll have the box-office numbers for the weekend tomorrow on Slice of SciFi.