Opening at more than 4,000 theaters, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One" dominated the box office over the weekend, posting the second highest weekend total of the year and averaging more than $30,000 per venue. Meanwhile, Paul Haggis' thriller "The Next Three Days" tanked in its opening, earning just $6.75 million and barely squeezing into the top five.
Heading into the weekend, "Deathly Hallows" seemed to have the perfect storm in terms of its box office outlook, including a highly anticipated release and no real competition for audiences. The seventh release in the series easily surpassed the $102 million that "Goblet of Fire" hauled in back in 2005, giving it the highest opening of the entire franchise.
The series-high in terms of total domestic box office is the $317 million that "Sorcerer's Stone" brought in back in 2001 and it seems that "Deathly Hallows" is going to soar into first place in the series by the time it's out of theaters.
What is even more impressive so far is the eye-popping international revenues that "Deathly Hallows" is already posting. "Deathly Hallows" has already brought in $205 million in theaters outside of the U.S., bringing its worldwide total to $330 million and counting. Even with Disney's "Tangled" set to take away some of its audience next weekend, "Deathly Hallows" should have one more weekend atop the charts and push its domestic total into the $200 million range after just ten days in theaters.
When all is said and done, "Deathly Hallows" will have made "Harry Potter" the most lucrative franchise in history in terms of domestic revenue - surpassing "Star Wars" - and it will likely also make a run at the year-best $1.06 billion worldwide that "Toy Story 3" earned over the summer. A title that certainly didn't get off to a similar star was thriller "The Next Three Days," which is going down as one of the worst performing releases in Russell Crowe's career. "The Next Three Days" earned just $2,633 per venue and will really struggle to compete for audiences next weekend with action-thriller "Faster."
After a notable drop next weekend, "The Next Three Days" will likely dip out of the top ten by its third weekend and will go down as one of the bigger box office busts of the year.
Meanwhile, animated "Megamind" posted another strong weekend despite competing somewhat for audiences with "Harry Potter." The Paramount/Dreamworks distribution brought in $16.18 million in its third weekend and has now pushed its domestic total to $109 million. Once it gets launched in all of its international markets, "Megamind" is going to go down as one of the most lucrative animated releases of 2010. The surprise title to land on the top ten this week was action-thriller "Fair Game," which expanded to 386 total theaters over the weekend and hauled in $1.47 million. Starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, "Fair Game" has struggled to get much of a release so far from Summit and will likely start to expand in the next few weekends, though it will likely stay toward the bottom of the top ten.
The weekend was also likely the last in the top ten for Summit's other action-thriller "Red," which hauled in another $2.47 million to bring its domestic total to $83 million after six weekends in theaters. The $58 million production has been one of the better performing releases of the early fall, which is typically one of the slowest times of the box office year.
Next weekend, the widest release will be animated film "Tangled" from distributor Buena Vista at 3,500 venues followed by musical "Burlesque," which is expected to hit more than 2,800 theaters in total. Romantic comedy "Love and Other Drugs" will take aim at a similar audience to "Burlesque," while action-thriller "Faster" will look to scoop up the same demographic that has propped up "Unstoppable."
Early Studio Box Office Predictions for 11/19 - 11/21 (In Millions), [RTT Prediction]:
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One (Warner Brothers): $125.12 [$130]
2. Megamind (Paramount/Dreamworks): $16.18 [$14.5]
3. Unstoppable (Fox): $13.10 [$13.5]
4. Due Date (Warner Brothers): $9.15 [$9.3]
5. The Next Three Days (Lionsgate): $6.75 [$13]
6. Morning Glory (Paramount): $5.23 [$5]
7. Skyline (Universal): $3.43 [$5.3]
8. Red (Summit): $2.48 [$2.9]
9. For Colored Girls (Lionsgate): $2.40 [$3]
10. Fair Game (Summit): $1.47 [N/A]
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.