"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," the first part of the series' two-film finalel, broke the franchise's record for biggest opening weekend, thanks largely to fans who have grown up with — but have not outgrown — the boy wizard.
"Hallows: Part 1" opened to $125.1 million in the US and $330 million in total global ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates.
It was actually the second-biggest domestic opening for the Harry Potter franchise if you adjust for higher ticket prices. “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” originally opened to $103 million in November 2005, but with adjusted prices sold $127.4 million.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" is now the sixth largest opening of all-time and will likely push for a $300+ million domestic run — becoming only the third "Harry Potter" film to do so.
But how many college-aged individuals went to go see the new "Harry Potter" film?
According to distributor Warner Bros., 25 percent of the audience was age 18-24. When the first film in the series, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," opened in 2001, that key demographic made up 10 percent of the audience.
You can answer the poll above so we can find out how many UF students went to see the film. And do you consider yourself a huge Harry Potter fan? Are you in the same league as the guy in the video below?
If you did get to see the film over the weekend, you were lucky. MovieTickets.com reported the film was the number five advance ticket seller on the site of all-time and Fandango was reporting 2,200 sellouts while Movietickets.com was reporting 1,900 with more than 160 sellouts in New York and Los Angeles.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" earned $24 million from 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.
The film also fell short of another "Twilight" record — for best November opening. The current November opening weekend record belongs to "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" with $142.8 million back in 2009.
However, Potter fans do have reason to smile as the film’s $1.4 million in midnight IMAX tickets did eclipse the previous record holder. The previous midnight IMAX record was $1 million –again held by" The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."
While Potter did have an edge on "New Moon" in theater counts, screening in 4,124 theaters compared to 4,024, its fanbase isn't as rabid.
The "Twilight" fanbase is more likely to buy more than just one ticket for a weekend while Potter fans are a bit more level-headed and simply see the movie once during its opening three days.
Analysts expect that "Hallows: Part 1" will not only enjoy the biggest debut in the series' history, but also propel the planned eight-film odyssey past "Star Wars" to become the highest-grossing franchise ever.
The George Lucas saga has raked in $1.9 billion domestically over six movies. But such tracking sites such as Box Office Mojo predict that by the end of the Harry Potter finale's first-half run, the franchise — already at $1.7 billion — will force "Star Wars" down a peg.
Are you excited that "Harry Potter" might become the highest-grossing franchise? And what did you think of the latest installment?
