Weekend Estimates: Half-Blood Prince Posts $79.5 Million Opening Weekend
July 19, 2009
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has posted a $79.5 million opening weekend, according to Warner Bros.' estimate released on Sunday.
The movie's daily box office was an estimated $26.8 million on Friday, $29.2 million on Saturday and $23.4 million on Sunday -- and represents a remarkable level of consistency over the first five days in release, after a huge performance at midnight screenings on Wednesday.
The five-day total of $159.7 million is a new record for the franchise at this stage of a run (see comparison chart for Harry Poter Movies), although it does leave the movies somewhat behind the blistering early pace of The Dark Knight and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs had a good third weekend, falling 36% to $17.7 million for second place.
The Hangover also continued its remarkable run with a drop of only 16% to $8.3 million.
Brüno, meanwhile, crashed 77% to a second weekend $8.4 million, and looks as though it will have a short-lived run in theaters after brilliant marketing took it to a huge opening weekend.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight had a great weekend with (500) Days of Summer, which earned $838,000 from 27 theaters for an average over $30,000.
It should be expanding aggressively over the next few weeks.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hangover, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Brüno, (500) Days of Summer