To the surprise of no one not turned to stone by a basilisk, the final film installment of the Harry Potter series has done mega-magic at the box office.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 racked up a domestic gate of $168.6 million from Friday to Sunday, according to distributor Warner Bros. That beat the record $158.4 million set in 2008 by the Batman film, The Dark Knight, also from Warner Bros.
The film is the eighth and last in the series based on the novels by J. K. Rowling.
Overseas, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has taken in $307 million in 59 countries since Wednesday, beating the old mark of $260.4 million for an international debut set in May by Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. With its worldwide take of more than $475 million, Deathly Hallows: Part 2 could well be on the way to a $1 billion total gate.
"A billion dollars is definitely going to happen," predicted Dan Fellman, head of domestic distribution for Warner.
Deathly Hallows: Part 2 also got a boost from technology and inflation. The film is available on some screens in 3-D, which carries a higher ticket price than 2-D, allowing Hallows: Part 2 to make more money than Dark Knight while selling fewer tickets.
The Potter farewell also set a record for best opening day domestically Friday with $92.1 million, driving a stake through the old mark of nearly $20 million set by The Twilight Saga: New Moon two years ago. It also set a record for best domestic gross for debut midnight shows at $43.5 million, eclipsing the $30 million taken in last year by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which led the previous weekend's box office, dropped to second-place, with a domestic gate of $21.3 million and $39 million overseas. Horrible Bosses $17.6 million), Zookeeper ($12.3 mil) and Cars 2, $8.3 million ($12.4 million international) completed the top five.
He may not have had Harry Potter numbers, but Woody Allen had a good weekend, as his romance Midnight in Paris took in $1.9 million to raise its domestic total to $41.8 million, a personal record for Allen.
Here's the kind of story we at "SideShow" like as a relief from the celeb heartbreak so often related in this space: Miley Cyrus has a new puppy.
People mag reports that Miley was spotted with the new pooch on Friday night at L.A. International Airport. "I'm so in love with him it is ridiculous," the 18-year-old singer later tweeted. "His name is Floyd."
