Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Starts Strong With Midnight Shows

While it didn’t turn out to be record breaking as some were anticipating, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 turned in the highest gross for the series from the opening midnight showings. The movie made $24 million which places it third highest in history behind just Twilight: Eclipse and Twilight: New Moon.

The projection for the full weekend is now around $135 million. That would make Deathly Hallows: Part 1 by far the biggest in the Harry Potter franchise to date. Goblet of Fire currently holds the open weekend high of $102 million. The average opening weekend has been $88 million, so that shows just how big this opening will be. Expectations will only be higher when Part 2 opens next July where it could threaten The Dark Knight‘s opening weekend record of $158 million.