Despite mostly setting the table for the back half of a gargantuan two-part finale, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows Part 1 had the strongest opening weekend of any other entry in the series, taking an obscene $125.1 million (that’s around $30,300 per screen, also an absurd number for a wide release). That gross also counts as the sixth highest opening in box-office history, and helps to justify—financially if not creatively—the decision to split J.K. Rowling’s last book into two parts. With Harry Potter gobbling up most of the box-office pie, that left mere crumbs for the Russell Crowe thriller The Next Three Days, which took an anemic $6.75 million and opened all the way back in fifth place.
In limited release, there was promising news for a pair of femme-centered dramas: Made In Dagenham, about female workers going on strike at a 1968 Ford plant, and White Material, Claire Denis’ impressionistic take on a white farmer (Isabelle Huppert) caught in the middle of African upheaval, took $41, 100 and $36,300 per screen, respectively. Far less auspicious was the debut of Today’s Special, a foodie comedy co-written by and starring The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi. It earned a feeble $1,655 per screen on 55 screens.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.