THE TOP TEN
Warner Bros.' mega-blockbuster Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone held on to first place with a still magical ESTIMATED $83.49 million at 3,672 theaters (theater count unchanged; $22,740 per theater). Its cume is approximately $188.1 million, well on its way to $400 million in domestic theaters. (Harry's three-day gross for the Friday-Sunday weekend was an ESTIMATED $58.55 million.)
(NOTE: Today's estimates are for the five-day period from Wednesday through Sunday. Percentage variations are omitted today because comparisons between a five-day holiday period and a normal five days are not valid.)
Directed by Chris Columbus, Harry stars Daniel Radcliffe in its title role.
Harry's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
"Harry Potter continues to make motion picture history," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning. "It dominated the North American box office this weekend, breaking all previous industry records."
Focusing on the film's record setting ticket sales, Fellman pointed out, "It's the fastest movie to ever reach $150 million. We did it in eight days [last Friday]. The record was Star Wars [The Phantom Menace] at $150 million in 10 days. It is the largest three day Thanksgiving weekend. Our three-day weekend is $58.55 million. The record was $57.3 million, which was the three-day weekend of Toy Story 2.
"It's the largest Thanksgiving five days ever. The record was Toy Story 2 at $80.1 million, which opened on Nov. 24, 1999, and that was its first five days. This, of course, is not our first five days. We already had well over $100 million in before we started. It's the largest week in motion picture history. Our first week was $129.526 million. The record was Star Wars [The Phantom Menace] at $124.7 million."
The film, Fellman said, is being "cheered by audiences from eight to 80. We are beginning to see a trend towards repeat business. I talked to a lot of theater owners this weekend and it's amazing the stories they tell about people who are coming out of one screening and going into another. So the Harry Potter phenomenon will certainly continue strong through the Christmas holidays."