Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is already on track to smash a slew of box office records for the film’s opening weekend. The final film in the hugely successful franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is predicted to easily sweep away the $158.4 million opening weekend record of The Dark Knight from 2008.
The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. While most critics agree the film has its flaws — and doesn’t always stick to the book as some fans might prefer — many are lauding the final Harry Potter movie as the best of the entire series. Half of the top Twitter trend topics on Friday morning were related to the movie, including ‘Mischief Managed’ and ‘Mrs. Weasley’.
With 10,000 packed midnight screenings of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Friday and IMAX screenings nearly sold out nationwide through Saturday, the film already raked an estimated $45 million in box office ticket sales before the projectors even started rolling.
According to Deadline Hollywood, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 could not only beat The Dark Knight‘s opening weekend box office record, it could also take down a handful of other ticket sales records as well. The last Harry Potter film could possibly rake in as much as $180 million in opening weekend ticket sales. The movie is likely to also overwhelm the biggest single day sales record currently held by The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which stand right now at $72 million.
Warner Bros. also hopes Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will take home the title for the biggest foreign opening-weekend box office, which right now belongs to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with $260 million.