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'Potter' Breaks Opening-Day Record
Sunday, November 18, 2001 10:31 AM EST
"Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" worked its wizardry on the movie box office, pulling in an estimated $29.45 million on Friday in theatres across the U.S. and Canada.
That magical sum breaks all-time single-day mark of $28.5 million, setby "Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace" on May 19, 1998, according to Variety. However, "Menace" opened on a Wednesday and in approximately 700 fewer theatres than "Potter".
The film's impressive one-day tally also puts it on course to break both the current three-day (non-holiday) weekend record: $68.5 million, set this year by "Planet Of The Apes", and the three-day (holiday) weekend record of $72.1 million, set by Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" sequel, "The Lost World", in 1997. (That film opened on Memorial Day weekend. Its four-day tally exceeded $90 million.)
Three other films this year are in the same ballpark for opening-weekend grosses: "The Mummy Returns" ($68.1 million); "Rush Hour 2" ($67.4 million); and "Monsters, Inc." ($62.6 million).
"Potter's" record one-day take is all the more impressive when you factor in the high proportion of lower-priced children's admissions and the unusually long running-time for a family film: 152 minutes.
Meanwhile, as expected, the rest of the top 10 movies took a huge hit, with the nearest competitor, "Monsters, Inc.", taking in an estimated $5.7 million on Friday, or less than one-fifth of "Potter's" performance.
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