Harry Potter Set to Break Box-Office Record

It doesn’t open till Friday, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 is already set to break box-office records. The film is poised to be the nation’s top grosser this weekend, and may approach upward of $130 million. Nikki Finke at Deadline.com speculates it could even top $150 million this week. Deathly Hallows, which stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, has already sold $30 million in advance ticket sales, topping previous Potter ticket sales on Fandango. The franchise’s third installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is the only one to have an opening weekend of more than $100 million, earning $102.7 million when it opened in 2005. “We will EASILY pass $100M for our opening” weekend, a Warner Bros executive tells Finke.