After bringing in $24 million on Thursday from midnight screenings, Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 ended up scoring a total of $61.2 million for Friday (including those midnights), giving it the fifth highest opening for a movie ever. This surpasses the $58.2 million opening for the previous installment, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince but falls behind the last two “Twilight Saga” sequels, which opened with $72.7 and $68.5 million, The Dark Knight ($67.2 million) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($62 million).
Check back tomorrow for the full weekend box office estimates.