Breaking Dawn's Big Opening Brings Twilight and Harry Potter Together!

In the record books, that is. New film's $72 million estimated Friday debut gives vampire series its third Top 10 all-time opening day—just like a certain rival franchise

By Joal Ryan Nov 19, 2011 7:03 PMTags
Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Breaking Dawn Part 1Andrew Cooper, Summit Entertainment

Breaking Dawn: Part 1 finished in the opening-day record books just behind New Moon, and just ahead of Eclipse with a $72 million estimated Friday box-office take.

Twilight is now only the second movie series to place at least three installments in Hollywood's Top 10 for biggest-ever single-day debuts.

And you don't even get two guesses as to what the first movie series is.  

Of course, it has to be Harry Potter.

The boy wizard's concluding chapter, Deathly Hallows Part 2, remains at the top of the opening-day all-timers, with a hard-to-beat $91.1 million. Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Half-Blood Prince are the franchise's other Top 10 openers.  

Breaking Dawn: Part 1 lands in third place on the list, giving Twilight a near-lock on the top five.

The new film, which barely edged Eclipse's midnight box office, ended up improving on its sibling's overall opening day by about $3.5 million.

Here's a complete rundown of the all-time biggest opening days, per rankings compiled by Box Office Mojo:

  1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, $91.1 million
  2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, $72.7 million
  3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1, $72 million
  4.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, $68.5  million
  5. The Dark Knight, $67.2 million
  6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, $62 million
  7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, $61.7 million
  8. Spider-Man 3, $60 million
  9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, $58.2 million
  10. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $55.8 million