“Deathly Hallows” debuted with $61.2 million on Friday, the fifth-biggest opening-day gross in box-office history. The film’s three-day take topped the franchise’s previous best opening weekend of $102.7 million set by “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” in 2005. However, “Deathly Hallows” failed to top the year’s best opening weekend gross of $128.1 million set by “Iron Man 2″ in April.
“Deathly Hallows” also raked in the dollars at the international box office, taking an estimated $205 million in 54 countries for a $330.1 million weekend gross overall. Meanwhile, “Megamind,” the North American box-office champ the past two weekends, slid to second place with $16.2 million. The animated film from DreamWorks Animation has now grossed a total of $109.5 million in three weeks. Denzel Washington’s “Unstoppable” came in third with $13.1 million, followed by the comedy “Due Date,” which took $9.2 million. Russell Crowe’s jail-break thriller “The Next Three Days,” had a dismal debut of only $6.8 million to round out the top five.
