Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I Breaks Records Again With $125 Million Weekend

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” has broken records, not that it is the first movie in the franchise to do this.  Over the weekend, the film brought in $125 million.  This number includes the revenue from midnight screenings that took place across the country.  This box office performance puts “Deathly Hallows” ahead of the previous Potter topper, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” which took in $102.7 million on its opening weekend.

The movie is enjoying a fairly strong critical response.  Most critics saw the film as a gritty, beautifully filmed, character-driven triumph.  Most felt that Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, who started out in the roles of Harry, Hermione, and Ron over a decade ago, have grown into capable, affecting, and emotionally true young actors.  All critics seemed thrilled with and moved by the animated sequence that describes the story of the Deathly Hallows.

The criticisms that have been levelled at it have included the assertion that the film doesn’t have an ending.  Some critics feel that the story lacks a beginning, middle and end, claiming that film is mostly middle.  Others believe that the lack of magic in the grim tale is detrimental to the overall experience of the film, feeling that it was the luminous, magical quality of the previous films that made them so enjoyable.

However, by and large, the film fared very well both critically and financially in its first weekend.  It has received many an “A” and “A+” from critics while also keeping a Rotten Tomato score of 79% fresh (with a 90% audience like rating.  The film seems sure to go on to add another billion dollars to the franchise total.