Harry Potter's Hallows Tops US Thanksgiving B-O

NOV 29, 2010 - Families were out in force as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Tangled dominated the Thanksgiving box office with a potent one-two punch, followed by Megamind in a distant third. Burlesque, Love and Other Drugs and Faster each posted modest numbers, and overall weekend business was slightly down from the same period last year when The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Blind Side led.

Deathly Hallows Part 1 pulled in an estimated US$50.3 million, down 60 percent from last weekend. Its drop was more extreme than the last Thanksgiving's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was off 47 percent.

Tangled unfurled with an estimated $49.1 million on approximately 5,400 screens at 3,603 locations, lifting its sum to $69 million in five days and ranking as the second highest-grossing Thanksgiving opening ever (behind Toy Story 2).

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for Nov 26-28, 2010 weekend, in terms of rank, Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Warner Bros) $50.3 million ($220.4 million) 2

2. Tangled (Buena Vista) $49.1 million ($69.0 million) 1

3. Megamind (Paramount/DreamWorks) $12.9 million ($130.5 million) 4

4. Burlesque (Sony / Screen Gems) $11.8 million ($17.2 million) 1

5. Unstoppable (Fox) $11.8 million ($60.7 million) 3