Fans were reluctant to say goodbye to Harry Potter — but they did anyway, in impressive fashion. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2” set a new record for its box office take. The midnight shows made magic, with $43.5 million in tickets sold, Warner Bros. estimates. The final film in the fantasy franchise beat the previous record set last summer by another sequel, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” whose midnight showings brought in (just!) $30 million.
Can it beat a bigger record, though? The biggest debut weekend for a film came in 2008, when “The Dark Knight” opened to much buzz, thanks in part to the performance and death of star Heath Ledger. It made $158 million its opening weekend, while experts see a take of about $150 million for Harry Potter. Keep in mind, though, that “Part 2” is in 3-D and those tickets cost more. That means it could set the record despite fewer people seeing this film.
| Kelly Jane Torrance is the Washington Examiner movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected]. |
Sgt. Scott Moore has a rather pretty date for the Marine Corps Ball this year — Mila Kunis.
The ballsy military man invited the actress, whose latest film “Friends with Benefits” co-starring Justin Timberlake opens this Friday, through YouTube.
“It was kind of a bet between me and Marines in my platoon,” Moore said in an official interview released by the Corps. “I told everyone I was going to do it, but they didn’t think I would go through with it. One day we had a couple minutes, and I took another Marine out with me and we shot two takes.”
Moore, who’s stationed in Afghanistan, talked about what he expects the Birthday Ball to look like. “A lot of Marines who are very happy to be home from Afghanistan, celebrating a successful deployment and the 236th birthday of our Marine Corps. I would like to refer to Eleanor Roosevelt’s quote about Marines for this one: ‘The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marine Corps!’ ”
After his YouTube video went viral, someone mentioned it to Kunis during a live television interview. She said yes — partly because of the goading of her co-star. Timberlake has now also been asked to the ball, by Cpl. Kelsey De Santis, who’s the only woman serving at the Martial Arts Center for Excellence at Quantico. No word yet on whether he’ll be at the November ball like his co-star Kunis.
It wouldn’t be a summer movie column without a mention of a superhero. Entertainment Weekly helped unveil the new Spider-Man, British actor Andrew Garfield, with its latest cover. He’s a lean, mean version of the Marvel character. The reboot, “The Amazing Spider-Man,” will appear in theaters next July. Conicidentally, its script is co-written by “Harry Potter” scribe Steve Kloves.
