Captain America Smashes Harry Potter at the Weekend Box Office!

Arriving approximately on 7,100 screens at 3,715 locations, including 3D and 2D screens, the fourth and final superhero film of summer earned $65.8 million. This was over $10 million over what both “X-Men: First Class" and “Green Lantern” collected upon their debuts in June and slightly above what Thor had earned in its opening weekend in May.

Captain America's estimated attendance on the first day was comparable to G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, but was less than Fantastic Four and X-Men among past July Marvel Comics kick-offs, according to Box office Mojo.

Distributor Paramount Pictures' exit polling showed that 64 percent of the Captain's crowd was male, which was about the same as Thor, and 57 percent was 25 years of age and older.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had earned a $48.1 million domestically in the second weekend by falling 72 percent off 4,375 screens. The eighth and final part of the boy-wizard franchise in its first weekend made $169.2 million, the largest debut on record, and smashing international, worldwide and IMAX records as well.

In the meantime, Friends with Benefits got an estimated $18.5 million start on around 3,500 screens at 2,926 locations, which was less than the $19.7 million made by another "Friends with Benefits" sex comedy "No Strings Attached" back in January, Box Office Mojo reported.

Source:ibtimes.com

Harry Potter partners with Google, snubs Apple and PayPal

Google has joined forces with the most famous wizard in the world, Harry Potter, which could mean a big boost for two of its services while also resulting in a huge missed opportunity for Apple and PayPal. The partnership with the new Pottermore website by Harry Potter author JK Rowling will make the e-book version of the seven Harry Potter books available on Google's eBooks reader. The deal also makes Google's payment service Google Checkout the official third-party form of payment for Pottermore. By partnering with Google eBooks, Rowling has found a way to put her seven highly-in-demand books on smartphones, tablets, e-readers and computers without having to split the sales with companies such as Apple or Amazon, who typically keep about 30% of sales. Rowling's distribution method gives publisher's more leverage when it comes to selling e-books, said Craig Vodnik, chief blogger for BuildingKeystones.com, a blog about digital product e-commerce.

Harry Potter film 'breaks box office records' in US

The film's distributor, Warner Bros, reports that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, made $92.1m (£57m) in North America on Friday.

The previous single-day record belonged to The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which made $72.7m (£45m) on its opening day.

The Potter film is the eighth movie in the franchise.

The seventh book in JK Rowling's popular series was split into two films.

Fans around the world queued for hours to be among the first to see the film.

The entire Potter film series has so far earned more than £4bn worldwide, not including the final film's takings so far.

It has been 10 years since the first movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was released.

It made stars of its young cast, Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

Source: bbc.co.uk