What to See This Weekend: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I,' 'The Next Three Days'

Here's a rundown of what's opening this weekend - as if anyone's going to go see anything other than 'Harry Potter.'

New and Noteworthy: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I'

Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes
Directed by: David Yates
What's It About? In the first half of the 'Potter' series' apocalyptic finale (Part II is due next summer), Harry, Ron and Hermione head toward a final confrontation with Voldemort while seeking the scattered fragments of the dark wizard's torn soul. Of course, they're still teenagers, so hormones do get in the way.
Why Should You See It? Uh, because everyone else you know will? Because the same writing/directing team behind the last couple of increasingly dark installments are behind this one? Because it's your (second-to-) last chance to see Harry Potter on the big screen?
You Might Like It If You Like: The first six 'Harry Potter' movies, Western civilization

•Showtimes & Tickets
•Trailers & Clips
•'Harry Potter' to Pass 'Star Wars' as Biggest Movie Franchise of All Time
•The Week in Geek: Five Great Things About 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I'
•'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I' NYC Premiere Red Carpet
•In Defense of Draco Malfoy
•Moviefone's Search for the Biggest Harry Potter Fan: Submit Your Video
•10 Things We Learned on the Set of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I'
•Reviews | Leonard Maltin's Review | Mr. Moviefone's Six Second Review

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I' - Trailer No. 2

Also New: 'The Next Three Days'

Starring: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Lennie James
Directed by: Paul Haggis
What's It About? Y'know, in the current real-life drama 'Conviction,' Hilary Swank gets her framed-for-murder brother out of jail by spending 18 years earning college and law degrees and working through the system. In this thriller, however, when Russell Crowe's wife (Banks) is convicted of murder, he gives up on the system after three years and plans to bust her out instead, with the help of a jailbreak expert (Neeson).
Why Should You See It? It's Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson in butt-kicking mode. It's directed and co-written by Paul Haggis, the screenwriter of the last two James Bond movies (and of course, the Oscar-winning 'Crash' and 'Million Dollar Baby'). Did we mention the part about Crowe and Neeson kicking butt?
You Might Like It If You Like: 'Taken,' 'Anything for Her' (the 2007 French film this one is adapted from), 'Proof of Life'

•Showtimes & Tickets
•Trailers & Clips
•Reviews

'The Next Three Days' - Trailer No. 2

In Limited Release

'Made in Dagenham' is a drama loosely based on a real-life 1960s strike at a British auto plant that marked the first victory in the fight for equal pay for women. There's even been some Oscar talk for star Sally Hawkins ('Happy Go Lucky') .
Showtimes & Tickets
'Heartless' is a horror film starring Jim Sturgess ('21') as a loveless young man with a large facial birthmark who strikes a Faustian bargain after he discovers that his gritty London neighborhood really is hell on Earth, complete with thuggish demons.
Showtimes & Tickets
Still In Theaters, Still Awesome

•'Unstoppable' - Runaway train loaded with explosives? Big deal. It's Denzel Washington, 55-year-old action hero, who's unstoppable. | Showtimes & Tickets
•'Morning Glory' - This backstage comedy set at a struggling morning news show seems to be pleasing audiences. Except, we'll bet, for Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson, who probably aren't too flattered by the mismatched, bickering anchors played by Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. | Showtimes & Tickets
•'Fair Game' - Whether or not you agree with the movie's take that Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson were selfless public servants who endured a political firestorm for trying to unearth the the truth behind the stated rationales for the Iraq War, you'll appreciate the awards-worthy performances of Naomi Watts and Sean Penn as a couple undergoing an undeniably unique marital crisis. | Showtimes & Tickets
Staying In This Weekend?

New on DVD This Week: If you never bought Ebenezer Scrooge's yuletide conversion because you didn't find the ghosts scary enough to force a change of heart, then Disney's 'A Christmas Carol' is for you. Motion-capture animation allows director Robert Zemeckis to amp up the fantasy elements and icy chills of Charles Dickens' ghost story. If anything, it may be too scary for the youngest viewers, even with a full-of-humbug Jim Carrey as the voice of Scrooge. Buy or rent the DVD | More new DVD releases

Movie Homework: As 'Made in Dagenham' suggests, moviegoers like their labor heroes to be heroines. That includes such stand-up sisters as Meryl Streep in 'Silkwood' and Charlize Theron in 'North Country,' but most of all, Sally Field in 1979's 'Norma Rae.' Loosely inspired by the true story of a woman who fought abysmal working conditions in her local textile mill by unionizing it, the film contains an Oscar-winning performance by Field that's so iconic, even after three decades, that it was just parodied this week on 'Glee.' Only instead of standing on a table silently holding a sign that says, "UNION," Mercedes hoists one that says "TOTS," to protest the removal of the students' beloved potato puffs from the school cafeteria menu. Buy or rent the DVD

On My Netflix Queue: Since I can't afford a vacation at a French beach resort right now, I'll settle for a viewing of Mr. Hulot's Holiday (1953), the sunniest and breeziest of all movie comedies, and the platonic ideal to which all other comedies about vacation mishaps aspire. Buy or rent the DVD
•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.

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'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I' Smashes Records: Box Office Report November 19-21

Just how big was this weekend's opening of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I'? Well, take the combined earnings of the other nine movies in this weekend's top 10, about $60 million, then double that number, and you still won't reach the sales figure that 'Potter' conjured up.

According to studio estimates, 'Potter' earned $125.1 million this weekend, a record for the franchise that far surpasses the $102.7 million earned by 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' in 2005, the last time a 'Potter' picture opened over just a three-day weekend. 'Deathly Hallows' also set a franchise record with $24 million in midnight screenings on Friday morning. Its full Friday take was $61.2 million, yet another franchise record and the fifth-biggest single-day sales figure in box office history. If that $125.1 million figure holds after final numbers are released on Monday, it will be the sixth biggest opening weekend of all time, behind May's 'Iron Man 2' ($128.1 million).

Even with such staggering numbers, 'Deathly Hallows' still slightly underperformed predictions, which anticipated a take as high as $130 million. Maybe that's because the movie still faced a small amount of family-audience competition from 'Megamind,' still going strong with an estimated $16.2 million in its third weekend. It still boasts an enormous screen count (3,779 venues, second behind 'Potter's' 4,125), so if 'Potter' screenings were sold out, chances are good 'Megamind' was still playing next door. In three weeks, it's earned $109.5 million.

'Unstoppable' was third this weekend with an estimated $13.1 million, down just 42 percent from last week's opening. In 10 days, the runaway train thriller has earned $42.0 million.

In fourth place, 'Due Date' was the weekend's top comedy, with an estimated $9.2 million and a modest third-weekend drop of 40 percent. It's grossed $72.7 million to date.

Opening at No. 5, Russell Crowe's action thriller 'The Next Three Days' disappointed with just an estimated $6.8 million. In a weekend dominated by Harry Potter, expectations were low to begin with, but Crowe's movies these days tend to open between $11 and $14 million. Apparently, there was still plenty of competition for the guy audience with 'Unstoppable' and 'Due Date.' Hey, is it too late for Crowe to get himself cast in 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II'?

The full top 10:
1. 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I,' $125.1 million (4,125 screens), new release
2. 'Megamind,' $16.2 million (3,779), $109.5 million total
3. 'Unstoppable,' $13.1 million (3,209), $42.0 million
4. 'Due Date,' $9.2 million (3,229), $72.7 million
5. 'The Next Three Days,' $6.8 million (2,564), new release
6. 'Morning Glory,' $5.2 million (2,544, $19.9 million
7. 'Skyline,' $3.4 million (2,883), $17.6 million
8. 'Red,' $2.5 million (2,034), $83.6 million
9. 'For Colored Girls,' $2.4 million (1,216), $34.5 million
10. 'Fair Game,' $1.5 million (386), $3,7 million

•Follow Gary Susman on Twitter @garysusman.

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Box Office Spotlight: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1'

The Movie: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,' the seventh and next-to-last film in the 'Harry Potter' franchise, directed by David Yates and starring every character actor to ever hail from the United Kingdom.

The Target Audience: Every die-hard, fan and admirer of the most widely appealing series since at least 'Star Wars,' and maybe ever. And their friends and families.

The Competition: Very little, predictably – Hollywood cleared the way for the juggernaut, with only Lionsgate offering 'The Next Three Days' as new counter-programming. It did not end well for 'The Next Three Days,' though it offered Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, Paul Haggis, and a fun little high concept plot. Nor did it end well for every other film in the top 10, all of which saw at least a 50% drop – more evidence of 'Potter''s insanely broad appeal. For the full lowdown on the weekend's results, check out Moviefone's Box Office Report.

The Number: An estimated $125 million – a franchise record, and the sixth highest opening weekend of all time. The next biggest 'Harry Potter' opening is 'Goblet of Fire' with $102 million; the previous two films each opened in the summer to roughly $75 million, though 'Half-Blood Prince' ultimately ended up out-grossing 'Goblet of Fire.'

The thing about 'Harry Potter' is that far from waning in popularity, it seems to pick up fans as it goes. The first film, Chris Columbus's 'Sorcerer's Stone,' is still the highest-grossing domestically, but the order after that is six-five-four-two-three. 'Deathly Hallows: Part 1' has a good chance of wresting away the crown.

All of which suggests that, even as they count the 'Potter' profits, Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling's publishers must be in agony over Rowling's unwillingness to write another book, 'Harry Potter' or otherwise. (I hope no one thinks splitting 'Deathly Hallows' into two movies was a purely artistic decision.) It's been over three years since the last book was published (yes, I stood in line), and we've heard nary a peep. That speaks well of Rowling as a woman of her word – she said she was done, and apparently she is – but you can almost hear the worldwide gnashing of teeth.

Staying Power: The total-gross-to-opening-weekend-gross ratio for the 'Harry Potter' films tends to hover around 3, and is itself inversely proportional to the opening weekend number. (In other words, when the movies open huge, the opening weekend ends up being a higher percentage of the total take, which is common.) Based on that, it seems reasonable to project $350 million for 'Deathly Hallows: Part 1.' That would be enough to make it the richest 'Harry Potter' yet.

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