Um… wow.

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (582) W/E: £23,753,171 NEW

2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (472) W/E: £1,990,508 Total: £23,954,570

3. Bridesmaids (454) W/E: £1,576,780 Total: £15,858,973

4. Kung Fu Panda 2 (468) W/E: £779,183 Total: £15,115,981

5. The Guard (71) W/E: £368,148 Total: £1,181,408

6. The Tree of Life (80) W/E: £267,866 Total: £923,161

7. Zindagi Na Milege Dobara (49) W/E: £254,329 NEW

8. Bad Teacher (225) W/E: £203,911 Total: £7,373,475

9. The Hangover Part II (132) W/E: £101,839 Total: £32,643,624

10. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (89) £58,931 Total: £32,762,926

Source: The Guardian

Well we all knew the boy wizard was going to be big, the only question was simply how big? With the film having multiple prints at even the smallest multiplexes, and with the added bonus of the 3D premium, the film burst virtually every opening weekend record you’d care to think of, beating the previous record holder Deathly Hallows Part 1 with considerable ease. This is especially impressive when you factor in that all the “big” openings of this Summer so far have been aided by at least 1 day of additional previews artificially inflating its box office. Potter didn’t need this, though as with the US Friday’s figure will have included some heavily advertised midnight shows which in my own personal experience did very well last Thursday night/Friday morning. Because of these shows, the drop-off next week may look abnormally large but this is to be somewhat expected but with little serious competition at the Box Office and with the best reviews of the entire franchise, the boy wizard will be at the top of the chart for a while yet. I doubt Captain America will be able to unseat him in 2 weeks, and even Super 8 may have difficulty the week after.

After a decent drop-off last week, the robots felt the force of losing 3D screens and not being the only big boy in town as it takes a near 62% drop. It rather feels like the heat surrounding this film has already died off and has left it feeling a little limp at the box office. After less than a week, Potter will at the time of writing be sailing above Transformers gross as that film starts to sputter out slightly, and with another 3D effort hitting cinemas this week, its playtimes will get further squeezed out, something which will happen on an even larger scale next week. The 2D version will be hanging around for weeks yet but I think it’s fair to say that the film is dropping faster than Paramount will be happy with as it now won’t even be in the top 4 grossing films of the year so far by a long shot (The King’s Speech, The Hangover 2, Pirates and Potter will all have done far more by the end of the run).

In stark contrast, Bridesmaids holds well yet again with a drop of just over 30% with a running total which is now beating chart stalwart Kung-Fu Panda 2, which itself is still holding great ground at number 4. Both of these films have been successes with the wedding party having great news week after week now, the film still managing to pack out key evening showings, while for the Panda, the news gets better with the film lasting long enough to hold at many multiplexes for the whole of the summer holidays which kick off this coming weekend. Both these films have been two of the success stories of the summer in terms of sheer clinging on and both Universal and Paramount will be delighted with their UK performance.

Irish only entry also sees a cracking hold at a just over 20% drop-off which bodes extremely well for its mainland UK release next month, the well reviewed film obviously striking a chord over there and managing to post impressive numbers. The Tree of Life also holds better than I had expected it too with a drop of just over a third which has also earnt the film a bit of an expansion with it playing in a number of new circuits from this coming Friday. Maybe I should give the general filmgoing crowd a little more credit eh?

Zindagi Na Milege Dobara sees yet more fresh foreign language product enter the chart with a highly impressive per-screen average which shows off the continuing success these films have on such a limited run. Bad Teacher suffers a pretty brutal drop-off of over 60% though the film also lost over 160 sites week-on-week, the sheer reduction in the number of playdates certainly hurting the film’s chances. With it diving down the chart, and with the influx of blockbuster and kid product on the horizon, the film will now have a tough time of remaining with us for too much longer. Still, the mixed reviewed comedy has been in the charts for a fair while now and a total which will get over £8 million when all is said and done is not to be sniffed at. Saying this, the drop could be bad next week too with some direct competition getting ready to fire. Finishing us off for the week are stalwarts, and perhaps swansong showings, from The Hangover 2 and the Pirates, the latter actually making a chart reappearance on less than 100 screens, but with a couple of new entries this week, both of which may go for similar audiences, this will likely be the end. Still, look at those totals.

This week sees 2 wide releases hoping to capitalise on being new kids on the block as Disney will be hoping for the best with the depressingly average Cars 2 which will look to be a solid but relatively unimpressive performer this Summer, the film also having a tough time wrestling 3D dates from Potter and then next week’s Captain America, and Warner releasing more adult aimed comedy with the well reviewed Horrible Bosses, hoping to make an impression where The Hangover 2 has just left after its mighty run. Universal will also be hoping for some limited release success from the indie Ewan McGregor/Christopher Plummer/Melanie Laurent drama Beginners.

More next week!