Harry Potter works box office magic

Harry Potter is laughing all the way to the bank - after the boy wizard conjured up record takings over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone grossed $58.6m (£45m) from Friday to Sunday and $83.5m (£60m) for the five-day Thanksgiving period, pushing its total to $188.1m (£135m) in just 10 days, according to studio estimates.

That gave the film the best three-day and five-day numbers ever for a film over Thanksgiving, squeaking past the totals for Toy Story 2 in its debut two years ago.

With cinemas reporting solid repeat business, Harry Potter should hold well through the end of the year.

‘‘I don’t know where we’re going, but wherever we’re going, we’re happy with it,’’ said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros, which released Harry Potter.

‘‘We’re going to have a huge Christmas.’’

Harry Potter has a slim chance of matching the record for fastest film to hit $200m (£150m).

It would have to reach that level by Wednesday to tie Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, which hit $200m in its first 13 days.

Despite the numbers posted by Harry Potter, the gross of $202.8m (£151m) for the top 12 movies from Wednesday to Sunday was down 12.6% from the same weekend a year ago.

That weekend was dominated by Dr Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas and theatres also had a strong slate of new films and holdovers, including Unbreakable and 102 Dalmatians.

‘‘This wasn’t a record Thanksgiving, but it was a solid one,’’ said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.