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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince*](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/07/14/review-harry-potter-and-the-half-blood-prince/) is only the second Harry Potter film to open on a Wednesday, after 2007’s Order of the Phoenix](Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) - Movie | Moviefone). By the Sunday of its opening weekend, Order of the Phoenix was looking at a pretty impressive $140 million, on its way to being the year’s 5th highest grosser, and a solid #2 in the franchise. By the Sunday of its opening weekend, Half-Blood Prince has $160 million in its coffers, as well as a slew of rapturous reviews and positive fan responses. (Well, mostly. There will always be whining from Rowling purists who don’t know what an adaptation is.)
That raises a real possibility that Half-Blood Prince could dethrone current domestic franchise king Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone](Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) - Movie | Moviefone), which holds the top spot with $317 million. At the very least, it looks like it might be the only movie other than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/06/22/review-transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen/) to break the $300 million mark in 2009. (Transformers itself is already at $363 million – 13 of all time! Christ!* – and is looking unbeatable.)
Brüno](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/07/09/review-bruno/) took the tumble that its front-loaded opening weekend suggested (it made more than half its first weekend gross on the Friday of its release), dropping over 70% to fourth place. It will end up with around half of *Borat](Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) - Movie | Moviefone)*'s $129 million final number. The other summer comedies in circulation, The Hangover](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/06/04/review-the-hangover/) and The Proposal](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/06/18/review-the-proposal/) continue to hold up very well, with the former boosting from #6 to #5 in its seventh week of release.
(500) Days of Summer](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/07/17/review-500-days-of-summer/), opening on 27 screens in advance of a steady expansion in the coming weeks, got off to a promising 12th place start with a per-screen average over $30K.
The full top 12 after the jump.
Continue reading Weekend Box Office: Let’s See What This Mr. Potter Can Do