'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' Earns $125M in Opening Weekend

Nov. 21, 2010— -- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1," earned an estimated $125.1 million domestically on its first weekend, putting the new film at the top of the heap in the franchise for opening weekend revenue, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com.

Playing on a whopping 4,125 screens across the country, "Deathly Hollows" topped the previous franchise leader, 2005's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," which took in $102.7 million in its first weekend, to become the sixth-biggest opening weekend of all time.

The film does fall slightly short of the record for highest opening weekend for 2010, a crown which goes to this summer's "Iron Man 2." The blockbuster sequel took in a staggering $128.1 million its first weekend back in May.

"Deathly Hallows" may shock rabid Hogwarts fans, because sex has become part of the equation in the Harry Potter plot.

The focal point of all that angst is Harry's longtime sidekick, Ron Weasley.

Ron Weasley? Don't be so surprised.

"There are a lot of teenyboppers who think Rupert Grint, who plays Ron, is terribly sexy," said Gregory Bassham, a professor of philosophy at King's College, in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and editor of "The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy: Hogwarts for Muggles" (Wiley, 2010).

"The vision witnessed by Ron leads him to visualize his worst fears," Bassham said.