US Box Office
While the new book is breaking the fastest selling record, the boy wizard loses his box office magic juice a little bit faster than his rival hardware friends. This means a new comedy entry takes over the top spot already. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James as two straight people pretending to be gay lovers, hauls in $34.8 million, just a few points lower than Sandler previous hits (for instance, Click opened at $40 million).
This leaves Harry Potter at two, dropping some 58% (compared to just 47% for Transformers last week), but still has enough power left to conjure some $32 million (and a total racing past the $200 million mark).
Hairspray, the musical starring John Travolta as a big fat momma, scores $27.8 million.
Dropping to number 4, but still on a destructive path is Transformers, with $20.5 million and a $263 million total. Rounding out the top 5 is Ratatouille with $11 million and a total of $165 million, coming a whole lot short of Brad Bird’s previous achievement with The Incredibles ($200+ at the same week of release) despite extremely favorable reviews.