It was a magical first weekend for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, even as the animated 3-D feature Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs showed staying power.
The sixth film in the Potter series grossed $79.5 million this weekend to bring its five-day opening total to an impressive $159 million.
In second place was Ice Age, the third film in the series from Blue Sky Studios and Fox, pulling in $17.7 million, for a domestic total of $152 million.
The 3-D edge was a major element in Ice Age‘s strong showing. The film edged out both Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which took in $13.7 million, and last weekend’s box office champ, Bruno, which grossed $8.4 million ‘ a huge 72 percent drop in business from the previous weekend.
The 3-D appeal has worked well for Ice Age overseas, where it has grossed more than $330 million in its first 10 days of release, according to Variety. The film’s impressive performance has it on track to surpass Transformers‘ performance, but will likely come in second in the year-to-date global gross rankings to Potter.
The success of 3-D, CG-animated features also continues to boost the Disney-Pixar film Up, which grossed $3.2 million domestically in its eighth week of release, making for a total $279 million. While Ice Age opened in many markets around the world simultaneous to its U.S. release, Up has yet to open in many major foreign markets and has so far grossed about $48 million overseas
