Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 didn’t hit the $180 million some expected it would, but it did have the biggest opening weekend ever at $168.5 million.

The former record holder was The Dark Knight at $158.4 million, and factoring in the extra fees for 3D, attendance was slightly lower, but still impressive for the last film in the Harry Potter series.  (Sidenote: When are we going to start paying more attention to attendance than dollar amount?  It’s the only true measure.)  Missing the projected $180 million can be chalked up to a 53 percent decline from Friday to Saturday, a far steeper fall than one would usually expect.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon fell to second place with a 55 percent decline to an estimated $21.25 million. It does however mark the first film of the year to cross the $300 million domestic gross milestone, and has now racked up a total of $762.8 million.

Horrible Bosses came in third with an estimated $17.6 million, marking a decline of only 38 percent, a very respectable amount.

Zookeeper fell only 39 percent to come in at fourth with $12.3 million. It fell less than most, but when you start at such a low level, you don’t have to go.

Rounding out the top five was Cars 2 with $8.3 million.  It looks like Pixar may have finally made a misstep with this film as it is trailing far enough back now from the studio’s other features to mark a 12 year low.

Green Lantern? 14th place with $1.25 million for a total of $112.6 million. This really has become like watching a train wreck.

Next weekend sees the release of Captain America: The First Avenger and Friends With Benefits.

Considering the competition it was facing, it isn’t all that surprising that Transformers: Dark of the Moon won another weekend at the box office.

Falling 52% from it’s opening weekend, the third Transformers film brought in another $47 million and is actually doing quite well, and is holding onto it’s audience better than the second film did.

Horrible Bosses came in second with an estimated $28.1 million, the best opening ever for a dark comedy. Compared to other comedies this summer it fell into about the middle of the pack financially, but with a $35 million dollar budget, it needs to hit a minimum of $70 million total, and it may have a tough time getting there.

Opening in third was Kevin James’ Zookeeper with $21 million. How does this guy keep getting work, and why do people go and see it? He seems like a likable guy in interviews, but he’s just not that funny with scripted material.

Cars 2 settled somewhat with a 42 percent drop to $15.2 million for the weekend, but it is now trailing behind the first film on a day-by-day count.

Bad Teacher fell 38 percent to $9 million with a new total gross of $72.8 million off of a $20 million budget. Cheap comedies work, folks.

Larry Crowne fell 52% to $6.3 million and has about no hope of breaking even now. Perhaps the days of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts as box office draws has come to a close?

And just because it’s become like a sport now, Green Lantern was in ninth place with $3.1 million. It’s now at $109.7 million for a total domestic gross on a $200 million budget. This film is going to go down in history as an object lesson in how to blow a film that should have been a homerun.

Next weekend sees the final movie in the Harry Potter series released. My suspicion is we will see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 comfortably take the lead.

In a surprise to absolutely no one, Transformers: Dark of the Moon won the box office this weekend, and even set a record in the process.

Despite having its opening day moved around more times than anyone could count, the third Transformers movie won the weekend box office even with having been out a few days prior.  For the three day weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), the film brought in $97.4 million.  Add in the Monday numbers, it is estimated the film will have brought in $116.4 million.  This puts it six percent behind the second film, but still a healthy take.

Also of no surprise, mixed reviews seem to have had no impact on the film’s performance.

Cars 2 had a bummer of a weekend, sliding 60 percent from it’s opening weekend to only ring up $26.2 million for the three days, and $32.1 million for the extended holiday. This puts it well down the list of Pixar success stories, but Cars has never been a big earner at the box office, but it does huge in merchandise.

Bad Teacher slid 54 percent to $14.5 million ($17.6 million four-day). It’s grossed $63 million thus far in 11 days, and considering its $20 million budget, it’s already a success story.

The new Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts film Larry Crowne bombed in a big way, opening at 2,973 locations, the production only brought in $13.1 million ($15.7 million four-day). It only had a $30 million budget, and with these mega-stars attached you would have thought it would have brought in larger numbers.

Rounding out the top 5 was Super 8 with $7.8/$9.5 for the three and four day totals.

Monte Carlo cane un sixth with an estimated $7.4 million ($8.8 million four-day). You mean that yet another movie about mistaken identities didn’t do well? I’m shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED!

Where’s Green Lantern you ask? Oh, just sliding another 64 percent to come in seventh with $6.5/$8 million for the weekend. I’d laugh if my hopes hadn’t been so high for this disaster.

Next weekends is all comedies with Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper. The former has potential, the latter makes my brain hurt just watching the commercials.