'Harry Potter' hits No. 1 in 1st weekend

By BRILL BUNDY
ZAP2IT.COM
LOS ANGELES -- Movie audiences love that little orphaned wizard. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" flew into 3,858 theaters and conjured up an estimated $101.425 million in its opening weekend, besting 2004's "Prisoner of Azkaban" by nearly $8 million.
This secures "Goblet of Fire" as the fourth largest opening ever, behind "Spider-Man" ($114,844,116), "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" ($108,435,841) and "Shrek 2" ($108,037,878).
This week's other wide release, the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," came in at a distant No. 2 with $22.4 million. And while the sky may not have fallen, last week's box office winner, "Chicken Little," tumbled to No. 3 with $14.769 million, bringing its $99.151 million total to just shy of the $100 million mark.
"Derailed" ($6.526 million) and "Zathura" ($5.1 million) rounded out the Top Five.
Overall, this weekend's Top 12 films grossed an estimated $171 million, a whopping 53.6 percent increase over last week and a healthy 19.47 percent rise over this weekend last year, when Nicolas Cage's "National Treasure" took the No. 1 spot with $35.142 million.
The box office will get off to an early start for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with "The Ice Harvest," "In the Mix," "Just Friends," "Rent" and "Yours, Mine & amp; Ours" all going into wide release Wednesday.