As expected, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets burst out of the gate on Friday and dominated the box office coming close to the heights of its predecessor. The wizard sequel grossed an estimated $28.9M in its first day in theaters ranking fourth among opening day grosses behind recent blockbusters Spider Man ($39.4M), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ($32.3M), and Star Wars Episode II ($30.1M).

Opening on the same weekend as the first Harry Potter flick from last year, Chamber's opening Friday was 11% less than Stone's. That film collected 36% of its weekend haul on Friday and with Chamber being a sequel, it could perform at or above that figure. Look for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets to rake in $76-84M over the three-day session putting it among the top five openings of all time.

The weekend's other new release, Sony's Half Past Dead, bowed with $2.7M in its first day of release and should generate a weekend opening of $7-9M.

Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were a steep 69% for 8 Mile, 42% for The Santa Clause 2, 31% for The Ring, and 18% for My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

For a review of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Sunday for the complete weekend box office report featuring official studio estimates.

Last Updated: November 16, 2002 at 2:45PM EDT

Written by Gitesh Pandya