By Carl DiOrio

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - They went even more hog-wild for the Hogwarts this weekend than first estimated, while Eminem (news - web sites) fell further than initially believed over his second session.

Warner Bros.' family phenomenon "Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the Chamber of Secrets" actually grossed $88.4 million this weekend, according to Monday's official data from box office tracker Nielsen EDI. This represented a $700,000 increase over the studio's estimate.

"Friday turned out to be the only day this 'Harry' didn't beat the original, but that's what made me skeptical of what the actual returns would be," Warner Bros. distribution president Dan Fellman said. "We also had some horrific weather back East (and) in parts of Canada. So, I thought we should take a conservative approach."

Fellman had penciled in the same Sunday drop for "Chamber of Secrets" as marked over the first weekend of "Sorcerer's Stone." But the sequel actually showed a better audience hold on its third day than the franchise original, yielding a slightly stronger opening weekend than originally estimated.

The performance still represents the third-best three-day bow of all time, after "Spider-Man" ($114.8 million) and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" ($90.3 million).

Total openings grosses for "Chamber" lagged those for "Stone" by 2%. The lower weekend estimate had the sequel trailing original's bow by 3%.

The numbers have Warners executives believing the sequel can again fly north of $300 million domestically. "Sorcerer's Stone" delivered $317 million domestically, $967 million worldwide.

Meanwhile, Universal/Imagine's "8 Mile" grossed $19.3 million over its second weekend -- $2 million less than had been estimated -- meaning the hip-hop drama dropped a dramatic 62% from its opening weekend.

It appeared the disparity was traceable to less Sunday business at urban ethnic theaters than had been projected. The Eminem starrer still finished No. 2 in its second weekend.

Even rival distributors seemed puzzled by the picture's big drop, as critics' reviews and word of mouth have been generally positive.

Elsewhere among the weekend top 10, there were a few other deviations between Sunday estimates and Monday "actuals." That's the case on most weekends, with estimates often proving to be overly optimistic by up to $1 million or so.

This weekend's only other wide opener was Sony's "Half Past Dead," which grossed $7.8 million in fifth place, according to official tallies. The studio had penciled in a $400,000 higher weekend estimate for the Steven Seagal (news)/Morris Chestnut (news) actioner.

Industrywide, EDI counted $173 million in total grosses, or $1 million less than initially projected. Both figures represent a roughly 8% uptick over the same frame a year earlier.

Reuters/Variety

LOS ANGELES, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the November 15-17 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets .......... $88,357,488

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $88,357,488

2. 8 Mile .......... $19,344,025

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $84,440,250

3. The Santa Clause 2 .......... $15,102,078

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $82,517,083

4. The Ring .......... $10,662,183

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $100,684,335

5. Half Past Dead .......... $7,820,536

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $7,820,536

6. My Big Fat Greek Wedding .......... $4,713,464

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $199,574,370

7. Jackass: The Movie .......... $3,875,319

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $59,377,870

8. I Spy .......... $3,806,001

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $30,734,169

9. Frida .......... $2,914,103

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $8,661,275

10. Sweet Home Alabama .......... $2,233,774

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $121,886,286

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  The Chamber of Secrets has been opened and millions and millions of dollars has been made.  It is amazing how the United States can give a movie created by a middle aged British woman nearly $90 million in three days while charities that help sick children have to jump through flaming hoops to get $9 bucks.  Harry Potter is an official film franchise that will be with us for several years to come. 

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS - FULL REVIEW

The second installment of the seven part Harry Potter series is a real winner and an excellent follow up to its very good prequel. Harry Potter is barely able to arrive at Hogwarts this year to attend study his witchcraft as his annoying and abusive pseudo family tried to keep him away from the evil school. The reason Harry is in such a hurry to get to school this year is that a very odd elfish creature named Dobby has warned him that he must not go back to Hogwarts. Ah, the magic of reverse psychology. Mr. Potter is not one to avoid an adventure, so he hops on to his friend, Ron's family car and off they go. Once there, the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets and Harry's association with that secret fill up his entire time. These series of movies and books have become a world wide obsession and its appeal is not just to young children, but to grown adults who have gotten into the series by just them reading them to their kids. The movies so far have been faithful to the look described by J. K. Rowling in her novels as well as keeping much of the original story in tact. Potter's appeal comes in the way his adventures and actual education are fascinating as it is another world and to some degree another language. Hogwarts, muggles, quidditch, Slytherin, Gryffyndor, and parsel tounge are just some of the crazy words and actions that go on. Daniel Radcliffe has literally grown into the role as the magical prodigy. He is much older looking than he was in Sorcerer's Stone and it will eventually catch up to him to the point where it is doubtful he will be in the fourth movie. I have read all four books and Radcliffe is pretty close to how I and the illustrator see him. The look on his face when he is battlling the monster at the end and he is holding the big sword and is all muddied up is pretty intense. Hopefully he will not be typecast or get a chance to one day have a normal life beyond these movies. My favorite portrayal is that of Ron Weasley played by Rupert Grint. He is perfect as the helpless second to Harry. Grint's nervousness and grimacing is very amusing. Ron is like Donald Duck to Harry's Mickey Mouse. And Emma Watson's Hermione Granger was born to play this part as she is perfect in this role. Unfortunately her part is lessened a bit more than the 2 guys do to a certain plot development, but it is all made up for the look she gives at the end of the movie about the status of final exams. The casting of Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson was inspired and it will be a shame if they don't get to at least do the next two movies. It's not like Harry stays 12 in each book since he is aging a year with each story. So, their rapid growth would be acceptable. All performances are done well especially Kenneth Branagh's Gilderoy Lockhart the crazy new teacher. Jason Isaacs is also menacing as Lucious Malfoy. The main support cast of Dumbledore and Hagrid are okay, but were more interesting in the first movie. It is too bad that Richard Harris has died, and Dumbledore was his last part. I liked him in the part. The movie is pretty intense with a much darker tone with giant spiders, angry trees, and a giant snake. Little children might get a little upset by it, but if that is the case they probably would not want to see the movie anyway. The main plots of these movies are adequate with Harry's constant torture from the ghostly Voldemort, but my favorite parts are when they are learning new witchcraft techniques. I would like to see a story of just average run of the mill lessons with no end of all that is witchcraft plot to get in the way. In fact a whole movie should just be devoted to a Severus Snape class on the dark arts. A television series would probably be a good idea down the line. These movies are fun romps and will make the studio execs very happy. Since they appeal to multiple age groups, people are not outgrowing the series so they should be around for several years to come. J. K. Rowling has ripped off dozens of previous fantasy plots to come up with the likes of Harry Potter, but she has taken some of the best parts of those stories and created quite the interesting cast. I can't wait for the Prisoner of Azkaban. Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 8 out of 10; B+; thumbs up.