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‘Harry Potter’ Breaks Midnight Record with $22.2 Million



(CNN) -- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" made $22.2 million at its midnight showings Wednesday, setting a new record.

The figure was released by Warner Bros., the studio that produced the film. (Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of Time Warner.) The previous record was held by last year's Batman tale "The Dark Knight," which made $18 million at its midnight showings.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," which opened on a Wednesday in late June, grossed about $16 million in its midnight premiere, according to the trade paper Variety.

"Half-Blood Prince," the sixth movie in the series based on J.K. Rowling's seven Harry Potter books, had more than 2,700 sold-out screenings, according to MovieTickets.com.

The film had more than 1,500 midnight screening sellouts in the United States and finished as the No. 2 all-time movie for advance ticket sales at MovieTickets.com.

The film finished just behind "Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" in advanced sales.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is showing at almost 4,300 theaters across the United States and Canada. The film is expected to gross more than $100 million this weekend and could match "Transformers" and "Dark Knight" by making more than $200 million total in its first five days.

The new movie reflects the growth of the characters: Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), the orphaned boy wizard who has been forced to take on responsibilities beyond his years; Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), his best friend, who is finding depths of courage he wasn't aware of; Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), the bookish and indispensable member of their clan who has demonstrated key leadership qualities; and all the rest, preparing for the showdown with the arch villain Voldemort.

Among the returning performers: Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, Alan Rickman as Snape, Maggie Smith as McGonagall, Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid and Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort. One addition is Jim Broadbent, who plays Horace Slughorn, a former professor brought back to Hogwarts.

Despite the growing darkness, there's also a lightness to the new film, Radcliffe said. Unlike the previous two movies in the series, which were rated PG-13, this one is rated a more family-friendly PG.

"I think this film's funnier," Radcliffe said. "There are a couple of moments which I laughed out loud at."

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Source: CNN