New Potter film breaks records in US, Australia

San Francisco/Sydney, July 12 (DPA) Despite less than magical reviews, the new Harry Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", has broken opening night records in both the US and Australia, it was reported Thursday.

The film, the fifth in the series, opened in midnight screenings in 2,311 cinemas across North America to earn $12 million - easily beating the $8-million record for midnight showings set by "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" in 2003. It almost doubled the takings of its own Harry Potter predecessor, "The Goblet of Fire".

The success seems certain to continue as "Order of the Phoenix" expands to 4,285 US screens from Friday, the largest number for any Warner Brothers release to date.

The movie also boasted the highest midnight opening figures in Australia, taking in Australian $4 million (US $3.3 million) on its first day of screenings, its distributor said Thursday.

The previous Potter film, "The Goblet of Fire", took Australian $3.2 million on its opening day on Dec 1, 2005.

The new film is the fifth biggest opening day in Australian cinema box office history, behind the three "Lord of the Rings" films and "The Matrix Reloaded".

In France, the new Harry Potter film recorded the third-highest industry opening of all time with $5.9 million. Elsewhere, the film boasted the biggest opening for any of the Potter films in South Korea, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia, Variety reported.

The latest Harry Potter film is out less than two weeks before the publication of the final book in J.K. Rowling's seven-part series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix