娱乐英语新闻:New Harry Potter film expected to break box office records in North America

LOS ANGELES, July 15 (Xinhua) -- "Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince," the latest installment in the popular boy-wizard movie franchise, is expected to break Hollywood's several box office records as it opened Wednesday in North America.

    The sixth Harry Potter film took in about 22.2 million U.S. dollars in midnight ticket sales at U.S. and Canadian theaters, shattering the 18.5-million-dollar record of midnight earnings setby Batman blockbuster "The Dark Knight" in last summer, according to distributor Warner Bros.

    The film is expected to beat the all-time Wednesday earnings record in North America of 62 million dollars generated by DreamWorks' "Transformers 2" last month, and surpass the robot action sequel's five-day record of 200.1 million dollars from Wednesday to Sunday in its first week.

    Meanwhile, the new Harry Potter film is also possibly to topple the all-time five-day record of 203.7 million dollars by "The Dark Knight," which opened on a Friday.

Actors James (L) and Oliver Phelps pose during a photocall to promote the film "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" in Madrid July 12, 2009

    "The Half-Blood Prince," which cost Warners Bros. about 400 million dollars to make, could gross more than its two latest predecessors with its broader PG rate. The fourth and fifth Potter films were rated PG-13.

    The previous Potter film, "the Order of the Phoenix," grossed 292 million dollars in North America and worldwide 938.2 million dollars two years ago. The new Potter film also debut this week in all major foreign markets.

    The seventh and final book of J.K. Rowling's fantasy novel series is being split into two film adaptations, slated to be released in November 2010 and July 2011 respectively.