Harry Potter casts record spell at the box office in UK

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix took in more than £22m (€32m) in its first day, the best single-day gross ever for a movie on a Wednesday.

That included £6m (€8.8m) from screenings that started at midnight on Tuesday.

The sequel topped the previous Wednesday record for 2004’s Spider-Man 2, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

“In terms of box office, the law of diminishing returns does not apply to Harry Potter. It seems to be getting better with age,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Media By Numbers president, who noted that the July 21 publication of the seventh and final Harry Potter novel was likely to have helped drive interest in the latest film.

“It has the effect of creating even more excitement for both properties,” Dergarabedian said.

“It’s a synergistic match made in heaven to have the book and movie come out within a couple weeks of each other.”

Order Of The Phoenix, the fifth instalment of the movie franchise based on JK Rowling’s fantasy best-sellers, has teen wizard Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) teaching classmates magic spells to defend themselves against the coming battle with the forces of dark Lord Voldemort.

The cast includes Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as Harry’s closest school chums, plus Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson and Imelda Staunton.