Potter conjures up box office record

THE boy wizard has vanquished the dark knight and a band of pirates with a record-setting magic act at both the domestic and international box office.

Warner Bros estimates that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 took in $168.6 million (€120m) domestically from Friday to yesterday. That beats the $158.4m also held by Warner Bros for 2008’s The Dark Knight.

Overseas, the film added $307m in 59 countries since it began rolling out on Wednesday, topping the previous best international debut of $260.4m set in May by Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.