Harry Potter shatters box office records

Legions of Harry Potter fans on both sides of the Atlantic helped break box office records at the cinema this weekend.

During the first three days of its release Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has made £16m in Britain and £68m in the US - smashing all previous records.

It is on course to beat the total of the Titanic which topped £575m worldwide.

Warner Bros president Alan Horn said: "This is truly historic for Warner Bros Pictures. Everyone involved took great care and effort to protect the integrity of the characters and the story so beautifully rendered by JK Rowling, and we couldn't be more proud to have debuted this picture to such an overwhelmingly positive response."

The previous record for a film opening in Britain was held by Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, which took £9.5m in 1999.

In America the record was held by Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park with £51m in 1997.

"Given the enormous popularity of the novel in the United Kingdom, and the fact that the story is set in Britain, we're thrilled that audiences in the UK have embraced the film so wholeheartedly," said Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, President, International Distribution, Warner Bros.

"We thank the exhibitors for their unqualified support in bringing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to fans throughout the United Kingdom."

Although attracting record numbers of people to the cinemas, the film, titled in the US Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, has opened to mixed reception by reviewers with some claiming the film is too long, too slow and too confusing for children.