The new Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, has taken a record-breaking $12m (£6m) at midnight screenings in the US.
The figure is the most made at the box office for a Wednesday opening midnight run, according to Daily Variety.
The previous record-holder was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which returned around $8m (£3.9m) in midnight ticket sales in 2003.
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix opens in the UK on Thursday.
Its early takings were double that of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous film in the series, which took $6m (£2.9m) at US midnight screenings in 2005.
'Unique challenges'
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe told US TV show Larry King Live that acting in the new movie was "some of the hardest stuff I've had to do to date".
"Each film presents its own very unique challenges so it's sort of like playing a different part every time you come back and do it," he said.
He added he still had a "long way to go and to develop" as an actor and said: "Hopefully you'll see more of that over the next two films."
The actor said it was not until the third Harry Potter film, the Prisoner of Azkaban, that he knew that acting was something he would "love to do in the long term".
"Before that I was just a kid having fun on a film set, having the time of my life, but not really taking it as seriously as I do now, obviously."
The actor turns 18 on July 23 but he denied he is now too old to play Harry.
"Actors play younger and older than their age all the time so I don't think it should make too much of a difference," he said.
Asked about Harry's first kiss in the new movie, he said: "It's a really sweet, tender moment in the film but it wasn't as big a deal as perhaps everybody thought it might be."
He praised Harry Potter author JK Rowling's writing as "just great, purely fantastic story telling".
"I think the reason the films have been so successful is that we're fortunate to have some of the best source material around," he said.
The figure is the most made at the box office for a Wednesday opening midnight run, according to Daily Variety.The previous record-holder was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which returned around $8m (£3.9m) in midnight ticket sales in 2003.
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix opens in the UK on Thursday.
Its early takings were double that of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the previous film in the series, which took $6m (£2.9m) at US midnight screenings in 2005.
'Unique challenges'
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe told US TV show Larry King Live that acting in the new movie was "some of the hardest stuff I've had to do to date".
"Each film presents its own very unique challenges so it's sort of like playing a different part every time you come back and do it," he said.
He added he still had a "long way to go and to develop" as an actor and said: "Hopefully you'll see more of that over the next two films."
The actor said it was not until the third Harry Potter film, the Prisoner of Azkaban, that he knew that acting was something he would "love to do in the long term"."Before that I was just a kid having fun on a film set, having the time of my life, but not really taking it as seriously as I do now, obviously."
The actor turns 18 on July 23 but he denied he is now too old to play Harry.
"Actors play younger and older than their age all the time so I don't think it should make too much of a difference," he said.
Asked about Harry's first kiss in the new movie, he said: "It's a really sweet, tender moment in the film but it wasn't as big a deal as perhaps everybody thought it might be."
He praised Harry Potter author JK Rowling's writing as "just great, purely fantastic story telling".
"I think the reason the films have been so successful is that we're fortunate to have some of the best source material around," he said.
