A Very Harry Wednesday

Thu., Jul. 12, 2007 1:08 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

Harry Potter's aging well.

The former boy wizard, now a troubled teen, scored his biggest-ever box-office debut with $44.2 million in opening-day ticket sales for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Exhibitor Relations said Thursday.

Order of the Phoenix began its workday dark and early Wednesday, with thousands of midnight screenings. As previously reported, those showings alone accounted for an estimated $12 million, or about 25 percent of the movie's one-day take.

The previous best for a Harry Potter debut was the $40.1 million pocketed by 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, per Box Office Mojo stats. Goblet of Fire was the franchise's fourth adventure; Order of the Phoenix is its fifth. Two more are planned.

While topping himself was no easy trick, topping Spider-Man proved an even greater challenge for the coming-of-age Potter.

In the end, Order of the Phoenix didn't come close to surpassing the Webslinger's single-day and opening-day records of $59.8 million, posted just this past May by Spider-Man 3.

But the latest Potter did manage to snag one of Spidey's titles: All-time biggest opener—Wednesday division, which the superhero acquired on the strength of Spider-Man 2's $40.4 million debut in 2004.

Overall, Order of the Phoenix now stands as Hollywood's fifth-biggest opener and its ninth-biggest single-day performer.

Speaking of Transformers...

Which we weren't, but Paramount, not wanting to be entirely overshadowed by the Potter kid, would like it if we did, since according to the press release issued Wednesday, its own summer behemoth, Transformers, grossed more money in its opening week, $155.4 million, than any movie ever that wasn't a sequel to Spider-Man or anything else.

Transformers, by the way, took in another $7 million on Wednesday, to bring its 10-day-plus total to $180.6 million.

And now back to Harry Potter, who's expected to rule the weekend box office—sorry, Transformers—and cumulatively take in as much as $130 million by Sunday.

That should ease his growing pains.