'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Scores Biggest Midnight Gross Of All-Time, Earns 22.2 Mil

Variety reports that Warner Brothers' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has scored the biggest midnight gross of all-time in earning $22.2 million as it opened in 3,003 runs at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, July 15th.

That huge take beats the $18 million earned in midnight runs by the studio's other franchise hit "The Dark Knight" and the $17 million earned by 20th Century Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III -Revenge of the Sith." The "Half-Blood Prince" opens in the same Wednesday placement that "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" did in 2007. "Order of the Phoenix" grossed $12 million in midnight showings on its way to a $139.7 million five-day debut. To read more on the opening click here.

Warner Brothers is splitting "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the seventh and final book in the series about the young wizard, into two movies because of its length. Part I is to set debut on November 19th, 2010, while the final movie comes out eight months later in July 2010. The five movies based on the books by J.K. Rowling have already been made into huge cinema hits with stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is the sixth film in the series.

Daniel Radcliffe is best known for playing the title role in all five of the "Harry Potter" films to date, and will star again in the remaining titles. He recently made his Broadway debut, to much acclaim, in EQUUS. EQUUS also starred Richard Griffiths, with whom Daniel appeared in the highly successful production of the play in London's West End and in the Harry Potter films as well.

Radcliffe won BroadwayWorld.com 's 2009 Theatre Fans' Choice Award for Best Leading Actor in a Play for his role in EQUUS.