According to Variety, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince set an all-time record for its midnight opening, which took in an estimated $22.2 million. The movie screened a combined 3,003 times in theaters across the country, which means each screening took in almost $7,400.
This figure puts the sixth Potter movie well ahead of The Dark Knight and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, which earned $18 million and $17 million, respectively with their midnight debuts. It also eclipses the $16 million made by last month's midnight screenings of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
In addition, ABC News10 in Sacramento is reporting that Half-Blood Prince has overtaken The Dark Knight as the #2 entry on Fandango's list of Top 10 all-time advance ticket sellers. That puts it ahead of movies like Twilight, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and Spiderman 3. It now trails only Revenge of the Sith.
For some fun accounts of last night's midnight mayhem, check out this article in The New York Daily News and this one from The San Diego News Network.
Also worth a look is this video from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which involves mock protesters marching against the presence of muggles: