When the dust clears, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" will shatter records for midnight screenings, according to online ticket sellers.
Though its box office haul will be truly magical, it is unlikely that the bespectacled boy wizard will beat the "Twilight" kids. Still, the final "Harry Potter" film is on track to be the No. 2 advance ticket seller of all time behind "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."
Fandango announced Thursday that it has sold more midnight and early morning show tickets for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" than it has for the late night openings of any other movie (including “The Dark Knight” and “New Moon”).
Also Read: 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' Racks Up $32M in Advance Sales
On Wednesday, Warner Bros. said the movie had already racked up $32 million in advance ticket sales.
More than 6,000 midnight shows are sold out in advance, Fandango reports. To accommodate Potter-philes, owners are scrambling to post additional 3:00 a.m. showtimes.
For its part, MovieTickets.com reports that "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" has already sold out 60 percent of all midnight shows. The film has sold out 4,500 showings listed on MovieTickets.com.
A senior IMAX executive told TheWrap that Potter pre-sales were "huge." The theater company reports that all of their midnight screenings are sold out, with only a few seats still available for its 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. shows.
That said, it does not look like "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" will unseat "New Moon" as the biggest pre-seller. When the "Twilight" sequel opened in November 2009, it had the box office field more or less to itself, whereas "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" will have to compete with tentpole fare such as "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" to claim its crown.
The Harry Potter finale is performing better in its midnight and early screenings, but "New Moon" had stronger Saturday and Sunday pre-sales, according to Fandango.
Thus far, the Harry Potter films have banked north of $6.37 billion worldwide, making it the most successful film franchise of all time.