Harry Potter Throws Down Batman at Box Office

Last summer The Dark Knight earned $18.5 million in midnight screenings. Then came along Harry Potter last night bringing in a record $22.2 million. Earlier this summer, the horribly-awesome-but-really-horrible Transformers made $16 million on its first night of midnight screenings followed by the "second biggest single day gross in history of $62 million," according to Hollywood.com who notes that reviews for the new Harry Potter "have been the strongest for any film in the franchise and that means word-of-mouth buzz will be strong and will propel the grosses on an upward momentum rather than the typical drop-offs." All that could mean more records to be broken this weekend.