Box Office: Harry Potter, Of Course!

Harry Potter and Company made all sorts of money — both here and overseas — over the five-day opening for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Earning a tremendous $140 million nationally and $330 million worldwide, this fifth movie in the Harry Potter franchise had the best five-day opening of a non-holiday movie ever. Order of the Phoenix is on track to be the highest-grossing of all the Harry Potter movies.

Despite the mesmerizing spell cast by Potter, other summer favorites didn't fall behind very much. Transformers held its own at No. 2 with $36 million, while Ratatouille stayed strong at No. 3. In fourth place was Live Free or Die Hard with License to Wed following behind. This doesn't appear to be the summer for torture porn, however, as Captivity opened to a dismal $1.5 million and came in at No. 12. This weekend it will be interesting to see if Harry Potter can bewitch his way to No. 1 even in the rotund face of John Travolta getting his groove on in Hairspray.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.