Harry Potter sets record for biggest opening ever

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opened Wednesday. In the five days since, the sixth "Potter" film sold $396.7 million in tickets, according to Warner Bros. Pictures, who distributed the film. This opening breaks the record for the biggest worldwide opening of all time, dethroning "Spiderman 3," which opened to $381.7 million in 2007.

The "Potter" film, which was originally set for release last November but pushed back for this summer, drew $159.7 million in the U.S. and Canada, making it the sixth largest opening in North America for the same time period. However, the film's foreign opening also beat "Spiderman 3," which took in $230.5 million for the all-time top spot. "Harry Potter" made $237 million. The film did best in Britain ($32.4 million), Germany ($23 million), France ($20.2 million) and Japan ($18.2 million).

The first five movies have generated $4.5 billion worldwide since 2001, which doesn't take into account profits from television and video sales. The fifth installment in the wildly popular series based on the novels by J. K. Rowling totaled $938 million worldwide, making it the seventh biggest movie of all time. Its first five days after opening in 2007, it earned $139.7 million.

The new film, which has generated a lot of buzz surrounding potential romances between the not-so-young protagonists, outpaced its predecessor's North American opening and looks to do the same with the final figures, which would put them near $1 billion.

Two movies remain in the series, which split the seventh and final book into two parts, the first to be released in 2010, and the second in 2011.