The Twilight Saga's 'New Moon' and 'Eclipse' have both grossed more money then 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' on opening night.
"The boy wizard couldn't beat the teen vampires.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" sold $24 million in tickets in its debut late Thursday night with shows that started at or soon after midnight, according to an estimate from Warner Bros.
That's $1.8 million more than the last movie in the series,"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," brought in from midnight shows when it debuted in June 2009.
It's well short, however, of the record set in July by "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," which grossed more than $30 million during its late-night launch.
In fact, "Deathly Hallows" is the No. 3 midnight opening of recent years, also coming up behind November 2009's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," which kicked off its opening weekend with $26.3 million.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" is on track for a huge opening weekend of more than $100 million. Now that it didn't break any records in midnight shows, however, it's less likely the picture will top the $158-million debut in 2008 of "The Dark Knight," which stands as the biggest opening weekend ever, not accounting for ticket price inflation.
-- Ben Fritz"