Thousands of bewitched muggles packed into cinemas across Britain from dawn until long after midnight yesterday as the latest Harry Potter film worked its magic.
The first screenings in Scotland of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix started at 6.15am, with the last showing not taking place until 11.30pm.
Pre-booked ticket sales for yesterday's previews smashed records at cinemas nationwide, with hundreds of separate screenings in Scotland, in-cluding more than 20 at some individual multiplexes.
Multimillion pound box- office takings were expected to beat all other blockbusters this summer, with the possible exception of The Simpsons, as the first wave of Rowling mania struck.
The second feeding frenzy is due in just over a week, when the final book in the boy wizard series is published on July 21.
At Cineworld in Renfrew Street, Glasgow, fans were already queuing outside at 8am when staff arrived for work yesterday. The cinema had 22 screenings from 9.30am to 11.30pm. Iain Lyons, operations manager said: "Our advance sales for this are the biggest we have ever had and the previous highest advance sales were for the last Harry Potter film.
"The first showing was sold out and the later showings this evening are sell-outs too, but there is still plenty of availability because we have so many screenings.
"I think it could be our biggest film this summer, although there will be a fair amount of competition from The Simpsons film."
Odeon cinemas also reported record-breaking sales nationally, with pre-booked tickets for yesterday's screenings soaring past the £1m mark. In Scotland, the chain sold 20,000 pre-booked tickets - making around £120,000.
Although the latest movie received lukewarm reviews after opening in the US earlier this week (to a record-breaking £23m box-office take on its first day), loyal fans lived up to their reputation for ignoring the critics, with millions of muggles - as non-magical people are known in Harry Potter - rushing to see the film.
The Vue cinema in the Omni Centre in Edinburgh, applied for a special licence extension so bleary-eyed fans could sit down with their popcorn at 6.15am to get their Potter fix before heading in to work.
Sue Tulloch, one of Vue's managers, said: "It wasn't full for the first showing but it was fairly busy. We have shown films at midnight and through the night before but it's the first time we've shown a film at 6am like this.
"I haven't seen anyone dressed up yet, but that's usu-ally more the evening crowd when lots of students come along."
The film also set a record for the widest release made by Warner Bros Studios, with about 22,000 copies shipped around the world.
And as Pottermania grows in the days leading up to the release of the seventh and final book, sales of past Harry Potter stories have raced back up the bestseller list, with 12 of Rowling's titles in online retailer Amazon's top 100.
Global pre-orders for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows stand at 1.8 million - smashing the previous record of 1.5 million for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Glasgow Vox Pop
I've seen all of them and this one was just as good'
COURTNEY French was among thousands of eager fans at the first screening of the new Harry Potter film in Glasgow yesterday.
The 10-year-old got up early to leave her Shettleston home with her stepfather, Chris Monteith, so that they could queue for tickets for the 9.30am showing at Cineworld multiplex in Renfrew Street.
And, despite a few technical problems, she wasn't disappointed. She said: "I really loved it. It wasn't as scary as I thought it was going to be. I love Harry Potter, I've seen all the films so far and this one was just as good. I didn't mind getting up early at all." Call centre worker Chris, 26, who fitted the film in before starting his shift, said: "Courtney has seen all of them, it's kind of a ritual. There was a problem with the projector and the top half of the film was cut off for a bit which was frustrating, but it was a good film. Sisters Alia, 16, Nadia, 17 and Sadia Sohail, 19 from Balloch, Dunbartonshire were equally enthusiastic.
Schoolgirl Alia said: "It was amazing. We have read all the books and we usually come to see the films together. It was so funny, especially Ron. Voldemort was really scary, I really thought he was going to do something to Harry this time. The saddest part was the death at the end, I cried."
And of the much-hyped kiss between Harry and Cho: "It was so cute," she added.
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