Thousands of 'Potter' screenings sold out

LOS ANGELES, July 15 (UPI) -- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has finished as the No. 2 advance ticket seller of all-time at MovieTickets.com, the U.S. Web site announced.

The sixth installment in the series, which opened Wednesday, has sold more advance tickets than any other "Potter" film to date and, as of midnight, MovieTickets.com and Fandango were reporting more than 3,000 screenings were sold out worldwide.

The film accounted for 96 percent of all ticket sales at both Web sites, the companies said.

MovieTickets.com's top 10 advance ticket sellers of all-time are "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" at No. 1, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" at No. 2, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" at No. 3, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" at No. 4, "The Dark Knight" at No. 5, "Twilight" at No. 6, "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Disney Digital 3-D" at No. 7, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" at No. 8, "The Matrix Reloaded" at No. 9 and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" at No. 10.

Fandango also ranked the latest "Potter" adventure as No. 2 after "Revenge of the Sith" on its top 10 advance ticket sellers list.

"It's rare for a movie to sell out so many of its midnight and early morning showtimes," Rick Butler, chief operating officer of Fandango, said in a statement. "But the positive word-of-mouth on 'Half-Blood Prince' has been particularly powerful. We expect heavy repeat business throughout the next few weeks, and especially when 'Potter' gets a wide release in the IMAX and 3D formats on July 29."