Audiences around the world will pack sold out cinemas tonight as Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens simultaneously in multiple territories.

Advance sales for the boy wizard's latest adventure are at near-record levels, fuelling expectations that Harry Potter will soon supersede secret agent James Bond as the most successful film franchise of all time.

The five Harry Potter movies released so far have grossed a total of $4.48 billion at the worldwide box office. The James Bond pictures come in at $5 billion over the course of 22 films, beginning with the Sean Connery-starring Dr. No in 1962.

Tonight, midnight screenings of the Half-Blood Prince across Britain and North America will put Potter on the road to surpassing 007's total box office by the end of the month.

The sixth movie in the series based on J.K. Rowling's seven Harry Potter books has more than 2,700 sold-out screenings in the United States alone, according to MovieTickets.com. The film will show in 4,300 movie theatres in the US, and thousands more in 64 countries across the globe.

More than 1,500 midnight screenings tonight in the US have already sold out, with the picture the No. 2 all-time movie for advance ticket sales, just behind Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

In the latest film, Harry is forced to take on responsibilities beyond his years, while romance blossoms between Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint) and Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), as they prepare for a showdown with arch villain Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). The film also stars Michael Gambon as Dumbledore, Alan Rickman as Snape, Maggie Smith as McGonagall and Robbie Coltrane as Hagrid, with Jim Broadbent joining the cast as Horace Slughorn, a former professor brought back to Hogwarts.

Industry experts speculate that the delay of the movie's release - it was originally slated to open in November 2008 - has fuelled even more interest with Potter fans having to wait longer than expected for their latest fix.

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