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In a massive start, Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" easily scored the biggest midnight gross of all-time in earning $22.2 million as it unspooled in 3,003 runs at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

That figure beats the $18 million earned in midnight runs by Warners' very own "The Dark Knight" and the $17 million earned by 20th Century Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III �Revenge of the Sith."

"Half-Blood Prince" opens in the same Wednesday slot that "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" did in 2007. "Order of the Phoenix" grossed $12 million in midnight runs on its way to a $139.7 million five-day debut.

B.O. observers expect the boy�or rather, teenage�wizard to be as popular as ever, if not more so. It's been two years since the last Potter pic, or the last book in J.K. Rowling's series, creating a pent-up demand.

Earlier this summer, Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," also opened on a Wednesday, grossed $16 million in midnight runs.