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Surprisingly we've had very few "dropped off" kids. A lot of families coming together, and I've had quite a few adults tell me they liked the movie better than they thought they would.

The real story? At the AMC Hamilton 24 yesterday Harry Potter had only 1 sellout -- the 4:30 show. That was in a superlarge hall that didn't fill up till the last moment. Where did everyone go? Spy Game had 3 sellouts (medium-large hall). Monsters Inc. had at least 3 sellouts (medium-large hall). Heist had 1 sellout (small hall). Even the 4:45 round of Amelie sold out (small hall).

All that hype is making Harry Potter burn out fast!

The AMC Essex Green 9 is running only 2 prints since that theater has pretty large halls. Even with a nor'easter and a flood watch yesterday the Essex Green 9 sold out the 2:30, 3:30, 6:15 and 7:00 shows. The 6:15 and 7:00 rounds were sold out before I got there for the 5:00 show of The Ring.

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Notice the take for Gone with the Wind is still #1, coming in at over $1 billion in today's money. Beat that, Harry Potter!

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I've always been dubious of these "adjusted for inflation" lists. While GWTW may very well work out to be a top grosser, it's tickets, even in smaller towns, were at much higher prices than the normal film. As a matter of fact, many of these films on this list were sold at higher prices, even outside of their reserved seat engagements. Theatres were charging different rates for ifferent films well into the 70's. Today there's more of an equalizer, since Harry Potter will be the same price as every other attraction in the same megaplex.

Actual number of tickets sold would be a much better system for a true ocunt, but even then, shouldn't one take into account the avaiolable population at a given time?

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'Chamber of Secrets' is playing at a whopping 8,500 screens at 3,682 theaters, the widest opening release ever. The previous record holder was 'Sorcerer's Stone' at 8,119 screens at 3,672 theaters from which it bowed to $90.3 million. That 'Chamber of Secrets' debuted to slightly less is truly phenomenal given the trend of family sequels to have significantly lower starts. Warner Bros. was expecting an opening in the mid-$70 million range going into the weekend.

'Chamber of Secrets' garnered an A+ from moviegoers according to CinemaScore, which tracks opening night audience reaction. By comparison, 'Sorcerer's Stone' earned an A. Warner Bros.' exit polling on 'Chamber of Secrets' has 91% of moviegoers rating the picture either "excellent" or "very good." Parents and their children made up 50% of the audience, while 60% of moviegoers were under the age of 15. Gender-wise, the audience was pretty much equally split, only slightly skewing female. In all, 'Chamber of Secrets' was a near identical demographic clone of 'Sorcerer's Stone.'

Adding to the impressiveness of 'Chamber of Secrets' bow was the lack of the sheer media frenzy the first picture generated. Warner Bros., though, spent more on marketing than last time -- north of $40 million. The production budget reportedly came in at $100 million, but there is no studio confirmation of this yet. The first movie cost $125 million and grossed nearly $970 million worldwide ($317.6 million domestically alone).

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