“Harry Potter” works box office magic

British boy wizard Harry Potter conjured his magic at box offices again, as the sixth film in the highly popular movie series earned a record $22.2 million at Wednesday midnight showings in then United States.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” from Warner Bros. beat the old record for Wednesday midnight screenings of $18.5 million held by 2008 Batman movie “The Dark Knight” said Hollywood.com box Office president Paul Dergarabedian.

The debut “portends a huge and potentially record- breaking number for a single-day [box office] gross and best first five-day gross,” among movies, said Mr.Dergarabedian.

The highest one-day U.S.box office record belongs to “The Dark Knight,” which debuted on a Wednesday last summer to $67.1 million $1 billion world wide throughout its run in theatres

The five previous “potter” movies about the adventures of Harry and his friends at the Hogwarts school, based on the best-selling kids books by author J.K Rowling, have raked in $4.5 billion worldwide since then first film in 2001.

But in recent weeks, some media reports have suggested the movies’ fan base of teenagers and pre-teens may now be popular “Twilight” films, may steal some Potter’s audience magic.

Still, “Half-Blood prince” his theatres a full two years after the most recent “Harry potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” causing box office watchers to see a good deal of pent of demand for the movies. “ Order of the Phoenix” also opened on a Wednesday and took in $140 million in its first five days, on the way to $938 million in total global tickets sales.

Actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert grint at the premiere of Harry potter and the Half Blood Prince” in New York on July 9.

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Theatre in the West End of London

London’s west End has been the home of famous theatres from the time of William Shakespeare, arguably the father of English theatre. Shakespeare was involved with founding The Theatre in 1576, but is more famous for The Globe, which was built in 1597, and was the scene of many of his plays.

These early theatres were not designed to be comfortable, and patrons braved the fickle English weather in unroofed, circular theatres, the cheapest places going to the groundlings who watched from standing room in the pit of the theatre. The plays were superb entertainment, witnessed by their continued success today, and dealt with contemporary themes which are still relevant more than four hundred years after The Theatre was built.

The actors were all men, the women’s parts being taken by boys. This tradition continued, and for many years acting was considered to be an unsuitable profession for a woman. One of the principal forces to change this was Mrs Sarah Siddons (1755-1831), who brought respectability to the stage. By Mrs Siddons’ time the design of the theatre had been changed and the auditorium was horseshoe-shaped, the stage flanked by richly decorated tiered boxes. Opulent design is still to be seen in some of the London theaters of today. Thick velvet curtains, ornate stonework and gilt decoration endure in some of the older theaters like The Dury Lane Theater Royal, which opened in 1812, the fourth theater of the name to occupy the same site. For sheer sumptuousness, however, it is hard to surpass the interior of the Theater Royal in Haymarket, which is designed in the style of Louis XIV of France, with heavily carved embellishments and a great deal of gift.

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