'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Breaks Midnight Records

Record-breaking midnight releases are expected from summer blockbusters such as of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "The Dark Knight." But no one expects them from a "Harry Potter" film.

Sure, it's a massive franchise, with analysts expecting this week's release — "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" — to push the series' gross over the $5 billion mark. At the end of the day, though, these are movies with family appeal, and midnight turnouts for kid wizards can't possibly compete with giant robots and bat men. Can they?

Yes, they sure can. "Half-Blood Prince" took home somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million in its midnight opening, according to a report in Variety . The sixth "Potter" flick now sits at #1 for all-time midnight openings, beating out "The Dark Knight" ($18 million) and "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith" ($17 million).

The $20 million figure is an impressive jump after the previous film's — "Order of the Phoenix" — not-shabby $12 million opening in 2007. Perhaps the nearly doubled "Half-Blood" take is a result of the two-year vacuum of new "Potter" content. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the final book in the series, hit bookshelves in 2007. The "Half-Blood" movie adaptation was originally set for a fall 2008 release, and fans were driven into a frenzy when the studio pushed it back to this summer.

The decision to change the release date was questioned at the time, but if last night's box-office performance is any indication, Warner Bros. made the right choice. Now we're all left to wonder how the two-part adaptation of "Deathly Hallows" will fare.

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Reviews Are In!

'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Reviews Are In!

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment in the ongoing series, hit theaters on Wednesday (July 15), breaking a midnight-screening record by taking in an astounding $20 million. It's no surprise that "Half-Blood Prince" will turn out to be a box-office smash, but how does it stack up with the critics? Check out our breakdown below (as well as Kurt Loder's review of the film, and for everything you need to know about "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," check out our cheat sheet).

The Story

Of all the movies, "Half-Blood Prince" focuses more on the developing romantic relationships between the characters, and less so on the action and adventure. The Philadelphia Inquirer calls it "a bubbling cauldron of hormonal angst, rife with romance and heartbreak, jealousy and longing."

For the most part, reviewers don't find any fault with this, as the developing romances provide comic relief and an accurate portrayal of adolescence. According to ReelTalk, "It's an involving portrait of an awkward stage of growing up, where teenagers are preoccupied with their emotions while the outside world and greater responsibility continually knock on the door."

But the Washington Post points out a few flaws, writing that the movie, "though not without its excellent moments, doesn't tell the two stories that, at heart, the book tells. It doesn't present a compelling portrait of the birth, life and descent into inhumanity of the villain who has haunted this series from its opening scenes: Voldemort. And it doesn't make the budding romance between Harry and Ginny feel inevitable and true."

The Acting

Most critics seem to agree that the best acting is done by the supporting cast, which includes veterans like Michael Gambon, Helena Bonham Carter and Maggie Smith. In particular, the addition of Jim Broadbent as Horace Slughorn is welcomed. The Los Angeles Times said that Broadbent, along with the rest of the supporting cast, "underlines the Potter films' ongoing status as a comprehensive guide to contemporary U.K. acting."

Returning to the series as Professor Snape, Alan Rickman is at his scene-stealing best. Rolling Stone said, "Rickman is a dynamo, lacing the Severus sneer with glimmers of conscience and moral doubt."

What about the lead actors? Cinema Blend wrote, "I'm still not convinced Daniel Radcliffe can act and I'm still absolutely convinced that his backup wizards Emma Watson and Rupert Grint definitely can."

But other reviewers are inclined to defend Radcliffe. In the Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert wrote, "It's not easy being the hero with a supporting cast like this." Rolling Stone added that his "growing maturity as Harry gives the role a touching gravity. His scenes with Gambon, super as Dumbledore, exude ferocity and feeling."

The Visuals

While the "Harry Potter" series has always been known for its top-tier, eye-catching production values, this installment has a darker, more ominous feel, thanks to new cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel's work. Entertainment Weekly writes, "With a big assist from cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel ... the filmmakers have found a way to refresh our eyes and enhance our appreciation for this rich, amazing creation."

Empire opined, "The standout achievement in the film is the knockout spectacle, courtesy of cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel and production designer Stuart Craig, with one climactic sequence amid flames giving Dumbledore his Moses parting the Red Sea moment. That's the image we'll remember best until HP7 Part One arrives."

'Half-Blood Prince' Vs. The Other Movies

USA Today said, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is spellbinding, even though it is more grounded in reality and less fanciful than previous installments."

Cinema Blend echoes this statement, saying it "may be the least action-heavy of all the Potter pictures," but adds that "It's taken them six movies to find it, but at last here is Harry Potter's 'Empire Strikes Back.' "

The Associated Press wrote, "'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' is the franchise's best so far, blending rich drama and easy camaraderie among the actors with the visual spectacle that until now has been the real star of the series."

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Answer Fan Questions

'Harry Potter' Stars Aren't Surprised By Robert Pattinson's Success

Before the vampire Edward Cullen, there was the Hogwarts student Cedric Diggory. British actor Robert Pattinson went from the mega-franchise of "Harry Potter" in 2005's "Goblet of Fire" to the mega-franchise of last year's "Twilight."

Now that Pattinson has entered a world in which bloodsuckers chill Stateside — and now that he must contend with Twilighters going wild for every bit of RPattz gossip out there — Daniel Radcliffe looks at his onetime "Potter" co-star's career arc as educational.

"It's really interesting for me, as somebody who is a central feature of a pretty huge franchise," said Radcliffe, who returns as Harry Potter in the "Half-Blood Prince" on Wednesday (July 15). "It's interesting to watch — because I haven't seen 'Twilight' — and to suddenly be able to just watch another franchise go massive is really interesting."

"Twilight" has given Radcliffe a chance to understand how an everyday fan must react to his own franchise. "I have no concept of what 'Potter' looks like to the rest of the world because I'm so involved in it," he explained. "So to watch 'Twilight' kind of explode globally had been fascinating."

The two British stars, though, haven't connected since they filmed "Goblet of Fire." "People always assume that as a celebrity, I know all the celebrities," Radcliffe laughed. "But I know very few famous people!"

Another of Pattinson's "Potter" co-stars, Emma Watson, always knew Rob had the goods to make it big. But no one could have ever guessed how big he would actually make it. "He was always very intelligent, nice, talented, good-looking, had everything there," she told MTV News. "I'm not surprised he's been successful. I'm surprised that it's got this insane. I think he's a great actor."

Having worked with both Radcliffe and Pattinson, who would Watson say is the most enchanting? "Obviously, I'm going to have to say Daniel, because he's just gorgeous," she said with a smile.

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Answer Fan Questions

'Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince' Stars Answer Fan Questions

The "Harry Potter" franchise would be nothing without its multitudes of fans. MTV News knows that. The "Potter" cast knows that. And to celebrate your commitment to the boy wizard before the Wednesday release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," we presented your questions to Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and the rest of the film's stars.

It was a difficult task to sort through the video entries and choose just a few, but the questions we ended up selecting touched on topics like "Potter" mythology, essential character traits and the ultimate legacy of J.K. Rowling's franchise.

MTV reader Shonz905 is undoubtedly a serious "Potter"-phile, and her question for Radcliffe offered up a triple-sided head-scratcher: If Daniel had a love potion, Imperio (a curse that gives you control over someone) and Avada Kedavra (a death spell), which would he use on #1 bad guy Lord Voldemort, mysterious Hogwarts teacher Severus Snape and Dark witch Bellatrix Lestrange?

Radcliffe laughed and made the easiest choice first. "Obviously, Bellatrix, the love potion," he said.

He paused before going on, asking for clarification. "Are we talking about characters or actors?" he wondered. "Because I just want to state for the record that I don't want to kill any of them."

Just characters, we assured him. With that cleared up, Radcliffe declared he'd kill Snape and use Imperio on his nemesis. "If I could control Voldemort, than I'd have his power," he reasoned. "See — thinking!"

Hufflepuffgirl identified Hermione Granger's three key character qualities as loyalty, intelligence and bravery, and this reader wanted to know which one Watson, who plays Hermione, admired the most.

"I think her loyalty is really admirable," Watson said. "I think she's a great friend. Particularly in the last book, you see her sacrifice so much for her friendship. She sacrifices everything. She makes her parents forget that she even exists so that she can help them and be there for them. That's truly admirable."

With the "Potter" franchise nearing its conclusion, Methehappymedium wanted to know what the actors most wanted fans to take away from the series.

"Each film gives different messages and different lessons to children and even adults," explained Bonnie Wright, who plays Ginny Weasley. "Obviously, it's within this fantasy world in which no one can probably take away a lot, because it's so far beyond their own life, which is great as well because it's an escape from normal, quite mundane life. I guess just to take the sense of the friendships between everyone are so strong. The sense of loyalty, and if you strive to live within the good, then good will come back to you."

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Get Over Kissing Qualms

'Blair Witch Project' Cast And Crew Celebrate 10-Year Anniversary

"We really had no idea what we were doing," said "Blair Witch Project" co-director Daniel Myrick to MTV News in June 1999, little more than a month before his indie horror film swept into theaters, scared up $250 million at the worldwide box office and set a trend of online viral marketing that is still being followed today.

Myrick and his collaborators might not have had a clue what they were up to, but years later, on Tuesday's (July 14)10-year anniversary of the flick's theatrical release, "Blair Witch" has become an undeniable classic of the horror genre. Not that any of the key players, even to this day, know exactly how to deal with such recognition for past accomplishments.

Josh Leonard, who played one of the young filmmakers lost in the Maryland woods, admitted in a recent interview that until recently he hadn't been introduced as anything but "the 'Blair Witch' guy" at a dinner party in a decade. "I'm proud of that film, not necessarily for what it became in its cultural-icon status, but because it was a group of people working completely outside of the system, who took a totally punk-rock, DIY ethos to making something," he said. "And then it caught on."

"Psychically, it was a pretty damaging experience," he added.

Myrick, too, has struggled with the weight of lofty post-"Blair Witch" expectation, and now looks back wistfully at the late '90s. "It was a pure, innocent, unencumbered time in our filmmaking careers, which will probably never be repeated," he told us recently.

Presenting itself as a documentary compiled from found footage, "Blair Witch" followed Leonard and his two friends on a journey into the woods to document an urban legend about a witch who killed children. They end up getting sucked into a beyond-frightening supernatural freak-out that — 10-year-old spoiler alert! — leads to their disappearances. Shot on an ultra-tight budget in which the actors followed clues, via GPS devices, left by Myrick and his co-writer/co-director Eduardo Sanchez, the film became a Sundance hit and — partly due to a newfangled online viral-marketing campaign — a cultural phenomenon upon its mainstream release.

And it wasn't for lack of competition. Films like "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace," "The Sixth Sense" and "The Matrix" opened that same year. Suddenly the "Blair Witch" upstarts found themselves at parties with Britney Spears and the folks from "American Pie." When Artisan threw a 1,000-person "Blair Witch" party in Cannes — complete with a faux forest constructed on the Parisian beachfront — Leonard said the entire cast kept asking one another, " 'How the f--- did we make that movie and get here?' We felt like intruders."

Myrick said he and Sanchez busted out cigars and laughed to each other, "This is it, man!"

Leonard went from working as a caterer to appearing on "The Tonight Show." Myrick and Sanchez were offered just about every horror film in development at the movie studios. One project they barely touched was a "Blair Witch" sequel, which landed with a thud at the box office in 2000. Both the filmmakers and the actors continue to be known, perhaps solely, as the "Blair Witch" guys.

Ten years on, it seems Myrick and Leonard each have a complicated, yet ultimately warm remembrance of their time working on their little horror flick that became an iconic piece of American cinema. The last time Myrick watched his film, three years ago, he was alone in a hotel room.

"It was playing on demand," he said. "I'd seen all the porno flicks, and I said, 'Ah, I'll watch "Blair Witch!" ' "

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Get Over Kissing Qualms

'Harry Potter' Star Emma Watson On 'Awkward' Kiss With Rupert Grint

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" star Emma Watson has appeared in six films based on J.K. Rowling's book series, but she's never been kissed — at least not onscreen. But all that changed recently when the 19-year-old and co-star Rupert Grint began filming the two-part franchise finale, "Deathly Hallows."

"I was like, 'Do I use tongue?' " she laughed during a recent interview with MTV News. " 'Do I not use tongue? Do I cover my teeth? What do I do? Do I go first? Oh my God!' "

With all these questions swirling in her head, she ended up nearly attacking Grint, who plays Ron Weasley. "I ended up pouncing on Rupert," Watson confessed. "I was so desperate to get it over. After the first take he was like, 'Whoa, there! Where did that come from?' I was like, 'Sorry!' "

"It took me by surprise," Grint admitted.

Grint has had a lot more on-camera smooching experience than Watson. He spends a good portion of "Half-Blood Prince" snogging with classmate Lavender Brown (Jessie Cave) and completely oblivious to the amorous feeling of Watson's Hermione Granger. Kissing Lavender, kissing Hermione — it's all pretty uncomfortable for Grint.

"Kissing [on camera] is always quite embarrassing, because you've got a whole crew of people watching you and it just feels really self-conscious and you don't really know what to do with yourself," he said.

Add in the fact that Watson and Grint have known each other since their pre-teen years, and the kissing scene reached new levels of weirdness. But at least it was a shared weirdness. "The only good side to it was the fact that we were both in the same boat," said Watson. "We were both just like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe we have to do this. This is so awkward. Really awkward.' So I could take comfort in the fact that Rupert felt the same way. We were both giggling. We were like 12-year-olds. We were like giggling children where you just couldn't keep it together."

Yet even more difficult than the actual kiss was the moment after director David Yates yelled "Cut!" "The hardest part was having done the kiss and having to put it away and having a moment of looking at each other," Grint said.

And did Watson think she did well for her first time? "I have no idea if I did it right!" she laughed.

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Get Over Kissing Qualms

'Harry Potter' Star Tom Felton Talks 'Iconic' Villain Draco Malfoy

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is J.K. Rowling's book of love and violence. For Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, that meant a movie filled with romantic dreaminess, unrequited love and the first tentative steps into loving relationships. But for Tom Felton, who plays nefarious student Draco Malfoy, the ongoing battle between Lord Voldemort and the Hogwarts crew meant a chance to establish his character as one of the classic villains in cinema.

When MTV News had a chance to chat with Felton at the red-carpet premiere for "Half-Blood Prince" in New York, he enumerated the characteristics of all great bad guys. "Cold eyes, I've been told," he said with a smile on his face. "A pretty pasty face. I think it's quite iconic, Draco, in the way he looks."

That'd be a platinum-blond mop on his head, ice-blue eyes staring ruthlessly at his nemesis Harry, and a seething energy barely contained within his slight frame. "I think to be evil you need an iconic look," he said. "Like a James Bond villain, with the scar or a cat. Something like that definitely helps."

Though his co-star Freddie Stroma, who makes his debut as Hogwarts student Cormac McLaggen during the film, doesn't play a villain, he does serve as a romantic adversary — and all-around arrogant jerk — in "Half-Blood Prince." "It's fun to do the comedy stuff and play that slimy, horrible guy and have [Emma Watson's Hermione] feed off it and her kind of just trying to ignore me all the time," he told us.

But McLaggen eventually receives his comeuppance, when Harry Potter himself convinces the rascal he just swallowed a "dragon's ball" during a dinner party, making him vomit all over a teacher. "I can't tell if it actually was [a dragon's ball], or it was Harry saying that just to make me feel bad," Stroma admitted. "I should probably do some more research on that — find out what I actually ate."

For his part, Felton would take a little bit of villainy over a love scene with his co-stars and longtime friends any day. "I was luckily left out of that," he laughed. "I heard it was a little bit awkward, so I was grateful not to be involved with the snogging."

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‘Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince’ Stars Get Over Kissing Qualms