Harry Potter film stirs up $44.8M in sales

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," a film based on the hit series of novels dreamed up by billionaire author J.K. Rowling, brought in $44.8 million on its first day in theaters.

Ticket sales for the new Harry Potter film, from Time Warner (down $0.06 to $20.64, Charts, Fortune 500) unit Warner Bros., reached the biggest Wednesday single-day gross in box-office history, according to Media By Numbers, a box-office sales tracker.

The figure includes $12 million in ticket sales for screenings that started Tuesday night, at midnight.

"Order of the Phoenix," ticket sales beat the previous Wednesday record held by "Spider-Man 2" of $40.4 million in 2004, the sales tracking firm reported.

Early orders of J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, have already reached more than 1.2 million at Barnes & Noble (up $0.62 to $39.19, Charts, Fortune 500), the largest number of pre-orders for any book in the company's history, according to the book seller. Under tight security, Barnes & Noble expects to start shipping the book to its stores on July 16th.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is the fifth film based on Rowling's best-selling fantasy novels, and stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, a teen wizard who, with his classmates, uses magic spells against the forces of dark Lord Voldemort.

"Order of the Phoenix," also stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as Harry's closest school friends, as well as Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Gary Oldman, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson and Imelda Staunton.