[DoctorMichael]

I still say LOTR will have a bigger opening than Harry Potter.

Not to quibble but.......if what you mean as a "bigger opening" is $$$$$$$, then this may not happen due to the running time of the film (3 hrs). This may mean less showings per theater than HP @ 2 hrs and therefore less tickets sold. Plus, the distributors bombarded the public with 9000 (?) screens the first weekend of HP. I'm unsure of how many screens LOTR will get.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Harry was 153 minutes, LOTR is 178 minutes. Significant, but barely. In a 13 hour day, adding 8 minutes between showing (that's fast!), you could get 5 showings of Harry Potter compared to 4 for Lord of the Rings. Any slower between showings, or a 12 and a half hour day, and Harry does not repeat per screen more.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Harry Potter opened in 3600 theatres, estimated on 9000 screens. Lord of the Rings should open in close to 3200 theatres, and close to 7600 screens. That said, if Vanilla Sky brings in $1,200 a day on a screen and Lord of the Rings is sold out consistantly pulling in $8,000 a screen a day, what do you think theatre owners will do? Yep, order another print of LoTR and send back a copy of Tommy's film.

We could see the rare (read: Titanic) occurance of a film having more screens it's second weekend than it's opening weekend.