Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has proved to be a hit film at the Shanghai box office over its opening weekend.

Since it opened on Saturday, the fifth movie installment in the Harry Potter saga has earned 6.1 million yuan (US$792,200) in weekend ticket sales, according to Shanghai United Cinema Lines, the city's leading cinema chain.

"With such a large fan base in China, this epic story is expected to make at least 20 million yuan at our chain," said Wu Hehu, deputy director of the company.

But Wu and other local film insiders noted that the movie wouldn't surpass live-action blockbuster Transformers, which has already grossed about 25.9 million yuan.

So far, Yonghua Cinema has taken about 600,000 yuan from the Harry Potter movie and sold nearly 90 percent of tickets for the weekend's screenings.

Meanwhile, to mark the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender on August 15, 1945, seven local theaters will run a special screening tomorrow at 6pm for the 82-minute documentary Nanking, co-directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman.

(Shanghai Daily August 14, 2007)