LOS ANGELES: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” may be the scariest of the films about the teenaged wizard but it also had the most successful opening of any of the series.

Distributors Warner Brothers Pictures said Potter was the top film in all 19 countries where it opened at the weekend, including the United States, where it ended a box-office slump, and Britain, where it smashed all records.

With the movie opening in Japan, Italy and Spain next weekend and France and Australia in the first week of December, the distributors are hoping it could become the smash hit of the year.

Though “Goblet of Fire” has been widely described as the scariest of the four movies so far, sparking a debate in the United States about whether it was suitable for young children, kids in Potter’s trademarks glasses and wands packed out movie theatres for the opening.

The film of J.K. Rowling’s book conjured up an estimated 101.4 million dollars in US and Canadian theatres, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

“Goblet of Fire”, directed by Briton Mike Newell, drew the fourth biggest opening gross earnings in North America, trailing “Spider-Man” (114.8 million dollars), “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” (108.4 million dollars) and “Shrek 2” (108 million).

Potter’s magic helped bring box office revenues up over the weekend after being down most of the year, according to Exhibitor Relations.

Warner Bros Pictures International UK said the movie took 14,903,710 pounds (21.7 million euros, 25.6 million dollars) on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, making it the biggest three-day weekend in British cinema history.

The film took in four million pounds Friday, 5.6 million pounds on Saturday and 5.2 million pounds on Sunday, each of them records for a single day in Britain.—AFP