"Harry" rides to top of box office charts

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" whisked its way to No. 1 at movie box offices with weekend ticket sales of $77.4 million and a five-day total of just over $140 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

The fifth film based on J.K. Rowling's novel about the British boy wizard broke a record for a U.S. and Canadian debut on the Wednesday of a non-holiday week, topping the five-day total for "Shrek 2" at $128.9 million, said Dan Fellman, chief of domestic distribution at Warner Bros.

"Order of the Phoenix" sold more tickets in its initial five days than the first three "Potter" movies in their initial week and fell behind only the fourth, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," with $146 million in its first seven days.

Rowling's seventh and final novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is set to debut on bookshelves on July 21, and Warner Bros. already is working on movies No. 6 and No. 7.

"It's an amazing franchise," Fellman said. "The book comes out in a week, and that should help set the last two up for another big score."

Overall, the first four films have grossed $3.5 billion at global box offices.

Meanwhile, last week's champion, alien robot movie "Transformers," racked up another $36 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices to land at No. 2 on the charts.

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