UPDATE: The estimate as now changed to $22 million. Way to go Harry!

Just when you thought there was no way that boy wizard would take down The Bat comes word from Variety that Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince nabbed a whopping $20 million in midnight screenings on Wednesday (according to early estimates), putting it ahead of both The Dark Knight ($18 million) and Star Wars Episode III ($17 million), earning it the highest midnight gross of all time.

To show a comparison, Order of the Phoenix (opening in the same exact spot) only grossed $12 million in midnight shows. That's nuts! Goes to show you that holding out a little longer for release meant that Potter fans were literally craving more as if the boy wizard were a drug. Kudos to you, sir Potter -- now let's see what other records this sucker can break.