UPDATED - 4:30pm EST

Wizards of all ages flocked to the megaplexes on Friday driving Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to one of the largest opening day grosses in box office history with an estimated one-day tally of $36M. The eye-popping figure was collected in 3,858 theaters, including Imax locations, giving Warner Bros. a stunning per-theater estimate of $9,331 in only one day. Official studio numbers will be released on Sunday.

The towering opening day gross for Goblet came close to the $38.3M first-day tally for the last film in the series Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban which launched in June of 2004. Goblet easily beat out the opening days of the first two Potter pics, Sorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets, by 10% and 20% respectively, if estimates hold.

Azkaban captured a very high 41% of its total weekend gross on Friday, however it opened in June when many students were not in school. The previous Potter pics, which both bowed in mid-November, generated 34-36% of their total opening weekends on their Fridays. Given its magical opening day strength, Goblet of Fire might soar to $91-96M for the full three-day weekend.

Fox opened its Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line to the tune of $7.7M on Friday, according to estimates. The Joaquin Phoenix-Reese Witherspoon film should find its way to $21-23M for the frame for a strong second place showing.

Among holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 71% for Chicken Little, 73% for Zathura, 56% for Derailed, and 72% for Get Rich or Die Tryin'.

For a NEW review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, visit The Chief Report.

Last Updated: November 19, 2005 at 4:30PM EST

Written by Gitesh Pandya