WHO would win in a dual between a bespectacled teenage wizard and a rippling web-spinning superhero?

If box office battles are anything to go by Harry Potter would triumph over Spiderman before you could say "You-Know-Who".

Previews for the boy wizard's latest movie adventure have proved to be Odeon Southampton's biggest opening night this year - trouncing the likes of Spiderman and Pirates of the Caribbean.

And as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix enters its first weekend in UK cinemas, it has already cast a record-breaking spell over the US, taking $44.8m in its first day and beating the previous $40.4m record held by Spiderman 2.

A spokesman for Odeon Southampton said: "The previews on Thursday were completely booked and even our 9.45am showing yesterday was packed.

"Thursday was our biggest opening night this year. People were ordering tickets a month in advance. We're also getting a lot of group bookings with school parties coming to see the film. It's even more popular than Pirates of the Caribbean."

Cinemas are bracing themselves for an influx of moviegoers this weekend as fans - who have waited almost two years for the fifth film based on JK Rowling's novels to be released - flock to the big screen.

Tipped as the darkest and most sinister of the Potter films, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix sees Harry, Ron and Hermione involved in a bloody battle between Harry's newly formed 'Dumbledore's Army' and the evil Lord Voldemort.

Excitement has been heightened by the news that Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) gets his first on-screen kiss in the Warner Bros film.

Despite the phenomenal demand for tickets, local cinemas are assuring Potter fans they won't have to work any magic to secure their seat in the auditorium.

"We have showings every half an hour to cope with the demand," said Stephanie Anderson of Odeon at Leisure World.

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is showing in seven of our 13 screens."

But with tickets selling faster than a return journey on the Hogwarts Express, the message is: book early if you don't want to be disappointed.

Of course Potter mania has left cinema bosses rubbing their hands in glee. And they are not the only ones.

Harry's creator JK Rowling is said to be worth half a billion pounds and, with earnings of £1m every three days, she is already richer than the Queen.

The film's young cast members - who are signed up for the remaining two Potter films - are also enjoying hefty bank balances. Seventeen-year-old Emma Wilson, who plays Harry's studious friend Hermione, has been tipped as the next Keira Knightley and is already reputably rich enough to retire.

If you don't manage to catch Hermione and her Hogwarts chums at cinemas this weekend, don't despair: the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows is released next Saturday - wizard!