The final Harry Potter film has worked box office magic, conjuring a new record by grossing $476 million in global ticket sales over three days.

A dramatic end to the eighth and final movie in the Harry Potter series - and an equally significant end to a franchise which has been Warner Brothers most successful.

The firstly seven Harry Potter films made almost $7 billion dollars at the box office - the final film the Deathly Hallows, Part 2," has just taken $476 million in global sales during its opening weekend.

It beat the previous record belonging to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

David Hancock, head of film and cinema at IHS Screen Digest says its a huge achievement.

David Hancock, Head of Film and Cinema, IHS Screen Digest, saying:

"It's been on in over a quarter of the world's cinema screens this weekend which I think is nearly unheard of, so I think broadly yes I think it's what we expected, very successful, and it's going to carry on being successful for a while yet. I expect that by the time we're finished it will be about 1.2 - 1.1 billion dollars worldwide so we still have another $600 million to go."

J.K. Rowling was an unknown author when she penned the first Potter book in 1997.

It became in instant success and she went on to publish six more.

The books about a young wizard and his friends battling against evil have since become a global phenomenon.

David Hancock, Head of Film and Cinema, IHS Screen Digest, saying:

"What I think is interesting about Harry Potter is that every time you get a child or an adult reading book number one you then have a guaranteed revenue stream from all eight books all eight films, all eight videos and probably the theme park as well."

The next test will be whether The Deathly Hallows is still packing cinemas next month.

And even if it isn't - dvd sales are expected to break all records as well.

Hayley Platt, Reuters.