By Colby Williams

news@joplinglobe.com

At the stroke of midnight Tuesday, Robb Jones planned to be at the front of the line for the premiere of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

Jones, a news assistant at KOAM, said that he and a group of friends that were to attend with him had high expectations for the event.

“To have a chance to meet up with people and take things way too seriously, that’s like the greatest form of entertainment,” he said. “The movies always say, ‘We’re going back to Hogwarts.’ And that’s what it is. It’s like going back to old friends.”

Since J.K. Rowling’s magical characters first invaded the muggle world 12 years ago, fans everywhere have become obsessed with all things Potter. After seven books and five movies with the series, Rowling is now the first billionaire author, according to Forbes. Now, with today’s release of the sixth movie, the wave of Pottermania continues.

Before exposure to the Harry Potter series, Jones’ literature portfolio consisted only of Zoobooks, a monthly publication aimed at kids. Now he is a regular at the Joplin Public Library. Even though he has read the Potter books multiple times, Jones still appreciates seeing the stories told in a different way on the big screen.

“‘Order of the Phoenix’ was done particularly well because it was so different from the book,” he said. “That’s the reason to go see the movies: to see how the story is progressing as film.”

The latest installment finds the teenage wizard and his friends exploring the origins of his nemesis, Voldemort, in the buildup to the climactic events of the final entry (which will be split into two movies).

According to Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com) — a Web site that tracks national box-office statistics — the previous Harry Potter movies account for two of the top 10 highest grossing openings worldwide.

The last film in the series — 2007’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” — opened to record numbers.

“It came out about the same time as the final book was released and it actually broke the Wednesday opening record at the time, $44.2 million,” said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, which is based in the Los Angeles, Calif., area. “It went on to have one of the top 10 five-day openings ever of $140 million and ultimately grossed $292 million.”

He said that “Half-Blood Prince” is poised for equally huge opening numbers, which is rare for a series marking its sixth installment.

“It’s truly remarkable for a franchise to have blockbuster after blockbuster,” Gray said.

Managers at local theaters do not believe that the struggling economy will dampen enthusiasm for the latest entry.

“I absolutely think the following of Harry Potter is still there,” said Paul Clark, general manager of Dickinson Mall Cinema 8 in Pittsburg, Kan. “Amazingly, people still find the money to come out and escape their difficulties and problems by seeing a movie.”

Clark expected four theaters to sell out for the midnight premiere early this morning and said he plans for his theater to be filled with fans through the weekend.

“If you look at past recessions, theaters have done better than during regular times,” said James Warner, assistant manager of B&B; Neosho Cinema 6.

On a national level, attendance at movie theaters is up over the same period in 2008 and box-office grosses are growing at a record pace, said Gray.

“That’s significant because it’s not just because of higher ticket prices. So far, attendance is up 10 percent over the same period as last year.

“Ultimately, it’s the movies themselves. If the movie is good, the audience will show up.”

But there’s also the question of how “Half-Blood Prince” will fare at the box office since fans already know how the series ends. The final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” was released in 2007.

Warner thinks the movies will still have just as much appeal to fans who already know how the story plays out.

“We’ve pre-sold more tickets (for ‘Half Blood-Prince’) than we did for ‘Transformers,’ which is kind of surprising,” he said.

Movie theaters are not the only ones hoping to benefit from the Harry-hype this week.

The recent paperback release of the seventh book, coupled with the new movie, has book stores seeing a renewed interest in the stories.

“Usually the amount sent to us is a good indicator of how much people are looking for it,” said Dustin Emmett, assistant manager of Books-A-Million in Joplin. “Any time a movie comes out, people start coming in for the books. Some get into it again and some start getting into it for the first time.”

Globe Features Editor Scott Meeker contributed to this story.