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.