SPELLBOUND: A section of the audience on the RCGC greens at the Harry Potter film premiere. Picture by Pabitra Das

The frenzy may not have been quite like Leicester Square ? where 7,000 screaming fans turned up for the UK premiere and even met Daniel Radcliffe ? but Calcutta?s first gaze at Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, on the RCGC greens on Thursday evening, was one raging rave.

The cheer that went up from the 1,000-strong Harry army when the boy hero first appeared on the makeshift giant screen at the Royal was HUGE. And it kick-started a weekend ? and more ? of Pottermania, with the fourth celluloid chapter of the J.K. Rowling creation hitting the halls with a record 12 prints in the region on Friday the 18th.

For once, Holly is scoring over Bolly. ?We have had the highest-ever advance booking for an English movie ? edging past Spider-Man 2 ? with almost 80 per cent of the seats already booked,? Prashant Srivastava, general manager of 89 Cinemas (Swabhumi), said on Thursday evening. ?The advances are much more than both the new Bollywood releases, Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena and Taj Mahal.?

Also, it?s not just the multiplexes raking in the riches from the costliest movie ever. With the 89 Cinemas and INOXes, the Menokas and Malanchas will also screen what is said to be the darkest of the Harry Potter movies.

Says Pranab Ray, owner of Menoka, the south Calcutta theatre that usually screens only Bollywood films: ?The book is such a craze among English-medium students that we had to make an exception. Also, at our ticket prices, a lot more people will be able to catch the magic.?

Even the dubbed Hindi version (Harry Potter aur Aag ka Pyaala) is being released on Friday. ?All the district halls ? in Khardah, Barrackpore, Burdwan ? are screening the dubbed version,? said Kushagra Jalan, the film?s Bengal distributor.

From the screen to the shelves, there?s already a spurt in the sale of the fourth Harry Potter book. Says Sidharth Pansari from Crossword: ?Sales have already doubled, but we expect to see more movement once the film has run a week or so.?Gautam Jatia from Landmark agrees: ?Not just Goblet, if the film is a hit, there will be a fresh urgency to read all the Potter books.?