Harry Potter midnight insanity: It's not too late to join

Harry Potter is only barely trailing Star Wars as the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, and that won't last for long. The seventh movie in the series, which comes out tonight at midnight, is expected to do north of $100 million in revenue this weekend. We're less than twelve hours from the first showing here in Denver, and it must be too late to get in on wizarding madness, right?

Wrong, actually. Of the twenty theaters in the area with midnight showings, 14 still have tickets.

So what's the deal, Potterheads? Not as devout as you used to be? In fairness, it has been more than thirteen years since the first Harry Potter book was published, and this is effectively the 13th opportunity for late-night release hysteria (six for the ensuing books and now seven for the movies). Maybe the sense of anticipation is just dying?

Or maybe its just that the supply of Harry Potter screenings is just barely more massive than the demand. By our count, there are 64 screens showing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 in our area. According to this report done in 2000, there are an average of 250 seats per screen in newer movie theaters, so the number of midnight seats for Harry Potter in Denver is somewhere in the ballpark of 16,000.

Right now, there are still 32 of the 64 screens with tickets available. If you refuse to buy tickets ahead of time, your best bet is to drive down to the Hollywood Theaters -- SouthGlenn Stadium 14 at 6901 S. Vine St. in Centennial, CO, which still has tickets available for all 5 of its screenings. Where you definitely shouldn't go is anywhere along Highway 36 -- for some reason the majority of the completely sold-out theaters are in Westminster and Broomfield (and Louisville, although we're not counting that as part of Denver).

Don't forget to dress up like a sparkly vampire wizard.