Boy wizard Harry Potter made movie magic again at weekend box offices as the newest chapter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, cast a spell in more than 50 countries and collected $330m in global ticket sales.

That tally includes a best-ever US and Canadian debut of $125.1m in this latest adventure of the teenage sorcerer and his friends at Hogwarts school. Six previous "Potter" films collected $5.4b globally for the Warner Bros studio.

In the US and Canada, last week's champ, comedy Megamind, came in a distant second with $16.2m, just ahead of runaway train flick Unstoppable with $13.1m. But given the popularity of the Potter movies, the other movies had not been expected to be much competition for No. 1.

The $125.1 million for Deathly Hallows: Part 1 beat the previous best weekend debut for a Potter" film in the United States and Canada, which was $102.7m for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in November 2005.

Deathly Hallows: Part 1 rode up the box office charts to land at No. 6 on the list of all-time best weekend debuts, just behind the $128.1m from Iron Man 2 earlier this year.

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Read the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 review here.