Launched on a record 858 screens on November 23, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets has become the highest-grossing opener of all-time in Japan, taking $16.7m from 862,958 admissions

The previous record holder was Star Wars: Episode II - Attacks Of The Clones, with an opening gross of $13m. Third biggest launch was Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone with $12.6m.

"We are on track to surpass the total gross of the first Harry Potter film, which was $165m," said a publicist for distributor Warner Bros. Japan.

If the film maintains its momentum going into the peak New Year's season, it has an excellent shot at beating Titanic, the second-highest grossing film of all time in Japan, with $211.4m. Top performer remains Spirited Away with $226m

Of the 858 screens that Chamber Of Secrets launched on, 46% are showing the subtitled and 54% the dubbed version of the film. Nationwide, major city screens accounted for 22% of the opening weekend gross, provincial screens the remaining 78%. "This indicates the strength of the film throughout the population," commented the Warner publicist. "The usual breakdown for a Hollywood film is 35% or 36% major cities; and the rest provincial." Also, the film is appealing to a broader demographic than the first Potter entry, with a larger proportion of the teenage and young adult audience. "We're getting everyone from ten to sixty," the publicist said.

The next record for Secrets to assail is the first week total $27.6m recorded by the Hayao Miyazaki animation Spirited Away. Warner is predicting the film will cross the Y20bn ($163m) mark in the eighth week of its run. "We expect it to be in the theatres until the end of February at least," the Warner spokesman said.