MOVIE bosses in the North-East are predicting that tickets for the new Harry Potter film will fly out of cinemas after being released a month early.

Tickets for the hotly-anticipated next instalment of the Harry Potter saga went on sale yesterday - more than a month before the film opens on November 15.

Advance sales for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were expected to be high after the success of the first film based on JK Rowling's books about the boy wizard.

The first Harry Potter blockbuster, The Philosopher's Stone, last year, also saw movie fans queuing up for tickets a month in advance.

Duncan Scott, general manager of Darlington's Odeon Cinema, said: "We have already been getting phone calls asking for the performance times of the film.

"The response last time when we had early booking was quite exceptional, especially when you think normally you would book for a film 24 hours in advance."

In the film, which distributors Warner Bros described as "darker and funnier", Harry Potter - played by Daniel Radcliffe - is at his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In March, the cast and film crew once again descended on the region, recreating Hogwarts School at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland. Shooting also took place in March at Durham Cathedral with children from nearby Durham Chorister School taking part in filming in the cloisters.

Goathland station, on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, featured in the first film sparking a massive boost to tourism in the region.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets premieres on November 15