I remember hearing about the TPM deal. However theaters around here downgraded the film in week 2. It was bumped out of the finest auditorium in favor of the next-best in many theaters. I don't know why and I found it quite annoying. I didn't rat them out though, if I wasn't such a lazy...
Is this Thursday release day firm? I have a feeling we are going to see it on Wednesday or Friday. Have any other films EVER openned on a Thursday? It just doesn't make sense. I could see going Thursday at Midnight though... :).
I think it might be more likely that Harry Potter 3 surpass both Harry Potter 1 and 2 as I think it's the strongest of the books - that should translate into the strongest of the films, but we'll see when the time comes.
AOTC- if it is indeed significantly better than TPM as we suspect it is...