Moviegoers line up for Harry Potter at the Lakeport Cinema 5 in Lakeport, Calif., on Thursday, July 14, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The last installment of the “Harry Potter” film series opened at midnight Friday, and the highly anticipated event proved a hot ticket at the local theater.

Hundreds were lined up Thursday evening outside of the Lakeport Cinemas 5 for the opening of the eighth and final movie in the series, the second part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which the theater is showing in 3D.

A special reshowing of the first part of “Deathly Hallows” took place earlier in the evening before the new movie debuted at midnight.

Some avid fans of the series that follows the story of a boy wizard even came in costume.

Employees at the theater estimated close to 500 people came to see parts one and two of the “Deathly Hallows.”

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Tumblr at www.lakeconews.tumblr.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.

The line of Harry Potter fans stretched across the front of the Lakeport Cinema 5 in Lakeport, Calif., on Thursday, July 14, 2011. Photo by Gary McAuley.