The Force was with the last Star Wars movie when Revenge of the Sith raked in a record $16,5-million (R107-million) in its first wave of North American midnight screenings, distributors said on Friday.
Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith began unspooling on 2 900 screens across the continent at 12.01am Thursday, to the delight of the legions of fans anxiously awaiting the sixth and final film in the series.
”The midnight shows were sold out everywhere,” said an official at 20th Century Fox studios, which is distributing George Lucas’s Star Wars finale.
The movie also did what no other movie in history has accomplished — sold $50-million-worth (R326-million) of tickets in a single day.
It grossed $50 013 859 from showings around the US on Thursday, including the special midnight shows, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
”Fifty million is a good opening weekend, let alone a single day,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations. ”This is the box office equivalent of a 100-year flood.”
It is almost assured the film will push well past the $100-million mark for its opening weekend. The only question is: How far?
”The sky’s the limit on how well this film could do,” Dergarabedian said.
Overseas, midnight screenings of the film in Mexico generated $5,3-million on Thursday, while German midnight showings raked in $2,9-million.
In France, Revenge of the Sith broke the record of $576 544 set for ticket sales by The Matrix Reloaded, while in Belgium it set a one-day record of $452 000.
Some fans in Hollywood lined up for the first show for 40 days ahead of Thursday morning’s unveiling of the long-awaited and warmly received film.
The then-unknown Lucas launched the now-cult franchise with the original Star Wars movie in 1977. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP