LOS ANGELES - The Force was with the last "Star Wars" movie when the "Revenge of the Sith" raked in a record 16.5 million dollars in its first wave of North American midnight screenings, distributors said Friday.
"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" began unspooling on 2,900 screens across the continent at 12:01 am 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 haul of 16.5 million dollars includes only the midnight showing and not any of the later screenings of the picture that played solidly for 24 hours in some theatres.
The huge midnight haul puts the film well on its way to shattering the record box office take for a single day set by "Shrek 2," which notched up 44.8 million dollars in ticket sales on its first day last year.
Overseas, midnight screenings of the film in Mexico generated 5.3 million dollars Thursday, while German midnight showings raked in 2.9 million dollars.
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 dollars.
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.
05/20/2005 17:38 GMT