ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- The final chapter of the "Star Wars" movie saga grossed a record $50 million from its first 24 hours in North American theaters, the highest box office tally for a single day, according to studio estimates issued Friday.
"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," the last installment in the six-part epic George Lucas launched nearly 30 years ago, surpassed the previous opening-day box office record set by "Spider-Man 2" -- $40.4 million -- and the $44.8 million single-day benchmark "Shrek 2" grossed in its fourth day of release, according to Exhibitor Relations Inc.
The unprecedented first-day success of "Revenge of the Sith," which opened at 12:01 a.m. Thursday in sold-out theaters packed with costumed fans, sets the film firmly on course to becoming one of the biggest blockbusters of all time.
"We've never seen this before," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking service Exhibitor Relations. "This is an unprecedented achievement."
At the very least, "Sith" appeared on track to eclipse the $110 million grossed by its immediate predecessor, "Attack of the Clones," through its first weekend three years ago.
"Clones," which also opened on a Thursday, grossed $30.1 million its first day.
Distributor 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. Ltd. , debuted "Revenge of the Sith" on about 9,400 screens in nearly 3,700 theaters in the United States and Canada. The movie also opened internationally.
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