Shattering the all-time opening day box office record, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was the supreme ruler at theaters across North America on Thursday taking in an astounding $50,013,859 in its first full day of release. The astronomical figure includes $16,912,367 just from midnight shows that began late on Wednesday night.

Unspooling in saturation release in 3,661 theaters with over 9,400 prints in circulation, the final installment of the Jedi saga powered 66% ahead of the $30.1M first-day sum of Episode II from May 2002 and was 75% stronger than the $28.5M opening day of Episode I in May 1999. On a per-theater basis, Sith averaged a scorching $13,661 per location on Thursday - 43% better than Attack of the Clones and 42% ahead of The Phantom Menace on their opening days.

Episode III easily ranks as the largest opening day in box office history surging ahead of 2003's The Matrix Reloaded and last summer Spider-Man 2 which shot out of the gate in two different ways to lead the industry. The Neo sequel exploded with $42.5M in its first day in theaters which included about $5M from night-before screenings which began at 10:00 p.m. The webslinger sequel crashed into theaters with $40.5M on its opening Wednesday including night-before showtimes beginning at the more standard 12:01 a.m. time. Any way you look at it, Revenge of the Sith now holds the opening day box office record and has forced the film industry to rethink exactly how much money can be made by a motion picture when it debuts in cinemas. Sith also set a new record for the largest single day gross ever beating the $44.8M that Shrek 2 hauled in on the Saturday of its first weekend a year ago while playing in 4,163 theaters.

Episode II, which also bowed on a Thursday, dipped 19% in its second day to capture a Friday tally of $24.4M. Episode III is likely to fall by a larger percentage due to the incredible amount of total demand absorbed on its first day. For Clones, opening day accounted for 27% of its four-day $110.2M first-weekend gross. Even if Sith's massive opening day represents a larger share of the overall four-day tally, a Thursday-to-Sunday gross north of $150M should occur this weekend.

Be sure to check back daily for new updates on the opening of Star Wars Episode III.

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Last Updated: May 20, 2005 at 3:00PM EST

Written by Gitesh Pandya