‘Sith’ rakes in $50 mil on first day in theaters

The last of the “Star Wars” movies has done what no movie in history has ever accomplished – sold $50 million worth of tickets in a single day.

“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith” grossed $50,013,859 from showings at 3,661 theaters and more than 9,000 screens around the country Thursday, including special midnight shows, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That beat the one-day record set in May 2004 by “Shrek 2,” which sold $44.8 million on a single Saturday – its fourth day in theaters.

The George Lucas film, which features the transformation of Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker into the evil Darth Vader, also beat the opening day record held by “Spider-Man 2,” which grossed $40.4 million when it opened on a Wednesday last June.

“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.

The estimated $16.5 million it earned from 2,900 midnight screenings Thursday was double what the Oscar-winning film “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” took in during its midnight showings in 2003.