Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen in a scene from Star Wars: Episode III ? Revenge of the Sith

Los Angeles, May 21 (Reuters): The final chapter in the Star Wars movie saga grossed a record $50 million from its first 24 hours in North American theatres, the highest box office tally ever for a single day, 20th Century Fox said yesterday.

Nearly 30 years after George Lucas revolutionised cinema with his original sci-fi tale of good vs. evil in a galaxy far, far away, the concluding instalment to his double trilogy seemed firmly on course to redefine the boundaries of the Hollywood blockbuster.

Opening on Thursday on some 9,400 screens in nearly 3,700 US and Canadian theatres, Star Wars: Episode III ? Revenge of the Sith generated $16.5 million in ticket sales from sold-out debut midnight showings packed with costumed fans and went on to accumulate $50,013,859 in receipts by day’s end.

The unprecedented sum easily surpassed the previous opening-day box office record set last June by Spider-Man 2 ? $40.4 million ? and the $44.8 million single-day benchmark Shrek 2 grossed a year ago in its fourth day of release.

The film’s huge first day cheered Hollywood executives eager for a hit that would shake the movie industry out of a 12-week box office slump.

“We’ve never seen anything this before,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking service Exhibitor Relations.

“This is an unprecedented achievement.”

The film benefited from generally warm reviews compared with the two previous Star Wars prequels, as well as massive expectations generated by its status as the grand finale to Lucas’ epic, revealing the secrets to such mythical questions as the origin of Darth Vader.