Star Wars: $50 Mil In One Day!

(CBS/AP)  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 on 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 film already has raked in an estimated $16.5 million from 2,900 midnight screenings Thursday, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

That's double what the Oscar-winning film "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took in during its midnight showings in 2003. The third film from director Peter Jackson's trilogy rang up about $8 million domestically from 2,100 midnight shows.

"This is extremely impressive," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations. "It just says so much about how excited people are to see this film that they lined up at midnight and just got on board and went along for the ride."

After the midnight debut, "Revenge of the Sith" widened to 3,661 theaters for daytime and evening screenings. The studio, 20th Century Fox, said box-office results for the first full day would be available Friday.

Tickets for the film went on sale last month. Soon after, legions of fans began lining up at theaters across the country, many dressed in full "Star Wars" regalia and sporting Jedi light sabers.

The film may be the darkest chapter in the "Star Wars" story, featuring more violence and a story line showing how a democratic government turns into a despotic regime.

People magazine's senior editor Jess Cagle, who's seen the movie, told CBS' Early Show Wednesday, "You can arguably say this is the best of the six.

"I think you could safely say that. I think the purists who love the first one, might argue that there was something more pure about those."

"Revenge of the Sith" is the first "Star Wars" film to earn a PG-13 rating. The first five films were rated PG.