<i>Menace</i> Rakes In Record $28M

The new Stars Wars movie made $28.5 million on its opening day, shattering the box-office record set in 1997 by The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace opened at 2,970 locations, some of which have been playing the movie round-the-clock since 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

The 24-hour receipts totaling $28,542,349 beat the one-day record of $26.1 million set by Lost World on a Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in 1997, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. reported Thursday.

Analysts said Phantom Menace should gross $100 million to $140 million by the end of its five-day opening Sunday, setting more records.

The movie is so big that some employers decided to not fight the Force and just pay to send their workers to theaters.

"Everyone wants to see this movie, and we thought it would be fun to send our whole company," said Steven J. Lund, president and chief executive of Provo, Utah-based cosmetics seller Nu Skin Enterprises, which reserved a theater for all 1,600 employees and one guest each.

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