Die Rückkehr des Königs hatte den erfolgreichsten Filmstart aller Zeiten!!!

The final Lord of the Rings film did a record $34.1 million in U.S. box office Wednesday. New Line Cinema, the Time Warner studio that has released the three legs of the trilogy each December since 2001, said the film had domestic box office sales of $34.1 million Wednesday, on about 3,650 screens.

About $8 million of that came from 2,100 screens that held midnight showings in the early hours of Wednesday, capturing fans who couldn't wait to see the final chapter of the series.

The record for best Wednesday box office sales was previously held by "Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace," which took in $28.5 million in its first day in theaters in May 1999.
Aber um meine Warsler-Ehre zu retten:

Phantom Menace opened in 2,970 theaters.
28,500,000 / 2970 = 9595.95 per theater

ROTK opened in 3,650 theaters.

34,100,000 / 3650 = 9342.46 per theater

And before someone mentions the running time, also note that ROTK had a lot more midnight showings (and thus more show times) than TPM, too.

So technically, we still hold the record, from a certain point of view. I'm not sure if anyone keeps track of that particular stat, but hey, we've got to hold on to something until EP3 comes out.
*EG*

geklaut von TF.N