Dean's World

Get ready for Hollywood to invest Big Bucks in sequels due to this:

LOS ANGELES - 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.

"It's staggering," said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox. "It's probably 20 percent more than I thought we could do."

In Hollywood language this means: it's going to be worth a gamble from now on to risk spin offs on movies. Sequels are already a big thing in Hollywood, but they don't always work. For instance, the last Batman movie Batman and Robin was a critical and box office "disappointment." So now they're starting that franchise, in effect, all over again, in the hopes that a strong showing can mean many more installments (plans are underway to re-launch Superman, too). MORE:

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."

The news comes as a relief to Hollywood, which has seen a box office slump for 12 straight weeks.

Remember that when Hollywood sees something work, everyone tries to copy it and achieve the same success. (In other words, don't hold your breath for more Catwoman movies.).

UPDATE: Gary Farber looks at the script and shows you scenes cut from the new movie.