Lord Of The Ringing Tills

Two days after The Lord of the Rings opened simultaneously in the UK and US, the box office accountants have come up with a record-breaking tally for the fantasy epic. Peter Jackson's opening opus took a whopping $18.2 million on its opening day in the States, making it the third biggest mid-week opener in history. It also broke a calendar record making it the biggest-ever cinema day in December. In the grand scheme of things, that's a fraction under Jurassic Park III with $19 million but not even close to The Phantom Menace which toppled the $28m mark back in 1999 or Harry Potter which took $31.6m.