Box office feels Star Wars' Force

Star Wars features Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen

The new Star Wars film has taken United States box offices by storm - but failed to break the record for the most successful opening of all time.

It recorded the third highest total for a film's first weekend - behind Spider-Man and the Harry Potter movie.

Spider-Man has held the box office record

Taking more than $86m (£59m) between Friday and Sunday, it trailed Spider-Man's $114m (£78m) record and Harry Potter's $90m (£62m).

The totals could be seen as a blow to George Lucas' Star Wars franchise - but it has been showing on fewer screens than Spider-Man was when it opened.

Star Wars: Episode II - The Attack of the Clones has now taken a total of $116.3m (£79.8m) in the US and Canada since being released on Thursday.

The fifth instalment in the cult Star Wars series that began in 1977, it was one of the most hotly-anticipated films of the year.

US and Canada cinema top five

1. Star Wars: Episode II

2. Spider-Man

3. Unfaithful

4. About A Boy

5. The New Guy

Source: Studio estimates

It opened to warmer reviews than Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which was widely seen as a disappointment when it was released in 1999.

But that film still went on to be the fourth most successful movie in US cinema history, earning $431m (£296m).

The Attack of the Clones was showing on about 6,000 screens across the country - 1,500 less than Spider-Man when that film opened two weeks earlier.

Spider-Man is still attracting cinema-goers, setting a new record for a film in its third weekend.

About A Boy was a hit in the UK

It was pushed down to number two in the chart, but still took $46m (£31.5m) between Friday and Sunday.

Hugh Grant's latest film, About A Boy, which has become the most successful British film of the year in the UK, found it hard to compete with the blockbusters in the US.

It took $8.4m (£5.8m) in its opening weekend, just behind Richard Gere's Unfaithful, with $10.3m (£7.1m).

The Attack of the Clones will have taken millions more in ticket receipts elsewhere around the world, but those figures have not yet been released.