According to The Hollywood Reporter, with the weekend's two new wide releases -- DreamWorks' Madagascar and Paramount's The Longest Yard -- opening to more than $60 million each and 20th Century Fox's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith sitting in the top spot with an estimated $70.8 million, the four-day Memorial Day holiday proved to be the second-biggest weekend in boxoffice history.

The total boxoffice for all films this holiday frame should be in the low- to mid-$230 million area, roughly 6% shy of last year's $247.6 million tally during the Memorial Day weekend and marks the second-best start of the summer season on record. To help put that gross in context, this weekend's total was 15% better than the $202 million racked up during the four-day holiday in 2003, which is the third-biggest weekend ever recorded. As expected, Sith held on to the top spot after a stellar opening a week earlier as the 12-day cume for the sci-fi adventure, written and helmed by George Lucas, rocketed to an impressive $271.2 million. By comparison, Sith dropped slightly more on its second weekend than did Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, but the 12-day tally for Sith far outdistanced the $201.3 million collected by Clones for the same 12-day period. The worldwide total through Sunday for the PG-13 rated film was a remarkable $504.4 million.

While distributors blamed a heat wave in Europe for a slumping boxoffice over the weekend, 20th Century Fox's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith lived up to expectations in its first worldwide holdover session, and DreamWorks' new animated entry, Madagascar, got off to a rousing start in two Asian markets. Despite a 54% drop from its opening round, "Sith" racked up $61.5 million from 10,586 screens in 106 territories, hoisting the international gross to $246.2 million. The percentage decline -- which does not take into account the previous weekend's previews, midnight screenings and this past weekend's bow in Korea -- is considered normal for a global saturation release of a blue-ribbon blockbuster. The Korea opening -- $3.8 million from 306 screens -- is rated as Fox's third-biggest takeoff in the market, behind The Day After Tomorrow and Kingdom of Heaven. The final episode in George Lucas' Star Wars series held the No. 1 boxoffice position in most of the more than 100 markets in which it bowed a week ago, with the exception of Singapore and Malaysia, where Madagascar edged to the front.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith was released May 19th, 2005 and stars Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels. The film is directed by George Lucas.