The Last Jedi

Star Wars: The Last Jedi takes $450m on opening weekend

The total for The Last Jedi includes $220m (£165m) from box offices in the US and Canada, placing the film second in the all-time list for North America.

It trails behind the 2015 release Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which opened with a record-breaking $248m (£167m).

But the sum dwarfs that of its nearest rival, the computer-animated comedy Ferdinand which took $13m (£10m).

In third place, the Disney/Pixar animation Coco brought in just over $10m (£7.5m) during its fourth weekend in North American cinemas.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi has critics in raptures

The Last Jedi, writes the Telegraph's reviewer, is "enormous fun" and "will leave fans beaming with surprise".

The LA Times agrees, calling it "the first flat-out terrific Star Wars movie since 1980's The Empire Strikes Back".

Variety, though, swims against the tide, calling it "the longest and least essential chapter in the series".

Rian Johnson's film, says Peter Debruge, is "ultimately a disappointment" that "gives in to the same winking self-parody that is poisoning other franchises of late."