''Star Wars' earns $108.5 million in first U.S. weekend
 George Lucas' final "Star Wars" movie scored the second-best three-day weekend of all time on Sunday, but the Force was not strong enough to prevent overall ticket sales in North America from posting a year-on-year-decline for the 13th consecutive weekend.
"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" sold an estimated $108.5 million worth of tickets for the Friday-to-Sunday period, taking its total to $158.5 million since it opened after midnight on Thursday.
Its four-day haul sets a new record, surpassing the $134.3 million tally of 2003's "The Matrix Reloaded." Its Thursday tally of $50 million also set a one-day record, beating the $44.8 million sum for "Shrek 2" last year.
The three-day weekend record is held by "Spider-Man," which opened to almost $115 million in 2002. "Revenge of the Sith" narrowly pipped "Shrek 2," which opened with $108 million. Rankings could change when final data are issued on Monday.
The new "Star Wars" film easily beat the opening weekends of its two most recent predecessors, all of which were released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.
"Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones" nabbed $80 million during its first weekend three years ago, while 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace" kick-started the 28-year-old franchise with a $64.8 million bow. They ended up with $311 million and $431 million respectively.
"Revenge of the Sith" answers the age-old question of how the evil warlord Darth Vader crossed over to the dark side. The critics were generally kind, perhaps mindful that "Sith" marks the end of an era and was not as bad as the last two much-maligned films. But Rolling Stone magazine lamented writer/director Lucas' "special knack ... of turning flesh-and-blood characters into cardboard cutouts."
According to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films earned about $156 million during the weekend, down 4.5 percent from the year-ago period. The losing streak is expected to continue into the upcoming Memorial Day weekend since last year's holiday was a record.
"It's going to take a lot to reverse this trend," said Exhibitor Relations president Paul Dergarabedian. New releases next weekend include the animated comedy "Madagascar" and the football comedy remake "The Longest Yard."
Elsewhere at the box office, last weekend's champ "Monster-in-Law," starring Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda, slipped to No. 2 with $14.4 million, followed by sports comedy "Kicking & Screaming," starring Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall, with $10.5 million.
"Monster-in-Law" was released by New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc. "Kicking & Screaming" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of NBC Universal, which is majority owned by General Electric Co.
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