Watchmen smashes first record

The eagerly awaited movie adaptation of the graphic novel The Watchmen has broken its first Guinness World Record: its opening in 3,611 theatres is the widest ever opening for an R-rated film.

We have yet to see evidence that it will become the one-day highest-grossing R-rated opener ­ a record currently held by Matrix Reloaded, which earned $42.5 million on its first day (and which also has the record for the widest R-rated opening, on 3,603 screens). The midnight movie opening on Thursday, however, was shown on an impressive 1,600 screens, 124 of which were IMAX. This is more than double the openings for director Zack Snyder's 300, the second highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. It would appear that we've not heard the last of the Watchmen... Watch this space!