The final part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Return of the King, has raked in $246m in its first five days since release - breaking the record for the highest total takings for any movie in that time period.

As Digital Spy's Neil Wilkes reported on Friday, the movie has already smashed opening day records in most countries, with executives at Time Warner-owned New Line Cinema optimistic that the film could gross $1bn during its release.

The $246m figure was helped along substantially by ticket sales of $73.6m in North America over the weekend, according to preliminary figures.