Beauty and the Beast has been in theaters nationwide just over 72 hours, and it's already made cinematic history. The live-action remake of the Disney classic — starring Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as the (CGI) Beast, and Luke Evans as Gaston — raked in an astounding $170 million in the U.S. this weekend, beating expectations. Internationally, the musical pulled in around $180 million, bringing its grand total to $350 million worldwide.
Of course, with ticket sales that impressive, Beauty and the Beast has already broken a number of major box office records. Here are the five biggest records the movie broke this weekend. (All figures are domestic and courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, unless noted otherwise.)
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1) Biggest March Opening: Beauty bested last year's critically panned Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which held the record at $166 million, per Entertainment Weekly.
2) Biggest PG Opening: It comfortably beat Finding Dory's $135 million debut weekend to become the biggest opening ever for a PG-rated movie (domestically and internationally).
3) Biggest Women-Driven Opening: On Friday, 70% of tickets were bought by women. Overall, 60% of tickets were purchased by the ladies. This is more than The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which opened with $158 million in 2014.
4) Biggest Animated Classic-Live Adaptation Opening: Before this, 2010's Alice in Wonderland held the spot with $116 million.
5) Biggest Opening For Emma Watson — & Her Harry Potter Alumni: Not only is this the actress' most lucrative debut — she's also risen above Daniel Radcliffe's and Rupert Grint's box office hauls.
Bonus Round - 7th Biggest Opening Ever: Okay, this feat is more list-making than record-breaking. But we had to note that according to Box Office Mojo, Beauty has just barely edged out Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2's $169 million opening for the number seven slot. Impressive.