Gravity busts record at US box office

Sci-fi thriller 'Gravity' is living up to its hype, scooping the record for the biggest October opening for a movie of all time.

The film made a huge $55.6 million (£34.7m / €40.9m) at the US box office after opening on Friday, also clocking up the best three days for any film by its stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock.

Adding together the total from the US with the total it made overseas, Warner Bros and director Alfonso Cuaron are looking at a haul of $83 million (£51m / €61m). A huge $44 million (£27.4m / €32m) of this has been reaped from 3D screens.

[Buzz Aldrin impressed by Gravity]

Making the film was a huge risk for the studio – it was initially to be made by Universal, but was then sold on to Warner Bros – because of its sizeable budget and pioneering effects.

But so far the risks appeared to have paid off, with it almost making back its reported $100 million (£62.3m / €73m) production budget in just three days.

Warner Bros' president of distribution Dan Fellman told the Hollywood Reporter: “In two days, this movie has become a cultural phenomenon. People that haven't gone to the movies in years, or who only see one or two movies a year, are going to see 'Gravity'.”

[Amazing behind-the-scenes pics from Gravity]

It's now likely to be facing off at the Oscars with Steve McQueen's harrowing 'Twelve Years A Slave' for Best Picture.

Starring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock, it focuses on two astronauts set adrift in space after a space walk goes disastrously wrong.

It's out in the UK on 8 November and in Ireland on 11 October.

Watch another ridiculously tense clip from 'Gravity' below.