Star Wars: The Force Awakens breaks record for Canada's biggest opening weekend

Star Wars: The Force Awakenshas triumphed withthe country'sbiggest opening weekend in history, according to Disney Canada.

Projected to bring in$17.1 million at Canadian box offices on its opening weekend, the J.J. Abrams-directed franchise movie has beaten the previous recordheld by Marvel's The Avengers.

"We knew this was going to be well received but this has exceeded all expectations,"said Greg Mason,Walt Disney StudiosCanada's vice-president of marketing.

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"Canadians don't tend to rush out as much on opening weekend as their American counterparts, although this weekend did not prove that point," he told CBC News.

In North America as a whole, the studio estimates the moviewill bring in a galactic$238 million US ($330millionCdn) over the weekend.

That makes it the biggest North American opening of all time, surpassing the previous record held by Jurassic World.

Intense secrecy

Mason says keeping spoilers under wrapsbeforehand was part of this weekend's successand credits Abrams with the idea formaintainingintense secrecy around the plot.

"All the materials that were released wasa very carefully crafted plan of releasing very little on the film but enough to entice people," he said.

"When you cue up all the footage and things that were shown, it's really not a lot of the film, and I think that's what makes it incredibly special."

Investment paying off

Disney paid just over$4billion US for Lucasfilm, the production company behind Star Wars, in 2012, an investment thatnow appears to be paying off. Sequels and spinoffs are in development for years to come.

Strong reviews have been pouring infor the latest Star Warsfilm, which is set 30 years after Return of the Jedi.

In Canada, The Avengersnow holds second spot for biggest debut weekend at$15.6 million.Avengers: Age of Ultron, released earlier this year, is inthird at$13.8 million.