'Breaking Dawn' enjoys bumper box-office opening

'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1' has taken £181m (€209m) globally on its opening weekend.

The fourth instalment in the popular film franchise – which tells the story of vampire Edward Cullen and his human love Bella Swan – more than doubled its £70m budget and took in £46m on its Friday opening.

Even bosses at distributors Summit admitted they were shocked with the popularity of the franchise – which stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart at Edward and Bella - with Richie Fay, head of distribution, remarking: "I'm 53 years old, and I haven't figured it out yet. It relates really to young girls and things that are important to them, their romantic ideas of love and relationships, without getting so physical, at least on screen, that it becomes a worry for their parents."

The takings in the US mean 'Breaking Dawn Part 1' recorded the fifth best opening weekend of all time, as well as the third best-ever single day for Friday.

'Breaking Dawn Part 2', the final film in the franchise will be released next year and director Bill Condon has described it as "epic".

He said: "['Breaking Dawn - Part 1'] is a very, very emotional, romantic story in the first half that gets dark and has elements of a horror movie in it.

"The second one: It is truly the meeting of the vampires from around the world, so it has a really kind of global feeling."