NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The debut of Time Warner Inc.'s "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" set box office records for the best Wednesday and the best single-day December sales, putting it on course to break the records of its two predecessors.

The final Lord of the Rings film did a record $34.1 million in U.S. box office Wednesday.

New Line Cinema, the Time Warner studio that has released the three legs of the trilogy each December since 2001, said the film had domestic box office sales of $34.1 million Wednesday, on about 3,650 screens.

About $8 million of that came from 2,100 screens that held midnight showings in the early hours of Wednesday, capturing fans who couldn't wait to see the final chapter of the series.

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The record for best Wednesday box office sales was previously held by "Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace," which took in $28.5 million in its first day in theaters in May 1999.

The record for best single day box office sales in December was previously held by the second film in the Lord of the Rings series, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," which took in $26.1 million on its Wednesday debut last December. The film also did $62 million in its first weekend in theaters, which still stands as the record opening December weekend.

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Box office opening records compare only the Friday through Sunday sales. For its five-day opening the film did $102 million.

The second best December opening was the first movie in the series, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," which did $18.1 million on its Wednesday opening, and $47.2 million during its opening weekend, for a five-day total of $75.1 million.

Those two films together did worldwide box office of $1.8 billion, ranking them No. 7 and No. 4 in total box office of all time. Some box office forecasters believe the third film could become only the second film, after Titantic, to cross the $1 billion worldwide box office threshold, especially if it captures the Academy Award for best picture next spring.

Shares of Time Warner (TWX: Research, Estimates), which also owns CNN/Money, were slightly slightly higher in midday trading Thursday.