X-Men: The Last Stand'' had the fourth-largest weekend opening in box-office history with an estimated $107 million in ticket sales in the first three days of the Memorial Day holiday.

The News Corp. film had $45.5 million in ticket sales on Friday, making it the second-largest one-day gross in history, trailing only "Star Wars: Episode III,'' according to Exhibitor Relations Co. "Episode III'' took in $50 million when it opened May 19, 2005.

"We knew this film was going to have one of the bigger opening weekends of the year because the buzz was strong and the box-office potential was certainly there,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, Exhibitor Relations' president, in an interview. “But for anyone to say they expected $107 million, we'd have thought they were crazy.''