Chinese fans gave 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' a warm welcome in its debut on Saturday with a record breaking ticket sales of $33 million on its first day, according to movie distributor Walt Disney Co.

The figure marks the biggest opening Disney has ever made in the second largest film market in the world and also China's highest Saturday opening in the industry's history.

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The Force Awakens is the seventh installment of George Lucas' Star Wars Saga and the first of its sequel trilogy. It has been recognised as the top grossing film of all time in the United States and Canada. As of Thursday, its worldwide sales have surmounted to $1.6 billion.

Its release in the People's Republic will help determine whether 'The Force Awakens' will outrank 'Avatar' as the Hollywood's highest grossing film of all time. Avatar is an epic science fiction movie directed, produced, written and co-edited by James Cameron. It was released in December 2009 and has bagged the biggest grossing title at $2.8 billion.  

Few days before its official debut, some analysts were predicting that the new Star Wars film will not click in China. Analyst Richard Huang of  Nomura Securities suspects 'Star Wars' will compete with 'Jurassic World' in China, which generated $229 million in 2015.

Disney had to massively market the film to create a buzz including displaying 500 Stormtroopers on the Great Wall, organizing a light show on guard towers with the movie's title written in Chinese characters and even signing up the famous actor and singer Lu Han to make promotional videos and release a music video entitle "The Inner Force" with clips and images found in the movie.

TagsStar Wars, Walt Disney, Top-grossing films of all time