LOS ANGELES — The final “Harry Potter” film shattered box office records worldwide with a whopping $168.6 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales over the opening weekend and nearly $476 million globally.

The staggering domestic total for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2” is the best three-day opening for a film ever, distributor Warner Bros said on Sunday. It beat the previous record of $158.4 million over the initial three days for the 2008 Batman movie, “The Dark Knight.”

Internationally, the finale for “Harry Potter” captured $307 million in 59 countries since it opened last week, another record. That includes weekend sales plus Wednesday and Thursday for some markets.

“Harry Potter,” already the highest-grossing film franchise ever with over $6.4 billion in global ticket sales, is based on the novels of British author J.K. Rowling.