Star Wars: The Force Awakens has unseated Avatar to become the top film of all time in North America, Disney says.

The studio says the JJ Abrams film earned enough on Wednesday to pass the $760.5m (£520m) taken by Avatar over its lifetime.

Avatar, however, still holds the global sales record, AP news agency reports.

Last month, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the fastest film to take $1bn (£674m) at the global box office.

The film also scored the biggest US Christmas Day box office takings in history with $49.3m.

And it also smashed the record for the biggest box office debut weekend globally, with ticket sales of $529m.

The seventh instalment in the Star Wars series of movies is due to open in China on Saturday which, analysts say, will give the film another significant boost.

The latest film returns to “a galaxy far, far away” some 30 years on from the action of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

It sees original trilogy stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher reprise their Han Solo and Princess Leia roles alongside younger newcomers.