SEATTLE • A Montana man has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to shoot a student for divulging a plot line of the newly released Star Wars epic, court documents showed on Tuesday.

The police say Arthur Roy got angry with a student he befriended on Facebook after the boy gave away a subplot in Star Wars: The Force Awakens during an online conversation last week.

During the online fight that ensued, Roy is alleged to have posted a photo of himself in which he appears to brandish a gun, said a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit also says the boy was fearful Roy was going to shoot him.

Roy also said he was going to find the boy, whose school was placed on lockdown after officials saw the exchange, said the affidavit.

The Force Awakens opened with a record-breaking US$248 million (S$349 million) at the North American box office and US$529 million globally over the weekend, Walt Disney Co said on Monday.

In China, where the film will be released on Jan 9, growing online chatter suggests the movie - the seventh in a nearly 40-year-old franchise - has a shot at breaking box-office records in the world's second-largest film market.

A mammoth marketing campaign has featured 500 model Stormtroopers on the Great Wall and Lu Han, China's Justin Bieber, as a Jedi "ambassador".

Exhibitor Relations senior boxoffice analyst Jeff Bock predicts that The Force Awakens will take in about US$100 million during its first weekend in China. Others forecast more.

REUTERS