Star Wars The Force Awakens has become the highest-grossing film of all time in the US and Canada.

Disney said the seventh film in the saga surpassed Avatar's $760.5 (£520m) million lifetime gross in just 20 days of release.

In a statement on Disney, it said: "This afternoon, with early box office results in, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the highest grossing film of all time in the domestic market, surpassing the $760.5M lifetime gross of Avatar in a record-shattering 20 days of release."

Avatar, however, still holds the global sales record, according to AP reports.

Last month 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 and New Year's Day box office takings in history with $49.3m and $34.39M respectively.

"We are humbled and grateful to announce that, thanks to fans new and old, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now the highest grossing film of all-time at the domestic box office," read a "Thank You" posting on StarWars.com, the franchise's official site.