The Fate of the Furious has raced to the top of the box office chart - breaking an international record in the process.

The eighth film in the action thriller franchise took an estimated $532.5m (£424.7m) globally over Easter weekend.

The figure makes it the strongest worldwide debut ever - marginally overtaking the $529m (£421.8m) taken by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

However, the film's US takings were down sharply on the previous movie.

Furious 7 took $147.2m (£117.3m) in the US when it was released in 2015 - but the latest instalment of the series opened with $100.2m (£80m).

Despite the drop of nearly a third on the previous film, its US performance is still pretty impressive - The Fate of the Furious accounted for nearly two-thirds of all US box office takings over the weekend.

Its nearest competitor was The Boss Baby, which took a further $15.5m to land second place.

The Fast & Furious franchise, which began in 2001, is a series of action films involving a lot of car chases, street races and heists.

The success of the latest film was led by China - which saw three-day takings of $190m (£151m).

Vin Diesel, who has appeared in every film in the franchise, said he felt "grateful, humbled and blessed" after the film's success.

The Fate of the Furious also stars Charlize Theron, Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris.

More chapters in the Furious franchise are planned for release in 2019 and 2021.