Juan Antonio Bayona has an impossible hit on his hands…

The 37-year-old Spanish filmmaker’s powerful recreation of the 2004 tsunami, The Impossible, has broken the all-time Spanish box office records for the biggest four-day opening, with 10.3 million euros ($13.3 million) and 1.4 million tickets sold.

Warner Bros. released Bayona’s  highly anticipated film, a follow-up to his critically acclaimed The Orphanage, over a three-day weekend after receiving rave reviews at festivals in Toronto, San Sebastian and Sitges.

The film, which stars Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts as a British couple vacationing with their three children in Thailand when the natural disaster strikes, features some intense scenes that forced paramedics to wheel people out on stretchers at festival screenings.

“The Impossible is the proof that in Spain we can make films that compete with Hollywood,” said Telecinco Cinema CEO Ghislain Barrois. “At Telecinco Cinema, we are proud to have worked again with Juan Antonio Bayona, whose opera prima we co-produced. And to have partners like Apaches Entertainment with us in the adventure.”

Grossing $11.6 million in the first three days, Impossible looks poised to outperform previous first three-day record-holders, Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($11.45 million) and The Da Vinci Code, ($11.38 million).

Lionsgate will release The Impossible in the United States on December 21.