‘Star Wars’ blasts opening weekend record with $238 million

A couple of old favourites return in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. By weekend’s end, The Force Awakens could soar past $245 million to lock down the biggest opening weekend ever, toppling the previous champ, Jurassic World’s $208 million opening, The Hollywood Reporter writes.

“The Force Awakens” opens against Universal’s Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy “Sisters” and 20th Century Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip”, both of which are expected to gross $14 million to $17 million this weekend.

The film’s success isn’t too surprising, given the fact that it had already broken pre-sale ticket records. Insiders tell TheWrap that the tally could reach as high as $140 million by the time Friday night becomes Saturday morning.

It goes without saying that the seventh episode in the “Star Wars” saga topped the weekend box office, but the question is was it enough to surpass “Jurassic World” as the biggest opening weekend of all time?

Disney, the studio behind the newest installment in the Star Wars series, is set to release four more Star Wars films.

“Star Wars” crossed the $100 million threshold on the strength of its Thursday night previews, which grossed an incredible $57 million – $13.5 million more than the “Harry Potter” finale. China is the world’s second-largest film market.

Overall, “The Force Awakens” has grossed some $130 million dollars worldwide since it opened overseas on Wednesday, setting records in Britain, Germany, Norway and Sweden.

The movie’s massive debut also defies the industry’s conventional wisdom that a winter film could never compete with the opening-weekend box office of a summer smash. A total of 2 million tickets were booked ahead of the release – breaking another record for advanced ticket bookings.

This photo provided by Disney shows John Boyega as Finn, in a scene from the new film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, directed by J.J. Abrams.

Disney, which bought the rights to the “Star Wars” franchise from its creator Georges Lucas for $4 billion in 2012, has built up the hype around “The Force Awakens”, rolling out a well-orchestrated marketing campaign that has left fans wanting more. Currently, “The Force Awakens” stands at 95 percent.