‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Force-Chokes Thursday Box Office Records into

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” already took in about $55 million in opening Thursday-night shows, which began advance screenings of the film at 7 p.m., according to Box Office Mojo.

“The Force Awakens” now holds the box office records for biggest Thursday night opening, biggest one day gross, biggest December debut, and biggest opening weekend of all time.

Widely regarded as the best “Star Wars” game of all time, BioWare‘s “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” is an immersive role-playing adventure set 4,000 years before the events of the first film in the franchise.

The Disney film opened in 4,134 theaters.

The seventh installment of the lucrative “Star Wars” franchise hit theaters with a bang Friday – with pre-ticket sales suggesting a possible $100 million-plus opening weekend in the USA alone.

“Force Awakens” – which reportedly cost at least $200-million to make – also has a shot at breaking the worldwide record for an opening weekend: “Jurassic World’s” $316-million.

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But “The Force Awakens” is riding a wave of hype, nostalgia and positive reviews from critics and fans alike.

With its Thursday-night debut, “Force Awakens” grossed $57-million in North American theaters, reports Variety.

France generated $5.2 million in ticket sales, Italy $2 million and Sweden $1.7 million. “We’re making sure there are numerous daily showtimes for “Star Wars” available at all of our locations across the country where fans will have many, many options – including 3D and XD – for an out-of-this-world adventure”.

Of that $57-million, almost half came from 3-D screenings, and roughly 10-percent came from IMAX screenings.

Partially to avoid an onslaught of spoilers, I decided it was time to buy a ticket to see “The Force Awakens” on opening night here in New York City.

Disney is projecting a domestic weekend total of around $220 million, which would surpass the record $208.8 million of “Jurassic World”.

But this may just be the beginning of the film’s box office empire with movie choices in January and February pretty depleted at the cineplex. Whether “The Force Awakens” can come close to the global hauls of those films ($2.8 billion for “Avatar” and $2.2 billion for “Titanic”) won’t be clear for weeks.