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Force Awakens Just Obliterated Box Office Records
Posted On Dec 23 2015
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Including the $57 million the movie made during preview screenings Thursday night, “The Force Awakens” is also the first film to gross more than $100 million in a day.
The Walt Disney Co., which also owns production company Lucasfilm and ABC News, announced Sunday that the film obliterated the all-time domestic debut record by raking in an estimated $238 million in ticket sales.
Standing next to his wife, who was decked out in an R2-D2 hoodie, Chris Barreno was getting ready Saturday for his second viewing of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at a theater in in El Segundo, Calif.
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The massive sum is leaving industry experts predicting that it could become the highest-grossing film of all time.
However, unlike “Jurassic World”, “The Force Awakens” was not released in China on its opening weekend and won’t be screened there until January 9. That’s the biggest Friday and opening day ever, dislodging another huge fantasy franchise film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2”, which clocked $91 million in 2011. The Force Awakens’ global total of $517 million puts it just shy of Jurassic World’s $525 million global record.
That includes a chart-topping $US57 million from fans who flocked to see the first showings on Thursday night.
While “Star Wars” helped create the summer blockbuster, “The Force Awakens” is debuting in the holiday season of December, where the previous top opening was the $84.6 million debut of 2012’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. But movies like Avatar, which only opened to $77 million in 2009, went on to make nearly $750 million domestically, making it the biggest movie of all time.
“The Force Awakens” garnered a solid “A” CinemaScore and a near flawless 95% score on RottenTomatoes.com.
Among other newcomers this weekend, the animated Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip racked up $14.4 million, and the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy Sisters added $13.4 million.
