‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ earned $517 million worldwide on its opening

The Force has awoken at the global box office, with Star Wars Episode VII earning $529 million on its opening weekend, outshining Jurassic World’s $524 million from earlier in the year.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan & Abrams, features a cast including actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Academy Award victor Lupita Nyong’o, Gwendoline Christie, Crystal Clarke, Pip Andersen, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. This so-called “legacy pay deal” reflects the fact that their parts will increase in size in subsequent Star Wars films, which will be represented in larger earnings. Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, the other two main stars from the original trilogy, were both paid in the “low-seven-figure range”. Driver and Isaac, both of whom have had their share of small-time fame leading up to the movie, received “mid to high six-figures”. The seventh installment of the epic saga now has the most successful debut of all-time stateside.

The previous opening weekend record was actually just set by Jurassic World back in June with a take of $208 million. There are those that believe there’s a similarity between the music played during a scene from Revenge of the Sith in which Palpatine tells Anakin Skywalker about his decision to murder his Master Darth Plagueis and the “Snoke” track from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, as Variety explains, getting pennies on the dollar to your superstar co-workers is “a fairly common practice in today’s market for newer actors”. You’re all going to be rolling in it soon enough.