Star Wars: The Force Awakens crosses $250M globally after record Friday

“Clearly this is not the most important event that’s taking place at the White House today, ‘ Obama said”.

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.

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

Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle attempted to break the record, gathering thousands of fans together for some spectacular action.

Star Wars fans gone rogue in the USA, with cities attempting to break the record for the world’s largest lightsaber battle.

The JJ Abrams-directed seventh instalment in the franchise George Lucas created and launched in 1977 took $27.2 million in Australian cinemas between its first screening to a paying audience at midnight Wednesday to the last sessions beginning before midnight on Sunday.

Filmgoers reveled in the return to the “Star Wars” galaxy, dressing as Jedi or Sith, carrying lightsabers and cheering when classic characters such as Princess Leia or Chewbacca appeared on screen.

Audiences awarded an “A” rating in polling by survey firm CinemaScore, Disney said. The movie studio plans to release four more movies over the next four years, generating more than $25 billion in revenue from theme parks, toys and video games, analysts predict. That has been held since 2010 by James Cameron’s Avatar, which has grossed more than $115.6 million in Australia.

Nostalgia, plus a carefully planned, months-long release of film trailers and character profiles boosted interest.

Globally, The Force Awakens has taken an estimated $US517 million ($A720 million), according to boxofficemojo.

Critics lauded the movie’s throwback feel, doses of humor and the performances of newcomers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac. This is the second highest global debut of all-time behind only “Jurassic World”, which made $525 million globally in June.

How much do moviegoers love “Star Wars”? Disney made an effort to build buzz, placing 500 miniature Stormtroopers at the Great Wall and striking a deal to stream the six earlier “Star Wars” films through video service Tencent.