‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ takes in $517M worldwide in opening weekend

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” earned $517 million worldwide on its opening weekend, making it the second biggest opening ever. This by far exceeds the existing $91 million Dollars first day record set by ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.’ Additionally, it is also the first Star Wars movie to surpass $100 million USD in a single day!

According to the LA Times, with the exception of Jurassic World, the closest thing the movie industry has seen to an opening weekend like Star Wars experienced happened in 2012 with the premiere of Marvel’s The Avengers, which brought in $207.4 million. 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.

These numbers do justice for the Walt Disney Company’s $4 billion purchase of LucasFilm.

WHO’S LAUGHING NOW? Star Wars creator George Lucas, left, turned out his baby to the franchise’s new director, J.J. Abrams, and the results have been record-breaking. It also posted the highest theater average for a wide release with $57,568 and marks the biggest December opening of all time. It has already shattered pre-sales records, selling more than $100 million of advance tickets. The top grossing territories were the United Kingdom ($48.9M), Germany ($27.3M), France ($22.7M), Australia ($18.9M) and Japan ($13.5M). Subsequent weekend records, however, are still up for grabs along with the fastest to $300 million and so on, not to mention the overall domestic record now held by Avatar at $760.5 million. Astonishing though it is, that is just the second biggest opening weekend globally, behind Jurassic World, which took $US524.9 million on its opening weekend in June.

Strong reviews have been pouring in for the latest Star Wars film, which is set 30 years after Return of the Jedi. Lauding the nostalgic throwbacks to the original series, audiences gave the new release an A grade, according to polling firm CinemaScore.

“I would argue the two-year marketing campaign for “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” was flawless in its execution”, said Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis.