‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ surpasses $250 million globally after huge opening

The figure shatters the previous record, which was set by Jurassic World earlier this year when it premiered to US$208.8 million (NZ$310.4m). The tally topped the previous record holder, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2”, which grossed $91 million from its Thursday and Friday shows in July 2011. It pulled in $120.5-million in the USA on Friday, its first full day in domestic theatres, the highest ever number of ticket sales for a single day.

In Britain, Germany, Australia, Russia and many other countries, it scored the biggest opening weekend as well.

The company said the film already brought in $57 million last night alone in the United States and Canada.

“This represents a new record for the industry and portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film”, said Dergarabedian.

Online ticket seller Fandango said on Thursday that the new movie, which has received glowing reviews, has already broken its record for the most tickets sold for any film’s entire theatrical run.

On Dec. 17, 2015, guests and fans were among the first to see the release of the new film during a sold out, Star Wars: The Force Awakens Opening Night event at Disney Springs and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

“Force Awakens” takes place 30 years after the conclusion of 1983’s “Return of the Jedi”.

The opening weekend numbers are a vote of confidence for Disney, which purchased the Star Wars franchise from Lucas for $4.1 billion in 2012.

US President Barack Obama had a special screening of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at the White House with families of fallen soldiers, ahead of the first family’s annual holiday trip to Hawaii.

Avatar generated $2.8 billion sales worldwide after its release in December 2009.

Critics lavished praise on “Force Awakens”, which features newcomers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac alongside original stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest also made an appearance later in the briefing room alongside a pair of Star Wars Stormtroopers and the droid R2-D2. That’s a significant disadvantage for “Star Wars” to overcome, and while no one’s ruling it out, that makes it far more hard.