New ‘Star Wars’ film smashes box office record

Surprisingly, The Force Awakens couldn’t top Jurassic World for the best worldwide opening weekend, as that still holds the record with US$524.9 million (S$741 million).

“Star Wars” now rules the box office galaxy.

The Force Awakens stars veterans Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, along with newcomers Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis and Domhnall Gleeson.

The film has broken opening day records globally as well – From the United Kingdom ($24.7 million) to Germany ($12.7 million ), to France ($11.2 million), Australia ($10.4 million), and the list goes on. 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. The only question is, are the Star Wars movies on Netflix to stream in the comfort of your own home?

The Disney film opened in 4,134 theaters. Some dressed as Jedi or Sith, carried lightsabers and cheered when classic characters such as Princess Leia or Chewbacca appeared on screen. Theaters added showtimes to meet demand. 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.

A Reuters Breakingviews analysis last week calculated that Disney may be on track to triple its Lucasfilm investment and earn an average of $669 million off the franchise in each of the next six years.

With a production budget of more than $US200 million, the Walt Disney Co stands to make a considerable profit. However, “The Force Awakens” total does not include sales in China, where the movie won’t open until January 9.

The film is the first in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.