“Star Wars” headed for $215M+ Box Office record

This all comes after studio estimates showed that The Force Awakens exploded out of the box office at Thursday night previews, taking a record $57 million.

“Force Awakens” surpassed the previous opening-day record of $43.5 million set in 2011 by the final “Harry Potter” movie.

Worldwide ticket sales, however, place “Star Wars” behind “Jurassic World”, which made $524.9 million globally in its first weekend.

Devoted… Fans emerge from a screening on opening night of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles.

If that weren’t enough, it’s grossed $72.7 million overseas so far, and we haven’t even hit the weekend or seen it open in every country yet. When you first saw a Star Wars film depends a lot on how old you are, as younger Americans are unsurprisingly a lot more likely to have first seen the movies when they were kids.

Walt Disney Co. spent $200 million to produce Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which was directed, co-written, and co-produced by J.J. Abrams.

The Force Awakens is a genuine cultural phenomenon. It is the seventh in the “Star Wars” saga, and the first film starring beloved characters like Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia since 1983’s “Return of the Jedi”. For additional context, the opening weekend record holder “Jurassic World” grossed only $18.5 million from Thursday previews.

Marvel movies have proved extremely popular and so of course others in Hollywood are following suit.

Strong reviews plus a decades-long affection for the “Star Wars” franchise are driving interest, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at box office tracking firm Rentrak. “To all of the fans around the world who not only came out in Force to make this such an exciting and astronomical debut but who treated this film as their own and helped preserve the experience for their fellow fans by not spoiling it – thank you, we do”. “Going to see a “Star Wars” movie on opening night is a rite of passage for die-hard fans”.

So Saturday is crucial since tickets will be available for The Force Awakens.

Here are a few memorable Star Wars tributes we stumbled across. The film also introduces Daisy Ridley and John Boyega as new heroes Rey and Finn, as well as Adam Driver as new villain Kylo Ren.