‘Star Wars’ smashes opening night record with US$57 million domestic haul

The seventh Star Wars movie started its US box office run in record-setting fashion with $57 million in Thursday night previews.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues to burn through the box office record book as it heads towards an opening day Friday over $100 million, according to studio estimates, USA Today reports.

Walt Disney Co said the movie appeared headed toward a weekend domestic total of more than $200 million with the possibility of eclipsing the $208.8 million record set by dinosaur film “Jurassic World” in June.

Prior to Friday’s release, over $100 million in advance tickets were already sold, prompting Cineplex in Canada to increase opening weekend screenings by 50 per cent – an additional 160 screenings at 115 theatres across the country. The movie opened in 12 worldwide markets on Wednesday.

As it stands right now, Jurassic World holds the record for biggest opening weekend.

“The Force Awakens” opened this weekend in virtually every major market except China, where it will debut on January 9, and Greece and India, where it will roll out next Thursday. Box Office Mojo predicted yesterday that the film could rake in $231 million in its opening weekend, but analysts there now say that number “may be in jeopardy of being too low”.

The Force Awakens is sitting at 95% positive amongs the critics, and 93% positive amongst the fans.

Amy Miles, CEO at Regal Entertainment Group, adds: “This holiday season we are excited to be a part of the highly anticipated release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.

The White House showed its geek side and hosted a Star Wars screening.

JJ Abrams initially rejected the opportunity to direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens because he did not want to be regarded as “the guy who does sequels”, The Guardian reported on Saturday. So far, the force behind Star Wars has proved to be its highly influential cult following which has made the franchise over $32 billion in revenue over the past 38 years. But the Force was strong with Star Wars 7, as it managed to pull in $13.5 million more than the final trip to Hogwarts.