Latest Star Wars movie smashes North America box office record

Fueled by hype and a nostalgic yet progressive script, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has conquered “Avatar” for the title of No. 1 North American movie of all time – in just 20 days.

That’s just a figure of speech, by the way – the people working in the literal box office won’t take kindly to accepting a hefty bag of pennies for your fourth viewing.

Blockbuster movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” will pass “Avatar” on Wednesday to become the top-selling film of all time in the United States and Canada, Walt Disney Co said. It will launch its first show this weekend in China, the world’s second-largest market for media and film. However, over the course of its record-setting run over 72 percent of Avatar’s grosses came from global markets, raking in over a staggering $2 billion.

Through January 5, the film had grossed $758.2 million domestically and $799.1 million for a global total of $1.5 billion since its December 16 global debut. However, Star Wars has already reached $1.56 billion internationally from Tuesday’s values and is expected to exceed that of Avatar’s.

Star Wars has been breaking records left and right since its release, starting with its opening weekend when it made a staggering $248million at the box office. J Abram’s Star Wars will become the highest grossing film of all time. It’s due for release in the People’s Republic later this month, where awareness of the multi-billion dollar franchise apparently isn’t quite as strong.

Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University in NY, said the hype and marketing surrounding the latest Star War had helped ensure its success but so was the fact that it is a good movie.