Star Wars 7 Passes Avatar at US Box Office

The Force Awakens was well on its way to claiming the all-time domestic box-office crown – which Avatar had worn for half a decade.

That screaming you hear coming from a galaxy far, far away is the Na’vi.

The studio says the JJ Abrams film earned enough on Wednesday to pass the £520 million taken by Avatar over its lifetime. It did take seven months and a re-release in theaters for “Avatar” to achieve its mark. When pricing increases are factored in, Gone With the Wind remains the highest-grossing film in history with $1.7 billion and the first Star Wars is runner-up with $1.5 billion. As of Tuesday, The Force Awakens sits at $1.56 billion (still yet to open in China), while Avatar made a whopping $2.78 billion.

As for worldwide, The Force Awakens may settle in in third, possibly second, when its run is over… behind Cameron’s Titanic ($2.186 billion) and Cameron’s Avatar ($2.788b).

Disney bought the 39-year-old franchise from George Lucas in 2012 for $4-billion, and looks set to easily recoup that investment.

But Forbes notes that the worldwide box office is an entirely different issue.

One is that, adjusted for inflation, The Force Awakens will just barely crack the top 20 all-time top-grossing movies after today.

A member of Malaysia’s Star Wars Fan Club dressed as Darth Maul (C) attends a viewing of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at a cinema in Subang, outside Kuala Lumpur on December 17, 2015. The film has a foreign total of $799 million to-date, for a global haul of $1.55 billion.

However, the film has yet to become the highest grossing film of all time.