Star Wars could cover Lucasfilm cost by 2018

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is on course to smash the record for the biggest box office debut weekend in North America, Disney has said.

The Force Awakens made $57m (£38m) on Thursday night – beating the previous record of $43.5m held by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011.

Before Star Wars, Jurassic World, which was also released this year, held the record. US President Barack Obama ended a news conference on December 18 saying that he needed to head to a White House screening of the movie, and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton closed Saturday’s Democratic debate saying, “May the Force be with you”. 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.

58% – Percentage of this weekend’s audience that was male.

The movie could become the highest-grossing movie of all time, box office analysts said.

The movie directed by J.J. Abrams scored a 95 percent positive rating on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

Walt Disney – which acquired the franchise’s original producer Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012 – spent $200 million producing the latest installment. That’s just one of the records that The Force Awakens box office numbers smashed into oblivion, and it seems bound to potentially smash a few more as well.

Another four franchise films are expected to follow “The Force Awakens” over the next four years.

It remains to be seen whether the earnings from “Star Wars” and some of the company’s other film properties can counter the loss of subscribers Disney is seeing at cable TV networks such as ESPN and the Disney Channel.

Meanwhile filming on Star Wars: Episode VIII will start within weeks in London according to actor John Boyega who plays ex-Stormtrooper Finn.