‘Star Wars’ Explodes at Global Box Office With $250 Million

Speaking with The Times, the 49-year-old director said that when Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy called, “I did something I don’t normally do, which is look at my career”. More than $100 million advance tickets (also a record) were sold ahead of the opening of “The Force Awakens”, much of those going toward Thursday and Friday shows.

The “Harry Potter” film holds the all-time record for opening day at $91 million (roughly Rs. 603 crores) but the new “Star Wars” which has had rave reviews and even saw Stormtroopers “invade” the White House on Friday is expected to also force it out of that slot.

Isaac, who will go on to star in the new X-Men movie next summer, is akin to a new-age Han Solo as Poe Dameron, coupled with the early braggadocio reminiscent of a young Luke Skywalker (though the same could also be said for young Finn).

Midnight screenings alone accounted for nearly a quarter (£2.4m) of the Thursday tally.

Standing next to his wife, who was decked out in a R2-D2 hoodie, Chris Barreno, 36, was getting ready Saturday for his second viewing of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at the ArcLight Cinemas in El Segundo.

The new Star Wars film has broken the box office record for the biggest single day in Ireland.

Walt Disney Co released its projections late Friday stating USA and Canadian ticket sales were hurtling towards $125m (£84m) that day and it could bring in $225m (£151m) through Sunday, which would give it the biggest opening weekend of all time. If that turns out to be the case, it will have beaten out the previous weekend champion, “Jurassic World”, by more than $10 million.

Anthony DiClemente, an analyst at Nomura Securities, said that after seeing the film he believed it could exceed Avatar’s $2.8bn global total.

“OK, everybody, I got to get to ‘Star Wars, ‘” Obama said from the lectern as he waved off more questions at the White House briefing room, smiling widely as reporters yelled out more queries. It opens in China next month.