Star Wars overtakes Jurassic World for biggest global debut

The new Disney movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has broken box office records after its opening weekend during which it generated $238 million in USA and Canadian ticket sales.

Even without China, “Star Wars” enjoyed a massive global rollout. As a way of comparison, Force Awakens came in 44 percent ahead of Spider-Man 2’s first Monday and 60 percent ahead of Jurassic World.

Had Star Wars opened in China this weekend, it would have captured the global record no problem.

SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and, um, for the same movie in an alternate universe, follow.

Based on a conservative total box office estimate of US$750 million in North America and US$2.25 billion worldwide, J.P. Morgan believes the film should produce well over US$1 billion in profits.

Reports are suggesting that the 73-year-old movie legend is set to earn “0.5 per cent share of the film’s gross earnings” on top of the €23 million flat fee he got for appearing in the movie. That’s a mark that The Force Awakens could conceivably pass by the end of December.

It also introduces new heroes Rey and Finn to lead a younger generation of new Star Wars fans.

We’ve heard a lot from director J.J. Abrams and writers Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasadan over the past few days, as the trio have been talking about all the various choices they had to make in regards to the story and characters.

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Its performance so far is a major victory for Iger and Disney’s film studio.

As for the younger talent receiving lower salaries – it’s a fairly common practice in today’s market for newer actors, especially with so many negotiations involving back-end box office bonuses. You may also connect with IMAX on Facebook (www.facebook.com/imax), Twitter (www.twitter.com/imax) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/imaxmovies).