‘Star Wars’ rocks China debut, overtakes ‘Jurassic World’ in global sales

Over the weekend, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the first film to ever pass $800 million at the USA box office, while it also passed Skyfall to become the highest-grossing film in United Kingdom history, while it’s now also the highest-grossing Disney release ever in Russian Federation too.

The nationwide release of “The Revenant” made way more money than analysts were expecting, bringing in an estimated $38 million for the weekend and actually beating “Star Wars” in Friday ticket sales.

Disney and Lucasfilm were hoping for a big opening in China if it was going to reach the lofty heights of James Cameron’s Avatar, which is still the biggest movie of all-time with $2.7 billion. Internationally it made another $146M (including a record-breaking $52.6M two-day opening in China) bringing its cume to $921M for a worldwide total of $1.73B, overtaking Jurassic World for number three all-time.

He added: ‘We’re very encouraged by the beginning of what should be a very long run and what it represents for the long-term future of the franchise in one of the most important markets in the world’.

Director J.J. Abrams, producer Kathleen Kennedy, actress Daisy Ridley and actor John Boyega attend “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” premiere at Shanghai Grand Theatre on December 27, 2015 in Shanghai, China.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens got a scare in its fourth weekend, and by scare I mean it nearly got dethroned as the number one movie.

Directed by Alejandro G. Inarritu, Fox bowed the bloody thriller across 3,375 locations.

Daddy’s Home has proven surprisingly resilient despite lackluster reviews, falling to third with an estimated $15 million, but has topped $116.3 million in domestic revenue. The movie is still showing in theaters in North America as well, and still earning top dollar in just about every market it’s being shown in.

When you say how many people went to a movie, it may not look all that impressive compared with other forms of entertainment; far more people watch a hit TV show in a given week than go to most hit movies.

Fifth on the list was “Sisters”, with Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, at US$7.2 million its fourth week out.

The movie came from global film studio Disney from The Walt Disney Company who bought the franchise for a reported whopping $4 billion from Star Wars creator George Lucas in 2012 from his company Lucas film.