‘Star Wars’ Sales Top $50 Million in China Opening Weekend

If “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” earns more than $390 million in China, it would become the highest-grossing Hollywood film ever released in the country. 7 million in the USA and Canada and $US104.3 million overseas, led by a record-breaking opening in China.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened today in China, with an estimated $32.1 million, according to ChinaBoxOffice. In the USA, 70% of the audience polled Friday night by CinemaScore said they turned out because of Mr. DiCaprio in the staring role. This makes it the first film to ever make more than $800 million, EW reports.

“Jurassic World” had previously been number three, with US$1.67 billion in total box office receipts, but it fell to the Star Wars onslaught. If it keeps up this pace, the film could claim the top spot overall in the history of cinema (currently, number two is “Titanic” which earned $2.2 billion at the box office, and number one “Avatar” raked in $2.8 billion). The fans of George Lucas’ sci-fi saga are some of the most loyal in the galaxy, and after the general disappointment of the last three films, we have been crossing our fingers that JJ Abrams’ reboot would serve as a new hope (sorry). That puts the film up to $812 million domestically and $1.733 billion worldwide, #1 on the domestic all-time chart and #3 in worldwide grosses.

It also continued to reign over the North American box office, where it grossed another $41.6 million (£27.7 million) to successfully fight off Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Revenant, which debuts at two with $38 million (£25.3 million). The Forest, too, has not had much critical praise, but at an estimated $13.1 million on a $10 million budget, it has little ground to cover to make itself profitable, if not well received. Focus president of distribution Jim Orr said the horror film topped expectations.

There’s no denying that Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is the biggest movie in the world right now. Nike slid 0.3%, after closing up 1.2%.

Daddy’s Home dropped to third place with a $15.02 million gross. Sisters, $US7.2 million ($US3.4 million) 6.

It also coincides with a steep slide for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight”, because apparently there’s only room for one gore-filled snowy Western at the box office.