‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ beats competition to rule global box office

Disney estimates that the film earned US$238 million (about £160 million) in the United States, along with US$279 million (£187 million) worldwide, for a grand total of US$517 million (about £347 million).

To the surprise of absolutely no one but to the great relief of Disney, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has set a new record for opening weekend at the Australian box office, as it soars to a global box office in excess of half a billion American dollars in its first three days.

That falls short of the dinosaurs’ global opening weekend record of $316.1 million and their record for a worldwide – that is foreign and domestic grosses combined – opening weekend of $524.9 million within range. “The Force Awakens” ran at 4,134 screens in North America, compared with 4,274 for “Jurassic World” and 4,349 for “The Avengers”.

The latest film, which some analysts expect to gross more than $2 billion, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac. Still, it seems unwise to put a limit on what The Force Awakens can achieve, especially with Deadline reporting CinemaScore ratings of A overall, A+ for women and A+ for both young adults (under 25) and teens (under 18). The previous record holder for a December opening was “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, which took in $85 million in 2012.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens already broke some records in the film industry and received positive reviews and strong recommendations from critics and moviegoers.

The movie also had record ticket sales in the UK, Russia, Australia and other countries and it could end up being the most popular movie at the box office.

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.