‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Breaks U.K., Ireland Opening Weekend Record

That surpassed the previous opening-day record of $43.5 million for the final “Harry Potter” movie in 2011.

“Star Wars'” worldwide take is projected at $517 million, the second-highest opening weekend of all time, behind “Jurassic World’s” $525 million.

One big reason? Star Wars hasn’t opened in China yet, where Jurassic World made US$99 million during its opening weekend.

In a press release, Walt Disney Studios announced that Star Wars: The Force Awakens made an estimated $238 million at the domestic box office on opening weekend. But projections indicate that it could well supersede that total, riding the holiday wave to reach upwards of $800 million in the domestic market.

“I would argue the two-year marketing campaign for “Star Wars: the Force Awakens” was flawless in its execution”, said Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis.

It also had the biggest Thursday preview gross, at $57 million, and it turned in the fastest climbs ever to the $100 million and $200 million benchmarks, Dergarabedian said.

It was also the first movie to cross 100 million USA dollars within 24 hours after screened in theaters.

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Other records “The Force Awakens” created were the film with the biggest December debut, the biggest IMAX Thursday night, the biggest IMAX single-day and the biggest IMAX weekend. Based on the early response, many analysts have the film pegged for a weekend total closer to $250 million — far above “Jurassic World”.

· Biggest December debut (nearly 3 times previous record of $84.6M).

“The potential for “The Force Awakens” to ultimately break into the $2 billion club worldwide is certainly in the realm of possibility”, said Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracker Rentrak.

Overseas, “The Force Awakens” opened to $279 million as it played in every major market except China, India and Greece.