‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ heading for $220 million weekend

Star Wars: The Force Awakens collected a galactic $250 million of global ticket sales through Friday and headed toward a historic opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada as fans around the world reveled in the return of the beloved space saga. While Kung Fu Panda 3 is the only big box office film coming out in January, February will bring Deadpool, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Zoolander 2, all of which could compete against The Force Awakens for viewers. Saturday domestic receipts were expected to total $60 million, Disney said.

Nomura Securities analyst Anthony DiClemente, who rates Disney a “buy”, said he was more confident after seeing the movie that it could become the top-grossing film of all time.

That number blasted the opening day record in the USA, held by “Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2”, which made $91.7 million on its opening day in 2011.

Globally, The Force Awakens has taken an estimated $US517 million ($A720 million), according to boxofficemojo.

That’s a significant disadvantage for “Star Wars” to overcome, and while no one’s ruling it out, that makes it far more hard.

Watch the film trailer for “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens”, starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver and John Boyega.

Unlike Jurassic World, which also benefited from a wave of nostalgia, The Force Awakens has received rave reviews.

Disney, the studio behind the newest installment in the Star Wars series, is set to release four more Star Wars films.

“‘Star Wars’ is the phenomenon it is and will continue to be, but there is another segment of the audience out there”, he added.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also appeared unannounced at the lectern of the briefing room, flanked by Stormtroopers.

But so far, “The Force Awakens” is attracting the interest of seemingly everyone. First lady Michelle Obama hosted a screening for children of families that lost members to war. Whether “The Force Awakens” can come close to the global hauls of those films ($2.8 billion for “Avatar” and $2.2 billion for “Titanic”) won’t be clear for weeks.