“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” shatters box office record

The record holder for the biggest opening during the month was “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, which took in $85 million in domestic receipts in 2012. At this point, the total box office for the year stands at $10.4 billion, just a shade ahead of the total take at this time in 2013, which was the most lucrative year on record.

The Disney sci-fi epic, featuring original franchise stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher and newcomers Oscar Isaac, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, skyrocketed to number one, easily eclipsing the $209 million (£139.3 million) debut previously set by Jurassic World in June (15).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has set a new box office record.

It is noteworthy that “The Force Awakens” broke the domestic opening weekend record in December, when audiences are usually considered to be distracted by holiday shopping.

“We must offer a round of applause for Walt Disney, Lucasfilm and everybody involved with this mammoth debut”. Although three prequel films were released since then, they have largely been panned by critics and fans alike.

It’s been impossible to miss the huge advertising effort put into the new “Star Wars”. For Disney (and especially Team Bad Robot), this Mystery Box strategy was intentional. Still, as Hollis noted, “with each beat, it just kept building momentum into a true cultural event”.

Whether you absorbed the extended hype leading up to this precious moment from the flood of online trailers, clips and featurettes, or read innumerable articles on the iconic space opera’s resurrection, one crucial element to the process were the vivid movie posters used to attract your retinas and lure you inside the darkened theaters. The movie cost a reported $350 million to make and market.

Disney plans four Star Wars movies up to 2019, plus major expansions at its United States theme parks to incorporate the droids, spaceships and otherworldly creatures of the universe Lucas invented. Forty-two percent of the weekend’s domestic audience was female, Disney said.

“Seeing the way younger audiences and women are responding bodes really well for the future of the franchise”, Mr. Hollis said.

Obama left the press conference saying he needed to get to “Star Wars”.

And Imax does seem to command a legitimate price premium.

47%: How much of The Force Awakens’ revenue came from 3D. Hollis agreed, noting that the breakdown evened out across the weekend too.

HomeToGo, the vacation rental website, has been promoting rentals in destinations that have been featured in previous “Star Wars” films, such as California’s Death Valley, Norway and Italy. The only question is, are the Star Wars movies on Netflix to stream in the comfort of your own home? On Friday, seventh part of Star wars was released i.e. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.