Star Wars: The Force Awakens Smashes All Records

The film is certain to go past the current weekend record holder though, i.e. Jurassic World, which enjoyed a mammoth weekend of $208.8 million. 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.

The “Harry Potter” film holds the all-time record for opening day at $91 million but the new “Star Wars” – which has had rave reviews and even saw Stormtroopers “invade” the White House on Friday – is expected to also force it out of that slot. That total does not include receipts from China, the world’s second-largest movie market, and China’s absence is a major reason why global box office receipts for “The Force Awakens” failed to top those of “Jurassic World”. Friday’s $120.5 million gate blasted that record into hyperspace.

The movie is now open in all markets except Greece and India, where it premieres on Thursday, 24 December, and China, which has a 9 January debut.

J.J. Abrams’ movie took £25.3 million ($37.7 million) in three days at the United Kingdom and Ireland box office, with Sunday’s projected £7.5 million ($11.2 million) bringing the film’s cumulative weekend projection to £32.8 million ($48.9 million), including previews.

“The Force Awakens” is only the third movie in history to open at over $200 million, besides its immediate rival “Jurassic World” and “The Avengers”.

“For “Star Wars” fans and Hollywood, this weekend was like the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Kentucky Derby all rolled into one perfectly realized movie event”, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak.

Abrams, the movie stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow.

A Star Wars fan dressed as Kylo Ren raises his lightsaber during Lightsaber Battle LA in Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles, California on Dec 18, 2015. Critic site Rotten Tomatoes also gave The Force Awakens a positive rating of 95 percent.