‘The Force Awakens’ begins its record march with $57M Thursday

All three of those records were previous held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 in 2011, which took in $91.1 million on its first day.

Disney said 47 percent of Thursday’s domestic ticket sales came from higher-priced 3D tickets.

“Abrams’ film is also smashing records overseas, where it has amassed a stunning $72.7 million in its first two days for a global tally of almost $130 million”. Jurassic World, another new chapter in a beloved franchise that has been dormant for some time, stomped through theaters to the tune of $208.8 million this past summer. “The Force Awakens” was heading toward a Thursday night-Friday total of more than $120 million domestically, said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney.

Speaking about the reaction to the movie, Trish Long of Disney Ireland said they were thrilled.

“This represents a new record for the industry and portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film”, said Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracker Rentrak. Although spoilers for “Force Awakens” have been kept under lock and key, excluding the New York Daily News blunder, it’s safe to say that the the film will include some similarly jaw-dropping moments, or at least we can hope.

Strong reviews for the film, which is set 30 years after “Return of the Jedi”, have added to the fervor for “The Force Awakens”. So far, the film has brought in $517 million worldwide, so the $200 million dollar budget that Disney and Lucasfilm took as risk on was well worth it, not to mention that $4 billion purchase made by Lucasfilm to acquire Disney. “It’s just a ideal storm of Star Wars enthusiasm”. That is until the spinoff movies start rolling in and America rediscovers their love for Lobot and Lando in, Star Wars: Among The Clouds.

Star Wars has always been popular, as fathers passed VHS tapes down to their sons, and mothers passed DVDs down to their daughters, but this is a very big deal to see The Force Awakens be so successful. The seventh installment in the “Star Wars” series stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher from the original trilogy as well as Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis and Domhnall Gleeson.

Why do you think “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is so popular?