That will easily beat the Thursday night record set in July 2011 for the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”, which took in $43.5 million.
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It features newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega alongside original stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher, and has been showered with good reviews.
It may be setting global box-office records, but for at least one Southland movie audience, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was nearly a disaster.
The film, which made $14.1 million internationally on Thursday, will be in 4,134 locations by Friday, a record for a December opening.
“Jurassic World” opened in June with $208.8 million in the United States and Canada and a take of $525 million worldwide.
Tony Hicks writes celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group.
Eager U.S. fans had already bought more than $100 million in advance tickets for the “The Force Awakens” by Tuesday, according to Box Office Mojo.
“Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience”, Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios said in a statement yesterday.
A video posted to Facebook early Friday apparently shows moviegoers at a late-night 3D screening at Hollywood’s Arclight Cinemas of the latest installment of the “Star Wars” saga almost losing their minds after the projector failed.
With its Thursday-night debut, “Force Awakens” grossed $57-million in North American theaters, reports Variety.
That’s because “The Force Awakens”, based on the first wave of estimates, is trampling some records with the force of a Tauntaun – and is poised to overcome more.
The wild card is China, the world’s second-largest movie market, where “Force Awakens” opens January 9.
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“The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”, the fourth and last movie in the blockbuster franchise that turned Jennifer Lawrence into a Hollywood megastar, earned US$5.7 million, falling to fourth place in its fifth week in theatres.
