The “Harry Potter” film holds the all-time record for opening day at $91 million (roughly Rs. 603 crores) 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.
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens brought in $57 million from Thursday night preview screenings as well, which will be included in that Friday opening, and broke the previous Thursday record held by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005 with $50 million. Anything is possible but the next pin to knock down is Jurassic World’s $208 opening weekend record – a figure that Star Wars was nearly halfway towards thanks to advanced tickets.
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Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted day-and-date internationally in almost every market (except Greece and India, which open December 24, and China, which opens January 9) and set records in many. This marks the second-highest reported global weekend opening of all-time, behind only Jurassic World ($525 million, including China).
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A mixture of strong reviews and a decades-long affection for the Star Wars franchise are driving interest, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at box office tracking firm Rentrak.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has already broken multiple box office records.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens looks set to bust sales records.
The movie is on track to have the biggest December opening ever, topping “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”, which took in $85 million in the US and Canada on its opening weekend in December 2012, reports AP’s Ryan Nakashima.
What’s the Star Wars draw? It was also the first film to ever make more than $100 million on any given day. The film previously broke the record for the biggest opening day in the territory on Thursday. Disney’s carefully planned release of film trailers and tidbits of information over several months also boosted ticket sales, he said.
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Two of the other “major” films bowing this weekend – Universal’s “Sisters” with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler (opening in 2,962 locations) and Fox’s “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip” (opening in 3,653 locations) – netted $5 million and $4 million respectively on Friday.
