Walt Disney has stated that “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has just opened in China and garnered an estimated $33 million in ticket sales on the first day of its release, representing the film studio’s biggest opening day in China and the highest Saturday opening day ever in the country, according to The Guardian.
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It was also the highest Saturday or Sunday film that opened up in China in the history of the industry, said Disney representatives.
The sci-fi/fantasy epic from J.J. Abrams earned $41.6 million to land at the top spot, blowing past the $1.669 billion gross from Jurassic World to become the No. 3 title of all time worldwide behind Avatar ($2.78 billion) and Titanic ($2.19 billion). Internationally, it earned $3.4-M from 21 territories for a foreign take of $8.2-M and global box office take of $82.1-M.
It beat The Revenant to second place with US$38 million in its wide release debut. Becoming the highest-grossing Hollywood film in the country would be no easy feat.
Of the Top 10 films this weekend, only supernatural horror The Forest was a new release and it managed to come fourth even with all the competition, after taking $13.1m (£9m).
Leonardo DiCaprio and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu received Golden Globes over the weekend, but their film also brought in the gold (figuratively) at the weekend box office.
Such was The Force Awakens’s hold on American moviegoers that it overshadowed what otherwise would have been a phenomenal North American performance for The Revenant.
“Fast & Furious 7” earned $182 million during its opening weekend in May a year ago.
The movie, beset by production issues as the cast and crew chased snowy conditions for the shoot, cost $135 million to make, a figure that doesn’t include marketing costs, according to Box Office Mojo.
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So far, it is estimated to have made around $1.7 billion worldwide, compared with Avatar’s $2.8 billion. The film officially passed Avatar earlier this past Wednesday to become the biggest domestic film of all-time em *The Force Awakens has broken the $800 million mark, does it have what it takes to make it to the ten-digit-milestone? For this reason, the success of “Star Wars” in China is of critical importance. It earned $13.1 million in 2,451 theaters, which was a little more than expected, but it only earned a C on Cinemascore. The Amy Poehler and Tina Fey comedy about a pair of siblings suffering from arrested development has racked up 73.9 million. The revisionist Western picked up 6.4 million, bringing its total to 41.5 million.
