After a year of hype and countless trailers and posters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally opened last night and it already set the record for biggest evening preview gross, raking in $57 million from 7 PM or later show times. It also managed to shatter the biggest single day gross for a Thursday – $50 million – which coincidentally was held by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith for over ten years. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has also taken in $72.7 million from its first two days in 44 worldwide markets.
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Fans Flock To See New Star Wars Movie
Brian Burnham, assistant manager at Maya Cinemas, said the theater has been selling tickets for about two months. And while it wasn’t too busy this afternoon, Chatterly says tonights shows are already sold out.
Screenings of “The Force Awakens” started Thursday night in theaters across the US and Canada.
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The early figures suggest The Force Awakens is on course to exceed the record domestic opening of Jurassic World, which debuted with $208.8 million in June. Costumed, lightsaber-wielding fans have lined up around blocks, from Jakarta to Paris, to be among the first to see “The Force Awakens” (and hopefully avoid any spoilers from its intensely guarded plot).
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Strong reviews for the film, which is set 30 years after “Return of the Jedi”, have added to the fervour for “The Force Awakens”.
Such a positive reaction for “The Force Awakens” may attract the kind of repeat viewings that made James Cameron’s “Avatar” and “Titanic” the highest grossing films of all time. The December opening weekend record holder is The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with $82.6 million.
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The trio of heroes who appeared in the first of the blockbusters in 1977 – smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), leader of the rebel alliance, and her twin brother Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) – are all back and played by the actors that Star Wars first made famous. President Barack Obama began a year-end news conference Friday noting, “Clearly, this is not the most important event that’s taking place in the White House today”.
