“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” took in a record breaking $57 million at the USA box office for its preview showings on Thursday night.
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Box office forecasters say weekend ticket sales for the film may beat the record set in June by dinosaur movie Jurassic World with $US208.8 million ($281 million).
“Force Awakens” surpassed the previous opening day record of $43.5 million set in 2011 by the final “Harry Potter” movie.
Devoted… Fans emerge from a screening on opening night of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. The Force Awakens shattered its first record with advanced ticket sales, reportedly selling eight times as many tickets than the previous record holder, The Hunger Games, to the tune of million.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is in theaters now. The film, which debuted on a Thursday, earned $158.4 million after four days of release.
A failure to smash opening weekend records would not necessarily knock The Force Awakens off course in its bid to become the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide.
Variety magazine said Britain led the way with $14.4 million, followed by France’s two-day total of $7.8 million and Germany with $7.1 million.
A lot is riding on the film for Disney, which paid $4.06 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012. Critics have hailed it as a fan-friendly return to form for the franchise; the American Film Institute listed it among its top 10 films of the year.
A gaggle of Stormtroopers and the droid R2-D2 were spotted in the West Wing on Friday – there was a screening of “Star Wars” for people who lost family in the Iraq war.
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If social media is anything to go by, The Force Awakens is already way out ahead of Jurassic World. “I got to get to ‘Star Wars.’ Thank you”.
