‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opening night, with Chewbacchus Watch as the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus brings a touch of their customary chaos to The Theatres at Canal Place, in New Orleans, when 50 members of the Mardi Gras marching club, named for the Star Wars sidekick Chewbacca, arrived for a seven o’clock private showing of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in costume and paraded to a French Quarter party afterwards.
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Bills captain LeSean McCoy kisses Eagles logo, hugs owner Jeffrey Lurie
Earlier in the fourth quarter, a long Darren Sproles punt return was wasted when an Eagles’ drive stalled deep in the Bills’ end. In truth though, fans will be more focused on the fact that both these teams are still in position to make the playoffs.
UPDATE 11:55AM: More records set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens – and the film hasn’t even opened yet.
Astronauts aim to fix jammed rail vehicle during spacewalk
A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Progress cargo ship blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:44 a.m. Tomorrow, astronauts Kelly and Kopra will start their EVA from Quest airlock and move to the rail with stacked platform.
“We are obviously very encouraged by the record-breaking presales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens,'” added Dave Hollis, Disney’s EVP of theatrical distribution, “but there are literally millions of tickets available for this weekend, and exhibitors have a lot of flexibility in terms of capacity and increasing the number of shows based on demand”.
What we know about the Las Vegas crash suspect
The Miss Universe pageant was being held nearby at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino at the time of the crash. Authorities are also considering charges of charges of child abuse and neglect, as well as attempted murder, he said.
The gross helps to boost The Force Awakens’ global grab to $517 million (£345 million) after setting new opening weekend records in the U.K., Germany, Australia and Russian Federation, among 14 other countries.
Disney’s biggest worry has been that moviegoers will be too daunted by sold-out shows and long lines.
The record for biggest box office opening weekend ever belongs to Universal’s “Jurassic World” which premiered to $208.8 million just six months ago. Saturday and Sunday will depend more on traditional walk-up business.
As you might expect, those kinds of numbers are no fluke, and now The Force Awakens is on track stomp a couple of more records in its opening weekend.
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” – This first installment in the “Anthology” series of standalone films will be fans’ next taste of the “Star Wars” universe, as filming reportedly started in August.
The film is playing at a total of 4,134 North American locations on Friday – a record for a December opening.
Disney, which bought the rights to the Star Wars franchise from its creator Georges Lucas for US$4 billion in 2012, has built up the hype around The Force Awakens, rolling out a well-orchestrated marketing campaign that has left fans wanting more. Sequels and spinoffs are already in development for years to come, not to mention an entire corner of Disneyland devoted to the franchise.
The nostalgic and eye-popping Star Wars: The Force Awakens sees the return of old favourites and talented newcomers.
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.
Giving an end-of-year press conference, President Barack Obama revealed he too was swept up by the mania. “Star Wars” movies do one better, considering how they’re set in “a galaxy far, far away”, per the intro before the iconic screen crawl.
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As Steven Spielberg has joked, the latest Star Wars film is like Abrams’s second bar mitzvah.
