Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues to burn through the box office record book as it heads towards an opening day Friday over $100 million, according to studio estimates, USA Today reports.
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Disney, which bought the rights to the “Star Wars” franchise from its creator George Lucas for $4 billion (roughly Rs. 26,525 crores) in 2012, has built up the hype around “The Force Awakens”, rolling out a well-orchestrated marketing campaign that has left fans wanting more.
Carrie Fisher loved working with JJ Abrams on “Star Trek: The Force Awakens” because he is such a fan of the franchise.
It made $57m on Thursday night, beating the previous record of $43.5m held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Surprisingly this did not help Disney’s share price in the U.S., with its shares down 4 per cent on Friday, as the overall market suffered declines.
NEW YORK (AP) – “The Force Awakens” fever spread through movie theaters around the globe on Friday, even reaching the White House, as “Star Wars” yet again began toppling box-office records with waves of lightsaber-wielding fans.
You have left for this month. Han, Chewie, Leia, and friends obliterated the $208.8 million record set by Jurassic World this summer, and in total, The Force Awakens has already made an astronomical $517 million worldwide. Ticket sales on Thursday night and Friday surpassed previous records set by the final Harry Potter film in 2011.
The Disney film opened in 4,134 theaters.
Overseas, “The Force Awakens” opened to $279 million as it played in every major market except China, India and Greece.
So now what? Just as it was hard to predict The Force Awakens’ opening weekend, it’s also hard to predict what it’ll do from here. The record is held by Avatar with United States dollars 2.8 billion.
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When it comes to the original Star Wars trilogy, the force is definitely with University of Victoria PhD candidate David Christopher. They have seen only the last three releases in the series, prequels that didn’t resonate at the box office: 1999’s “The Phantom Menace ($5 million), 2002’s “Attack of the Clones” ($7.2 million) and 2005’s “Revenge of the Sith” ($11.7 million)”.
