Variety has this morning provided a breakdown of the demographics attending Star Wars: The Force Awakens box office record-breaking launch in the US.
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Movie theatre attendance in the United States and Canada, the world’s largest film market, has barely changed in a decade as online and mobile platforms exploded.
Analysts said the Star Wars success would come as a much-needed boost to Disney, whose sports broadcasting business ESPN has faced falling subscriber numbers.
Given the lack of direct competition in the weeks ahead – most films cleared out of the way of Star Wars once its release date was announced – The Force Awakens has a clear run at a $2bn box office take, it seems.
The Force Awakens also set a new opening-day record of more than $9.4 million. The total earnings of the movie since it opened last December 18 and throughout the weekend has been over $518 million, as IGN reports, and this has not let up yet. The Force Awakens’ global total of $517 million puts it just shy of Jurassic World’s $525 million global record.
The Force Awakens made £38m on Thursday night, beating the previous record hit by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Forty-two per cent of the weekend’s domestic audience was female, Disney said.
The film also stars Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o and Domhnall Gleeson, along with original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
Disney purchased “Star Wars” producer Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012 as part of his bet on big-budget films.
However, that tally included $US99 million in China, where The Force Awakens does not open until January 9. “Avatar” holds that title with $2.8 billion in global sales.
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“Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director JJ Abrams, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves”, read a press release from Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios.
