Ticket sales are estimated to have made $238m (£159.7m) – the previous record was held by Jurassic World, which took $208.8m in June. The Hobbit got close with an $86 million opening weekend, and American Sniper grossed $89 when it went wide, but Star Wars is absolutely setting a new bar for December relases.
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The trend, if it holds, would also mark the first time a movie has surpassed $100 million so soon, Walt Disney Co. said Friday in an e-mailed statement, topping the mark held by a “Harry Potter” picture.
Analysts predict that the seventh instalment of the iconic space saga, which cost Disney an estimated $200 million (roughly Rs. 1,326 crores) to produce, could score the biggest opening weekend ever and could even become the biggest film of all time.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” had an extraordinary opening weekend taking in $517 million in ticket sales worldwide making it the second-biggest opening weekend in history, rivaled only by Jurassic World.
The latest film in the iconic franchise has smashed box office records in the United States and Canada after pulling in $57million (£38m) on its first night.
3-D screening accounted for 47% of the night’s grosses on Thursday.
The Force Awakens scored a 95% positive rating on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, scoring an average of 8.2 out of 10 in more than 250 reviews. “The Force Awakens” is simultaneously opening around the world just about everywhere but China, where it debuts in January. “The Force Awakens” is set 30 years after the events of 1983’s “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi”.
Cue the Imperial March, because the new “Star Wars” is power-stepping its way into the record books with dramatic precision.
Disney owns the Star Wars franchise, after buying it from Star Wars creator George Lucas in 2012 for $US4.05 billion, and The Force Awakens is the first Star Wars film in 10 years since Revenge of the Sith.
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The latest film, which some analysts expect to gross more than $2 billion, stars Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac.
