The updated estimate from Disney places the seventh Star Wars movie more than $16 million ahead of the six-month-old record by Universal’s ‘Jurassic World, ‘ which opened at $208.4 million on the June 12-14 weekend. That is until the spinoff movies start rolling in and America rediscovers their love for Lobot and Lando in, Star Wars: Among The Clouds.
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“With the increased demand for ‘Star Wars, ‘ we will continue to add showtimes to accommodate the avid fans that have been eagerly awaiting the seventh film in this blockbuster series”, said Amy Miles, CEO of Regal Entertainment Group.
Don’t be alarmed. It wasn’t only those who belong to the dark side who penetrated the nation’s capital on the official opening day of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.
The film is playing at a total of 4,134 North American locations on Friday – a record for a December opening. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 previously reigned by earning $91.1 million in July 2011. Rival studios had been projecting an opening weekend around $250 million since mid-Friday, but Disney opted for a cautious outlook, asserting in the early afternoon that the movie would top $200 million, then pushing that to $215 million in the late afternoon and raising it to $225 million-plus in the late evening. However, those numbers began to look like conservative estimates after the Thursday and Friday screenings.
Force Awakens Fandango sales beat the total tickets ever sold for Jurassic World (the company’s previous champ), The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Hunger Games.
3D amounted to about 47 percent of the night’s grosses, and IMAX made $5.7 million from 391 screens, which nearly doubled the previous record of $3 million, held by “Avengers: Age of Ultron”. In addition, MovieTickets.com continues to report that 93% of all its tickets sales in the last 24 hours are for Force Awakens.
A lot is riding on the film for Disney, which paid $4.06 billion for Lucasfilm in 2012. Thousands gathered for a friendly light saber battle in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, and moviegoers in cities such as Berlin and Paris arrived at screenings wearing Stormtrooper costumes, Jedi robes and Darth Vader masks.
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As far as all-time box office sales, two films by James Cameron hold the record – “Avatar” ($2.78 billion) and “Titanic” ($2.18 billion).
