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Star Wars: The Force Awakens smashes box office record

That breaks the previous one-day record of $91 million set by 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows II”.

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J.J. Abrams’ seventh chapter in George Lucas’s space saga arrived with the kind of hoopla and anticipation that few films have ever matched. Disney bought “Star Wars” producer Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012.


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“Force Awakens” began rolling out in global markets on Wednesday.


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“We are obviously very encouraged by both the record-breaking pre-sales as well as the opening day box office for the movie in Ireland”, she said.

The ticket sales figures from Walt Disney Co. late Friday indicated that the film could eclipse the $US208.8 million record set by dinosaur adventure film Jurassic World in June. One of the keys of long-term record holding is people viewing the film multiple times and, unfortunately for Star Wars, the current viewing demographic is not known for doing so. For the whole weekend, industry estimates put the total cash intake at somewhere between $250 and $275 million.

Per a Fandango survey of more than 1K Star Wars fans 65% indicated that the film is a definite part of their holiday plans with family and friends while 63% said they’re planning to see the film multiples times in the theater. He said “Star Wars” profits won’t offset larger troubles Disney faces from shrinking subscribers at the ESPN sports network.

Screenings of “The Force Awakens” started Thursday night in theaters across the US and Canada. More than $100 million advance tickets (also a record) were sold ahead of the opening of “The Force Awakens”, much of those going toward Thursday and Friday shows. Although spoilers for “Force Awakens” have been kept under lock and key, excluding the New York Daily News blunder, it’s safe to say that the the film will include some similarly jaw-dropping moments, or at least we can hope.

3-D and Imax screenings are helping to propel the record gross.

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“The Force Awakens” picks up the intergalactic story of good versus evil 30 years on from “The Return of the Jedi”, the finale of the original trilogy. However, the highest grossing installment was “Episode 1: Phantom Menace”, which made $474.5 million in 1999. The average age for a Force Awakens ticket buyer is 44.

Star Wars The Force Awakens