Even if you weren’t a Star Wars fan and couldn’t tell a wooki from an ewok, it’s pretty hard to ignore the hype surrounding the return of Han Solo and his crew to the large screen.
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Star Wars The Force Awakens, billed as the biggest movie release of the year, raked in United States dollars 14.1 million in ticket sales on its opening day in some worldwide markets. Global sales reached $72.7 million through Thursday, Disney said.
“Force Awakens” surpassed the previous opening day record of $43.5 million set in 2011 by the final “Harry Potter” movie.
Disney is projecting a Friday full day total of over $100 million, which would give the film the record for biggest opening day in box office history.
“We appear to be headed for $200M+ through Sunday and the possibility of an all-time weekend record”, Disney said.
Playing in 4,134 theaters – a December record – the film seems to have a very good chance of passing the domestic weekend record of $208.8 million, set earlier this year by Jurassic World.
Jeff Bock, box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations, said: “As far as breaking records go, it’s the strongest candidate weve seen in a long, long time”.
Kidding, he wasn’t. The White House was holding a special screening of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, which opens in theaters this weekend, for Gold Star military families.
He also cleverly updated the story by bringing in up and coming Hollywood talent – Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, and Adam Driver – whilst hitting all the beats of a Star Wars film.
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“Clearly, this is not the most important event that’s taking place in the White House today”, Obama deadpanned, after taking the lectern in the crowded briefing room.
