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.
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US President Barack Obama had a special screening of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at the White House with families of fallen soldiers, ahead of the first family’s annual holiday trip to Hawaii. Insiders tell TheWrap that the tally could reach as high as $140 million by the time Friday night becomes Saturday morning. After all, there were long lines for “Star Wars” at 5:15 a.m. outside of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. “We are obviously very encouraged by the record-breaking presales for Star Wars”, Dave Hollis, executive vice president of distribution at Walt Disney, said Friday. The current record for a launch weekend was set in June by “Jurassic World” with $208.4 million. Today was the Presidents final press conference of the year, and when it was done, he ended it with a phrase many people are probably saying today as they leave the office:
Okay everybody, Ive got to get to Star Wars.
“It’s great to see that all fans can enjoy the “Star Wars” experience, as our theater partners continue to add new screens and new showtimes every day”.
Disney, which bought the rights to the Star Wars franchise from its creator Georges Lucas for US$4 billion in 2012, has built up the hype around The Force Awakens, rolling out a well-orchestrated marketing campaign that has left fans wanting more. Previously, the movie had already outsold previous single-day record-holder “Hunger Games” by an 8-to-1 margin at Fandango, and a 10-to-1 margin at MovieTickets.com.
“This represents a new record for the industry and portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film”, said Paul Dergarabedian, of box office tracker Rentrak.
Strong reviews for the film, which is set 30 years after “Return of the Jedi“, have added to the fervor for “The Force Awakens”. Greenfield said the success of Force Awakens would not offset the impact of subscriber losses at ESPN.
The film sees original trilogy stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher reprise their Han Solo and Princess Leia roles alongside younger franchise newcomers.
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Interest extended to worldwide markets, where the movie brought in $US72.7 million in 44 countries. Currently, “The Force Awakens” stands at 95 percent.
