‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Sets $238M Box Office Record!

As we all expected, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the highest grossing opening movie in film history. What most of us didn’t know was what number it was ultimately going to arrive at. Now we know. The Walt Disney Studios announced today that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has set a new all-time domestic debut record with an estimated $238M. With a five-day international debut of $279M, the film has taken in $517M globally. Now these numbers could still change, but not by much.  

“Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves,” said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “To all of the fans around the world who not only came out in Force to make this such an exciting and astronomical debut but who treated this film as their own and helped preserve the experience for their fellow fans by not spoiling it – thank you, we do.”

The Force Awakens eviscerated by $30M the short-lived reign of Universal Pictures’ juggernaut of Jurassic World with $208.8M.

Finn (John Boyega) and Rey (Daisy Ridley)

En route to this galactic launch, the film has smashed several all-time domestic box office records, including:

Biggest Thursday preview gross with $57M.
Biggest Friday and biggest single-day gross with $120.5M.
First film ever to post a single day over $100M.
Fastest film to $100M and $200M.
Biggest December debut (nearly 3 times previous record of $84.6M).
Biggest IMAX Thursday night preview ($5.7M), single-day ($14M, Friday), and weekend ($30.1M).
Highest theater average for a wide release ($57,568).

Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted day-and-date internationally in nearly every market (except Greece and India, which open Dec. 24, and China, which opens Jan. 9) and set records in many.

Highlights
Biggest opening weekend of all time in UK (4-day), Australia, Russia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Poland (3-day), Denmark (5-day), Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia, New Zealand. Second biggest opening weekend in France, Belgium, Israel, Chile. Biggest IMAX global debut of $48M.

The Force is strong with critics and audiences, whose enthusiastic reactions have powered a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score and an excellent A CinemaScore, with an A+ among women and younger audiences, for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.