The numbers are in for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and they are big. Monstrous. Unprecedented. Absolutely demolishing every box office record out there.
Disney’s heavily awaited next installment in the Star Wars story opened to the public on Thursday evening, registering more than $57 million in early preview screenings alone. By noontime on Friday, JJ Abrams’ flick had surpassed The Hobbit‘s first day gross, along with it breaking the record for opening day gross earnings in the month of December. By 4:00pm EST Friday, The Force Awakens had overtaken Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 as the biggest overall opening in U.S. box office history, well-over the $100 million mark. Whoa.
According to the final numbers just released by Disney, Star Wars: The Force Awakens now holds the overall opening day record after raking in an absurd $120.5 million. That bests the prior mark by more $30 million.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens now has Jurassic World squarely targeted in its X-Wing sights, although it’s almost certainty the previous $208.8 million opening weekend mark will be obliterated, possibly as early as Saturday night. Comicbook.com noted that if the movie can hit close to $250 million this weekend – which is mind-blowing but possible – then it will actually find itself at #6 in the yearly domestic gross for 2015.
Beating out every other movie this year except for six other blockbusters in just three days would be pure insanity. For the record, the films that have gone over that $250 million mark year-to-date are: Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out, Furious 7, and Minions.
If the force was income, it’s more than strong with this one. Analysts are projecting it will pull ultimately between $1.5 to $2 billion globally.
[h/t Comicbook.com]