Dust off the throne, there’s a new box office king in North America. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” flew past “Avatar” to become the top-grossing domestic movie of all time. It took hardly any time at all too; just 20 days compared to the over 230 days it took for Avatar to reach gross more than the $760.5 million record previously held by “Avatar”.
“We are proud of these records, but know that they would not be possible without fans’ enthusiasm and continued support,” Disney said in a statement. “We feel it here and it drives us every day, and it will continue to in the very bright future of Star Wars. There has indeed been an awakening — and it’s all thanks to you.”
Meanwhile, on its road to become the king of the box office, here are some of the numerous records “The Force Awakens” has set:
- Fastest film to reach $100M (21 hours), $200M (3 days), $300M (5 days), $400M (8 days), $500M (10 days), $600M (12 days), and $700M (16 days)
- Biggest all-time debut and biggest December debut ($247.966M), propelling the industry to the biggest overall moviegoing weekend of all time ($313.3M for all films, Dec. 18-20)
- Biggest second weekend of all time ($149.2M), propelling the industry to the biggest overall Christmas weekend of all time ($296.4M for all films, Dec. 25-27)
- Biggest third weekend of all time ($90.2M)
- Biggest Thursday preview gross ($57M)
- Biggest Friday, opening, and single day ($119.1M)
- Biggest Sunday ($60.55M), Monday ($40.1M), and Tuesday ($37.3M)
- Biggest Christmas Day ($49.3M) and New Year’s Day ($34.39M)
- Highest per-theater average for a wide debut ($59,982)
- Biggest opening week ($390.85M)
- Biggest IMAX debut ($30.1M)
Definitely not too shabby. Assuming the movie stays in theaters for another month or more, the box office will no doubt climb even higher. With repeatability trending high, it seems likely Avatar’s global record of $2.8 billion is achievable. “The Force Awakens” has already earned over $1.5 billion of that mark. “The Force Awakens” opens in China on January 9th and a lot depends how well it does there.
How many more days will “The Force Awakens” stay atop the box office? Some analysts predict it won’t be bettered until mid-February. If so, that’s a good sign it might take the final big record of all-time global box office champ. Do you think it will make it?