The Force Awakens Sets Record for Friday Opening • TheOverAnalyzed

The Force Awakens Sets Record for Friday Opening →

December 19, 2015
Tags:
- Star Wars

Dante D’Orazio, for The Verge:

The Force Awakens — to the surprise of no one — is a force to be reckoned with at the box office. The latest numbers are in, and the latest Star Wars has set the record for the biggest Friday of all time, raking in an estimated $120.5 million in North America on its opening day. Thursday night previews also broke previous records by hauling in $57 million.

No surprise here.

As you might expect, I have plenty of thoughts on the movie. However, I don’t want to share them at least until opening weekend is in the bag. (All of my family and most of my friends haven’t yet seen it.)^[1]

Update: The Force Awakens Kills It ¶

December 20, 2015

Ethan Anderton, for /Film:

Experts have been analyzing and predicting the box office performance of Star Wars: The Force Awakens for months, but now we have hard numbers that give the sci-fi sequel the biggest domestic box office opening of all time. That’s just one of the records that The Force Awakens box office numbers smashed into oblivion, and it seems bound to potentially smash a few more as well. Get the details below!

In its opening weekend, Star Wars: The Force Awakens raked in $238 million in the United States, putting it well ahead of this year’s record-setting $208.8 million opening weekend from Jurassic World. Worldwide the film has pulled in $517 million total, putting it just shy of Jurassic World‘s $524 million. However, the numbers for The Force Awakens may not all be in yet, and it wouldn’t be hard for the movie to get pushed over that record by the time the weekend is over.

I’m on track to see it again within the next couple weeks (possibly three times total, if Allison obliges).

It’s that good.

Update: The Force Awakens Is Still Killing It ¶

January 3, 2015

Ethan Anderton, again for /Film:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now pulled in about $687 million at the domestic box office, taking it past both Jurassic World in the #3 spot, and the once long-reigning champion Titanic at #2. And with all this happening after just 15 days, it’s clear that James Cameron’s Avatar is next.

And according to projections that have The Force Awakens raking in somewhere between $744.8 – $746 million by the end of the weekend, it looks like the Star Wars sequel will pass Avatar’s domestic record of $760.5 million by Monday. And since this is just after 15 days, who knows when this box office behemoth is going to stop.

Meanwhile, internationally, the film is also still doing really well, having pulled in $704/2 million for a worldwide total of $1.39 billion. That has it sitting in the #7 spot on the all-time worldwide box office list behind The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Furious 7, The Avengers, Jurassic World, Titanic and Avatar.

The Force Awakens should have no problem taking on every single one of those movies, with the exception of the top two. Titanic has a worldwide box office gross of $2.186 billion while Avatar has $2.788 billion. Therefore, in order to take the top spot, The Force Awakens needs to pull in nearly another billion and a half dollars. At the rate the film is making money, that doesn’t sound too difficult, but only time will tell.

The situation at home is particularly precarious because Allison insists on asking questions surrounding pivotal characters. And, despite my best intentions, I fear I couldn’t answer any of those questions without possibly letting a spoiler slip.

If ever there were a movie containing a spoiler one should absolutely avoid at all costs, The Force Awakens would be it (this one not withstanding). ↩