The Force remains strong with the new Star Wars movie, which is on track to top US$1 billion in global ticket sales this weekend, making it the fastest-ever film to reach that level.
Walt Disney Co on Saturday said in a statement that Star Wars: The Force Awakens had generated box office receipts of US$890.3 million globally through Friday and would pass US$1 billion over the weekend.
The movie, the seventh installment in the newly rebooted Star Wars franchise, opened in some international markets on Dec. 16 before rolling out in North America the following day.
Photo: AFP / Film Frame / Lucasfilm
It was set to hit the US$1 billion mark no later than yesterday, its 12th day in theaters, according to industry research firm Rentrak.
The current record holder for being the fastest to gross US$1 billion is Comcast Corp-owned Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World, which took 13 days after its release earlier this year, Rentrak said.
The new Star Wars movie had already topped Jurassic World for the biggest opening weekend ever with US$529 million globally.
Disney said Star Wars has rung up US$440.4 million in US and Canada ticket sales and US$449.9 million internationally, and it is set to open in China, the world’s No. 2 movie market, on Jan. 9.
China is crucial if Disney’s first foray into the world of Jedi knights is to earn a spot among the top-grossing films of all time.
On Friday, The Force Awakens set a US and Canadian record for largest box office on Christmas day with US$49.3 million, Disney said. That topped the previous record of US$24.6 million set by Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, which opened on Dec. 25, 2009.
“Star Wars continues to be a bright, shining beacon of light at the box office,” Jeff Bock of industry tracker Exhibitor Relations told Agence France-Presse by e-mail.
The film has received mostly glowing reviews, and is being credited with breathing new life into the Hollywood juggernaut franchise launched by creator George Lucas in 1977.
As far as all-time box office sales, two films by James Cameron hold the record — Avatar (US$2.79 billion) and Titanic (US$2.19 billion) — and it is expected that The Force Awakens might unseat both.
Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise from Lucas’ Lucasfilm in 2012 for US$4.05 billion, and has planned for a new trilogy of films as well as standalone installments through 2019.
The success of The Force Awakens lays the groundwork for the company’s efforts with the franchise for years to come, Disney chairman and chief executive Bob Iger said.
“It’s bigger than big,” Iger said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Dec. 21. “It’s bigger than we thought it would be.”
The franchise will also be incorporated at US Disney theme parks, bringing to life the droids, spaceships and otherworldly creatures of the universe that Lucas created in 1977 and is set in a galaxy far, far away.
Additional reporting by AFP
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