New 'Star Wars' film becomes U.S. box office king
The Force Awakens rakes in more in the U.S. than 2009's "Avatar."
It only took “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” 20 days to become the highest grossing domestic movie, surpassing the previous top dog James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
#StarWars: #TheForceAwakens is now the highest grossing movie ever in North America: https://t.co/6OyxSBNNRl pic.twitter.com/4S6CBUYu7D
— IMDb (@IMDb) January 7, 2016
On Wednesday, The Walt Disney Company announced that the sci-fi epic had passed the $800 million mark, putting it well past the $760.5 million record previously at the top of the U.S. box office. This is but one of the series of records the film has been breaking since its release on Dec. 18. "The Force Awakens" is the seventh movie in George Lucas' "Star Wars" saga, though the filmmaker was not attached to this project. Lucas sold "Star Wars" and his company Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for over $4 billion.
#StarWarsTheForceAwakens becomes highest grossing domestic film of all-time: https://t.co/jo3wxc4FAc pic.twitter.com/hUcwGjUs2C
— Walt Disney Company (@WaltDisneyCo) January 7, 2016
Biggest opening day, biggest single day, biggest Christmas day and biggest opening week are just some of the records the film has broken here in the U.S.
Latest global numbers for “The Force Awakens" show that is just around $1.6 billion after having the largest opening weekend of all time internationally ($528.967M) and the largest international debut in December history ($281 million). Disney also said it is the fastest film to earn $1 billion globally (in only 12 days).
However, the film has yet to become the highest grossing film of all time. “Avatar” still holds that crown at $2.78 million. Although the film has yet to open in China, box office observers believe it will not have enough steam to surpass this record.
The movie stars most of the original cast from the classic films. Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are the biggest names. The film also brings a cast of young new faces to the franchise such as John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac who was born in Guatemala to a Guatemalan mother and a Cuban father.
#StarWars fans have kept a galaxy far, far away alive for nearly 40 years. Thanks for supporting #TheForceAwakens! https://t.co/udMEz4QwsK
— Star Wars (@starwars) January 7, 2016
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