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Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. summed up best this weekend’s opening of Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awaken: \u201cI don\u2019t think ever in the history of movies has their been more hype leading up to release of a film.\u00a0This is a huge, huge win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Star Wars: The Force Awakens stormed the box office this weekend \u00a0and many records tumbled\u00a0along the way. The film\u00a0walked away with an estimated $248 million in its first three days domestically (including $57 million in Thursday night “previews”) along with another $279 million internationally for a massive $529 million worldwide opening.<\/p>\n
The film, with a $200 million budget and millions more spent on marketing, represented a big gamble for the Walt Disney Company, which had already plunked down $4 billion for rights to the Skywalker clan. It\u2019s a bet that appears to have paid off, establishing new benchmarks for the movie industry and setting the franchise up for future spinoffs, prequels and installments.<\/p>\n
Here are some of the records that Star Wars: The Force Awakens now owns:<\/p>\n
Largest Thursday Previews:<\/strong> $57 million Cinema attendance in the US and Canada, the world\u2019s largest film market, has barely changed in a decade as online and mobile platforms exploded.\u00a0\u201cWe have so many options for entertainment, yet look at where everyone is flocking this weekend \u2013 to the multiplex,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at box office tracking firm Rentrak. \u201cDisney has this down to a science.\u201d<\/p>\n Disney plans four Star Wars movies up to 2019, plus major expansions at its US theme parks to incorporate the droids, spaceships and otherworldly creatures of the universe Lucas invented. Toys, clothing, home accessories and video games already pervade stores ahead of Christmas.<\/p>\n Reuters analysis last week calculated that Disney might be on track to triple its Lucasfilm investment ($4 billion) and earn an average of $669m from the franchise in each of the next six years.<\/p>\n The film\u2019s financial and critical success mark a victory for Disney\u2019s chief executive Bob Iger\u2019s strategy of acquiring proven brands, including Pixar Animation and comic book powerhouse Marvel, to fuel Disney\u2019s entertainment empire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. summed up best this weekend’s opening of Disney’s Star Wars: The Force Awaken: \u201cI don\u2019t think ever in the history of movies has their been more hype leading up to release of a film.\u00a0This is a huge, huge win.\u201d Star Wars: The Force Awakens stormed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-articles","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4359"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4370,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4359\/revisions\/4370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archimediastudios.com\/corporate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPrevious Record: $43.5 million (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2)
\nLargest Friday, Opening Day, Single Day:<\/strong> $120.5 million (estimated)
\nPrevious Record: $91 million (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2)
\nDomestic Opening Weekend:<\/strong> $248 million (estimate)
\nPrevious Record: $208.8 million (Jurassic World)
\nHighest Per Theater Average (Wide Opening)<\/strong>: $57,571 (estimate)
\nPrevious Record: $48,855 \/ 4,274 theaters (Jurassic World)
\nTop Opening Weekend for PG-13 Rated Film:<\/strong> $248 million (estimate)
\nPrevious Record: $208.8 million (Jurassic World)
\nTop Holiday Opening Weekend<\/strong>: $238 million (estimate)
\nPrevious Record: $158 million (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
\nBiggest Weekend Overall (Top 12 Gross):<\/strong> $294.5 million
\nPrevious Record: $266 million (June 12-14, 2015)
\nBiggest December Weekend (Top 12 Gross):<\/strong> $294.5 million
\nPrevious Record: $259.9 million (Dec 25-27, 2009)
\nDecember Single Day:<\/strong> $120.5 million (estimated)
\nPrevious Record: $37.13 million (The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey)
\nWidest December Opening:<\/strong> 4,134 theaters
\nPrevious Record: 4,045 theaters (The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey)
\nDecember Opening Weekend<\/strong>: $248 million (estimate)
\nPrevious Record: $84.62 million (The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey)
\nFastest to $100 Million:<\/strong> 1 Day
\nPrevious Record: 2 Days (Jurassic World)
\nGlobal IMAX Opening Record:<\/strong> $48 million
\nPrevious Record: $44.1 million (Jurassic World)
\nDomestic IMAX Opening Record:<\/strong> $30.1 million
\nPrevious Record: $20.9 million (Jurassic World)
\nBest opening for a \u201cStar Wars\u201d film<\/strong>
\n(Previous record: \u201cRevenge of the Sith\u201d with $108.4 million)
\nBiggest opening weekend<\/strong> of all time in U.K., Russia, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia and New Zealand<\/p>\n