The Force has officially awoken, but before it can get up and eat its “portions” for breakfast, it needs to roll around in a giant pile of money.
It’s no surprise that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a massive global hit, but the speed with which it has accumulated $1 billion in global box office sales is—like the Millennium Falcon’s 12 parsecs Kessel run—becoming the stuff of legend.
Disney’s epic space opera directed by J.J. Abrams already nabbed the biggest opening weekend of all time with $529 million, and has now beat Jurassic World’s 13-day raptor sprint to $1 billion by a single day. Other records are falling like so many unsuspecting TIE fighters caught in a Rebel ambush as well: including nailing $100 million in 12 days from IMAX sales (it took Jurassic World 18 to hit that same number), as well as, in the UK, the largest Boxing Day holiday gross in history (estimated cumulative box office there is already $97.2 million).
In other countries around the world, Disney is using the Force to crush box office competition. Episode VII is currently the number one movie in Latin America (earning $20.2 million in Mexico and $15.9 million in Brazil), and in Australia has made over $35 million, making it Disney’s second largest release of all time just behind The Avengers. It’s also already made more than either Furious 7 or Avengers: Age of Ultron made in their entire runs in Japan ($31.3 million so far for Episode VII), and has an estimated $150 million running total in Asia (still without China!), besting the entire gross for either the 2nd or 3rd Hobbit films.
While The Force Awakens has already destroyed box office records and claimed the number 15 spot on the list of highest grossing films of all time, it still has some ways to go to beat James Cameron’s cinematic juggernaut, Avatar, which holds the number 1 spot with a seemingly unstoppable (Terminator-esque?) $2.788 billion.
So Star Wars: The Force Awakens is clearly one of the biggest movies of all time, but the question now, is who do you put your money on for biggest box office gross in history? It’s Starkiller Base vs. Pandora, but with more Star Wars and Avatar films both on the way, it seems like this is going to be less of a battle, and more of a war.
What do you think about Episode VII raking in $1 Billion in record time? It took down the genetically modified dinos, but will it be able to take down the tree-huggin’ Na’vi? Let us know in the comments section below!
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HT: Deadline
Image: Disney
