It’s been a pretty good couple weeks for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, all things considered. Not only did the highly anticipated (and worried about) J.J. Abrams follow-up to the beloved original Star Wars trilogy score with critics and fans, it’s also made a metric buttload at the box office both domestically and abroad. It also ended up having a pretty great 2015. As of midnight on December 31, 2015, the movie, in only its 13th day of general release, had made $652 million in the U.S., enough to make it the fourth highest-grossing movie ever. As of end of business on New Year’s Day, it will become the second highest.
Only a few million dollars separated The Force Awakens from the third place spot, Jurassic World, also released in 2015, and the second place spot, Titanic, still holding on to its place after being released 18 years ago. Given the holiday and the fact that it’s a Friday of another long weekend, Star Wars seems almost a shoe-in to beat both of those, which are sitting at $652.3 million and $658.7 million, respectively. For it to become the highest-grossing movie ever on the domestic charts, though, The Force Awakens will have to make a little under $110 million more, which would let it unseat the current winner, another James Cameron movie, Avatar, which is holding steady at a whopping $760.5 million.
It’s not out of the realm of possibilities for this to happen, either. As a head-to-head comparison goes, in the same number of days released, 14 at this point, Avatar made $283,624,210; The Force Awakens is already at $651,965,583. In 2009-2010, much of Avatar‘s staying power was due to word of mouth about its innovative 3D immersive technology.
Avatar is also the highest-grossing film worldwide, with a grand total of $2.79 billion. The Force Awakens is only the eighth highest-grossing on that list, with $1.33 billion. Let’s remember, though, that this is only after two weeks of general release. It’s made a quite healthy $679,200,000 in foreign returns, with fewer days in some countries. And the all-important Chinese market, which usually makes or breaks overseas box office, doesn’t get the movie until January 8. So the story is not written yet about just how much moolah Star Wars: The Force Awakens might ultimately bring in.
How many times have you seen it? How many more times do you plan to? Let us know in the comments below!
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HT: Entertainment Weekly, Box Office Mojo
Image: Disney/Lucasfilm
Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!
