“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” continues to blow past box-office records like the Millennium Falcon on a Kessel Run.
The latest mark to fall: The seventh main “Star Wars” film has just crossed the $1-billion mark in worldwide gross faster than any movie in history.
“The Force Awakens” grossed $153.5-million domestically over the holiday weekend – the largest Christmas holiday tally ever, and the biggest second-weekend take ever, according to studio estimates Sunday. (Final numbers are due Monday.) The film dipped only 38 percent in its second weekend.
In North American theaters, “Force Awakens” set another record as part of its lightspeed clip: a Christmas Day take of $49.3 million.
Roughly half of the new film’s global take has come from domestic box office: a whopping $544.6-million. Combine that with a $546-million take overseas, and “The Force Awakens” has already grossed $1.09-billion worldwide.
And boosted by “Star Wars,” Disney has just surpassed $2 billion for the year in total domestic gross – the first time the company has ever done so.
Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion. The “Force Awakens” toys alone, according to some estimates, could reap $3 billion.
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FUN WITH NUMBERS
– Domestically, “Force Awakens” is already the second biggest film of the year, trailing only “Jurassic World” ($652 million).
– Disney has three of the year’s top-four releases in domestic gross. Besides Star Wars, the Mouse House released Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($459-million) and Pixar’s “Inside Out” ($356.5 million).
– Domestically, after just 10 days, “The Force Awakens” is already the fifth-biggest film ever (not adjusted for inflation – as it looks to topple the champion “Avatar” ($760.5 million). Worldwide, “Force Awakens” is already the 15th-biggest film ever.