‘Star Wars’ Breaks Christmas Box Office Records — How Much Did It Make?


Hit movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued to shatter box office records through the Christmas holiday. There was skepticism as Christmas isn’t traditionally the strongest period for movies. However, Star Wars is showing no signs of slowing down.

According to Variety, Star Wars: The Force Awakens took in “$27.1 million at 4,134 locations.” After a full week in theaters, the sci-fi film is already the 22nd highest-grossing movie of all time. Star Wars had earned $391.1 million by that point, leaving the impressive first week haul by nearest rival Jurassic World ($296.2 million) in the dust.

Also worth noting is that the film blew away the previous Christmas Eve record, which was the $11,000,000 earned by James Cameron’s Avatar. Avatar currently sits at the top of the box office mountain, grossing more than any film in history, both domestically and internationally.

Some see this as an early indication that The Force Awakens is on track to beat all of the box office records set by the James Cameron behemoth.

Speaking of smashing, Star Wars also rolled over its box office rivals as new movies did very little to break the film’s stride. Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Trip came closest to touching Star Wars. However, at just $2 million earned during its first week in theaters, the cartoon chipmunks may be left singing the blues if earnings don’t miraculously improve in the future.

While it’s possible that highly anticipated features like The Revenant may eventually take a decisive chunk out of Star Wars before long, there remains the possibility that its first month in theaters could allow it to be the most successful movie in American history.

Following Christmas Day earnings, there’s a reason to be optimistic.

After breaking Christmas Eve’s box office record, Star Wars: The Force Awakens did the same the very next day. Agence France-Presse reports that the movie managed to earn $49.3 million on Christmas Day — the most ever on this holiday.

The most ever earned on Christmas Day before this new box office record was the record take of $24.6 million earned by Sherlock Holmes. Beating expectations on Christmas will mean that naysayers may have to take several steps back at this point. Especially when you consider that Star Wars has yet to open in certain countries, including the world’s second movie market: China.

With its Christmas Day record in hand, thus far, Star Wars has managed to earn an incredible $440.4 million in the United States alone. Its global total after a little over a week in theaters? $890.3 million worldwide. Star Wars is expected to cruise to over $1 billion by the end of its second weekend in theaters. That would put it more than a third of the way to overcoming Avatar.

That’s an impressive feat for a movie that is seventh in its franchise with the previously insurmountable task of trying to revive the Star Wars series. Excitement and hype carried the film forward, and with many fans admitting to multiple viewings, those repeated trips to experience the nostalgia brought on by The Force Awakens seem to have given the film legs.

The good news for Star Wars is that its legs will carry it into January — a time period notorious for being the dumping ground of the worst movies of the year. With very few options during this bleak period, Star Wars just may continue to break records into the new year.

The question now is whether or not the stars will align for Star Wars the way they seemingly did for Avatar several years ago.

Have you seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens? Do you think it will be the highest-grossing movie in box office history? Share your thoughts on the film and its record-breaking run in the comment section below.

[Photo by AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying]

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