A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... one movie made all the money. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" tacked on an additional $64.8 million worldwide yesterday for a global haul of $1.293 billion ($629 million domestic, $664.1 million overseas). By comparison, Disney paid a grand total of $4 billion to purchase Lucasfilm. The Mouse House has a good shot of recouping 75 percent of that investment with just this one film. Gotta love those Jedi.
"The Force Awakens" has now become Walt Disney Studios' highest-grossing domestic film of all time, crossing off the $623.4 million domestic total of "Marvel's The Avengers" from 2012 in just 13 short days. Wow. Not even a team of superheroes can compete with the Force.
Overseas, "Star Wars" is the No. 5 movie of 2015 to date. Globally, it has just passed "Frozen" ($1.277 billion) to become the No. 8 highest-grossing film in cinema history.
Not only is "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" shattering box office records left and right, but the picture shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. The film will open in China, the second-most important market in the world behind the U.S., on Jan. 9. That should give the movie new life and extra legs to continue chugging toward "Avatar's" No. 1 total of $2.78 billion.
Directed by J.J. Abrams, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" brings back original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher while introducing audiences to Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson and more.
