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| BB-8 from Walt Disney Pictures' Star Wars: The Force Awakens |
Never Say Never
20 days. That's all it took to dethrone Avatar, the former North American box office champion of all-time. I'm no math whiz; but 20 days is less than three weeks. Three weeks! Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued its assault on the record books, passing the $760.5 million threshold yesterday (with practically no end in sight.)
Before you get too excited, Episode VII remains way behind Avatar for the global box office record ($2.79 billion) with over $1.57 billion... not to mention Titanic ($2.19B) and Jurassic World ($1.7B) but all three of those movies fared better overseas (60+% of total grosses) versus The Force Awakens' comparatively paltry 51.7%. The latter number should see a healthy spike, once Episode VII opens in China on January 9th. Whether it's enough to top Avatar in the long run, remains to be seen.
The Force Awakens currently holds domestic records for biggest opening weekend ($247.9 million) second weekend ($149.2M) Christmas Day ($49.3M) and New Year's Day ($34.4M.) Not bad for a movie with low expectations.
One final note... for all you old-timers (myself included) out there. The Force Awakens places just 21st all-time domestically, once you adjust for inflation. Gone with the Wind paves the way with $1.74 billion, followed closely by the original Star Wars ($1.53B.) Big brothers The Empire Strikes Back 12th, $845M) Return of the Jedi (15th, $810M) and even Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (17th, $778M) are also ahead... but likely not for long.
Top 10 Domestic Grosses (according to Box Office Mojo)
2. Avatar $760,507,625
3. Titanic $658,672,302
4. Jurassic World $652,270,625
5. Marvel's The Avengers $623,357,910
6. The Dark Knight $534,858,444
7. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace $474,544,677
8. Star Wars $460,998,007
9. Avengers: Age of Ultron $459,005,868
10. The Dark Knight Rises $448,139,099
