In just a few short days Star Wars: The Force Awakens has done what some movies could never hope to accomplish during their entire theatrical run. One by one, box office milestones keep tumbling in the face of the newest outing from a galaxy far, far away. We had long assumed that the movie would experience this sort of success, but now we have the concrete data to back it up. While fans just seem happy to finally have the opportunity to watch the new movie, and to have the film be actually good, the folks over at Disney currently find themselves extremely happy as well.
In response to the overwhelming success of The Force Awakens, Alan Horn – Chairman of Walt Disney Studios – issued a statement expressing gratitude to the general public. He asserts that the intention of Disney and everyone involved in the production of The Force Awakens was always to create a great movie that fans of the franchise would fall in love with, and the financial success of the movie makes it all the more worth it.
Later in his statement, Horn expresses particular gratitude to the fans that took it upon themselves to safeguard the secrets and spoilers of the new film, rather than ruining the experience for those who had yet to see it. Perhaps they were convinced to do so by Harrison Ford’s warnings to those who would seek to spoil the film for others; you don’t piss of Han Solo.
There’s no question that Star Wars has become an unequivocal success since it’s release less than a week ago; it is now a matter of record. At this stage Star Wars: The Force Awakens has dominated no less than these seven all-time box office benchmarks:
· Biggest Thursday preview gross with $57M.· Biggest Friday and biggest single-day gross with $120.5M.· First film ever to post a single day over $100M.· Fastest film to $100M and $200M.· Biggest December debut (nearly 3 times previous record of $84.6M).· Biggest IMAX Thursday night preview ($5.7M), single-day ($14M, Friday), and weekend ($30.1M).· Highest theater average for a wide release ($57,568)
It’s also worth noting that in total, the film has already passed the $250 million mark at the worldwide box office. So yeah, it’s safe to say that anyone at Disney associated with the release of The Force Awakens is having a pretty amazing holiday season.
The story of The Force Awakens has already shown itself as one of success and joy for everyone thus far, with little sign of flagging or failing in the near future. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is currently in theaters; if you have yet to make it to a theater to check it out then do yourself – as well as Disney – a favor and get over there.
