Star Wars: The Force Awakens Sets New Christmas Day Box Office Record

Yesterday saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens set a new domestic Christmas Day box office record with an estimated $49.3 million, crushing the previous record of $24.6 million set by Sherlock Holmes in 2009. It is also tracking to set a new second weekend record this weekend, beating the $106.6 million earned by Jurassic World this summer.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens yesterday, on its eighth day of release, became the fastest film to reach the $400 million mark domestically (topping the ten-day mark set by Jurassic World), and is on track to hit $500 million domestically this Sunday, its tenth day of release (besting the Jurassic World 17-day record).

Internationally, the film added $27.5 million on Friday for a global total of $76.8 million for the day. December 25 is traditionally a softer movie-going day in some international territories, including the UK where theaters are closed.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now earned $440.4 million in North America and $449.9 million overseas for a worldwide total of $890.3 million. After just one week of release, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is already the #3 movie of 2015 domestically and the #5 movie of 2015 globally, set to cross $1 billion this weekend.

Because of the film’s success, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ domestic gross for 2015 passed the $2 billion milestone on Christmas Day for the first time in the studio’s history, adding to its record year (previous record year was $1.719 billion in 2013).

The international totals to date for Star Wars: The Force Awakens are as follows by territory:

United Kingdom $83.0M

Germany $44.6M

France $38.8M

Australia $29.7M

Japan $25.7M

Mexico $16.9M

Spain $15.7M

Russia $15.5M

Korea $14.8M

Italy $14.2M

Brazil $12.7M

Sweden $9.5M

Poland $6.7M

Other $122.0M

Total $449.9M

The film will open in China on January 9.

Directed by J.J. Abrams, the movie stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk produced the film with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt.

As far as the other releases at the domestic Christmas Day box office, Paramount Pictures’ new comedy Daddy’s Home earned an estimated $15.7 million in second place from 3,271 theaters. The Sean Anders-directed movie stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

David O. Russell’s Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper, opened in third place with $6.9 million from 2,896 theaters. The movie is distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Fourth place belonged to Universal’s comedy Sisters, starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, which added $4.7 million in 2,962 theaters for a total of $27.9 million so far.

Sony Pictures’ Concussion, starring Will Smith, debuted in fifth place with $4.3 million from 2,841 theaters and is projected to take in $13.3 million for the weekend. The drama was made for $35 million.

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Point Break remake, starring Edgar Ramirez and Luke Bracey, opened in the sixth spot with $4.1 million from 2,910 theaters.

In limited release, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight brought in $1.9 million from 100 theaters, an average of $19,050, while Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant earned $171,758 from just four theaters, an average of $42,940 per theater.

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