'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' passes 'Avatar' as all-time box office champ in North America
OK kid, now you can get cocky.
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” completed the Kessel Run to become the No. 1 box office hit of all time in North America on Wednesday — taking just 20 days to pass the previous record of $760.5 million set by “Avatar.”
By comparison, it took more than 300 days for that 2009 sci-fi epic to set its record.
Exact numbers won’t be official until tomorrow, but Disney reported that director J.J. Abrams’s franchise continued to make bantha fodder out of previous records with $78.5 million.
“It’s been a perfect storm of factors, including what the ‘Star Wars’ brand represents to moviegoers,” says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Rentrak. “This record, if you think about it, is not just 20 days in the making — it’s been 40 years in the making.”
The seventh installment in the franchise is already the fourth-highest grossing movie of all time worldwide with $1.5 billion ahead of Saturday’s opening in China, the second biggest film market in this galaxy.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is now the No. 1 box office hit of all time in North America.
But it will take a much greater hero’s journey to set the worldwide record: industry experts are predicting “Star Wars” won’t catch “Avatar’s” record $2.8 billion.