Star Wars: The Force Awakens Makes $1 Billion Worldwide!

ChristmasintheStars

It’s a Christmas Miracle – Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has made $1.091 billion worldwide over the course of the holiday weekend, setting a new record for the shortest amount of time it’s taken to reach that goal (a mere twelve days).

 

From Forbes:

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued to shred records at the domestic and worldwide box office, earning a colossal $153.5 million in its second weekend. That’s a drop of just 38%, or about on par with the second weekend drop of Spider-Man. But while that film faced Unfaithful in its second weekend… The Force Awakens had to compete with four new wide releases, one semi-wide expansion and two buzzy platform debuts.
 
But the film still scored the biggest non-opening weekend by far (next closest were the $106 million second weekend of Jurassic World and the $103m second weekend of The Avengers), held better than pretty much every big December release on said weekend save the Lord of the Rings films, Titanic, and Avatar (on much bigger opening weekend numbers of course), and pushed its cumulative to eye-popping levels in record time.
 
So yeah, it should presumably have little problem clearing the $1.6 billion total for Jurassic World within the next few weeks, although catching up to Titanic ($2.2b) and Avatar ($2.8b) in terms of global box office is a less surefire prospect even with these numbers.

avatar-vs-star-wars1

The film has currently made an estimated $545 million domestically and $546 million outside of the United States. The movie is expected to overtake Avatar as the most profitable domestic performance of all time early next year, and by the time the domestic run of the film is done, Star Wars will have made anywhere between $850 million and $1 billion in the United States alone. The movie has also demolished Avatar‘s IMAX records due to the exponential expansion of the format since the release of that film.

 

On a worldwide scale, the previous record-holder for the quickest gross to $1 billion, Jurassic World, was only able to reach that record in 13 days – and that was with the help of China, the largest foreign box office. Conversely, Star Wars will not be released in China until January 9 of next year, at which point it is likely to inflate the already-impressive gross it’s made so far. As it stands right now, the movie is the fifth-highest-grossing film in the United States and the fifteenth-highest-grossing film on a worldwide scale – and it’s only getting started.

 

Stay on target with Star Wars News Net as we continue to cover the astronomical financial returns for The Force Awakens and give you updates on the latest and greatest stories about the Galaxy Far, Far Away. (And for those of you whom are interested, I have created an in-depth thread on The Cantina regarding the spectacular financial success of this film and the records it has broken.)

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

54 thoughts on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens Makes $1 Billion Worldwide!

  • December 27, 2015 at 10:57 pm
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    why oh why does the world economy thrive on warfare when it could do bloody well on just star wars alone? star wars for peace!

      • December 28, 2015 at 1:34 am
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        USA, UK, Israel, France, Germany need warfare and oil to create further wealth for the Elite…killing millions of Arabs over the last 15 years means nothing to these people as the billions earned for the life taken is insignificant to these people…

        • December 28, 2015 at 2:20 am
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          please save the RL politics for another site. this is supposed to be fun banter about fantasy! 🙂

          • December 28, 2015 at 3:02 am
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            I don’t know, always time for a bit of this kind of thing 😉

      • January 9, 2016 at 3:43 am
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        how you can put 2.8 billion next to 4 billion and call it nothing is beyond me. It’s practically 3/4 the intake.

    • December 28, 2015 at 8:36 am
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      Ironically, Star WARS

  • December 28, 2015 at 12:04 am
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    Passing Titanic, yes. But I still think avatar is too steep a hill to climb. But hey, number two all time ain’t bad.

    • December 28, 2015 at 12:34 am
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      Avatar is beatable domestically. It needs $216 million more. Globally, 2.7 billion is less doable.

      • December 28, 2015 at 1:30 am
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        This will beat Avatar and by some distance…i know so many people who want to watch it again and also go with relatives and friends of every sex race and age…and so many people who have yet to see it yet and want to..It will go over $3bn and by some distance

        !!

        • December 28, 2015 at 2:18 am
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          all of that is totally fair, but think about the logistics of this. it still has to make 2X(!) what it already has to pass it. china will help a lot when it comes into play in jan, but two billion more seems impossible.

          • December 28, 2015 at 5:19 am
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            It’s not impossible. I used to make 2 billion all the time back home. That’s not much less than 3 billion.

          • December 28, 2015 at 9:33 am
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            some movei some day will become the new champ, why not this one?

          • December 28, 2015 at 10:18 am
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            I actually laughed out loud when I read that 🙂

          • December 28, 2015 at 11:32 am
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            Not to mention, FWIW, all of those “$2” neighborhood cinemas that will be playing the movie in about 2 months or so. The ticket price isn’t as high but the turnouts can be amazing. Extra dough IS extra dough.

          • December 28, 2015 at 6:05 pm
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            Makin 3 billion ain’t like dustin crops boy. Without precise calculations you could bounce too close to Jurassic world or Titanic, and that’d end your box office real quick wouldn’t it?

          • December 28, 2015 at 9:26 am
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            China still has to open, u think India just opened this week. That’s almost a third of the world didn’t even have access to the movie.

          • December 29, 2015 at 7:42 am
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            I thought the same thing (and still think that to a degree). However, it got to $1 Billion sooo QUICKLY, that now I’m wondering if the movie still has plenty of box office steam left (not to mention the fact that it STILL hasn’t premiered in China yet!). I’m very curious to see how fast it now moves up through the 1 Billion dollar range. This will really give an indication on how much this film is going to make. I’m also curious to see if this film gets some Oscar nominations. That will also give it more boost! I now think the film will probably equal or pass Titanic globally. After that, we’ll see. 🙂

        • December 28, 2015 at 10:22 am
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          I’m someone who was a bit disappointed after seeing the film the first time, quite possibly because of my expectations. Now, after seeing it again (and again!), I actually had a ton of fun watching the film. I’ll definitely see it again a few more times – I like going with different people and hearing different takes on it, and different responses. I’m sure there are plenty of others like me. I don’t know if it will reach $3bn, let alone smash it, but I think it still has plenty of momentum left.

      • December 28, 2015 at 9:34 am
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        some movie someday will become the new champ, why not this one?

      • December 28, 2015 at 10:16 am
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        You’re probably right. However, China is apparently the second biggest movie market in the world now, and TFA won’t open there until January 9. That will help (assuming the marketing campaign hits home there), plus I imagine there are plenty of fans who will see it again (and again!), and plenty more casual fans who haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet. Who knows?!

    • December 28, 2015 at 3:01 am
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      I’ve still to see Avatar. It looks awful. Quite proud of that 🙂 hee hee

      • December 28, 2015 at 5:18 am
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        It looks beautiful, but the “story” is Pocahontas. And the acting is either flat or over the top. It’s all about the FX and nothing more..

        • December 28, 2015 at 2:53 pm
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          I always thought it felt like a modern live-action reboot of Ferngully.

          • December 28, 2015 at 4:16 pm
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            Fernfully + Dances With Wolves.

            Avatar’s a nice movie that you watch once.

          • December 28, 2015 at 6:20 pm
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            I thought the story was okay, if not extremely inventive. I did go see the movie five times in theaters because of the amazing (for its time) visuals.

            In fact, I’d go see it again if I had the opportunity. Despite other movies that I liked better overall (including Star Wars), Avatar was a singularly exhilarating experience in the theater.

            However, watching it on a non-Imax platform leaves something (everything, really) to be desired.

    • December 28, 2015 at 9:49 pm
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      I agree 🙂 A month ago, I originally said that if the movie was bad, it would generate around 1.2 billion. If it was great (which it turned out to be), I said it would break Titanic. I originally predicted somewhere in the middle. I said 1.8 or 1.9 billion, placing it third. Now, it looks like it SHOULD break Titanic, but I’m also not sold on it approaching Avatar. For this film to break $1 Billion in a little over 11 days (sans China) is incredible, but now I want to see how fast it moves up through the 1 Billion dollar category, and that should give us an idea whether or not it could challenge $2.7…. 🙂

      • December 30, 2015 at 12:52 pm
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        Even if it’s slow it’s kind of impossible to say without knowing the China’s numbers. Avatar was so successful because it was able to tap, really tap, into the non US market (the US market is nothing compared to that). TFA is about 50/50 for now so it’s definitely not going to beat Avatar even if it’s more successful in the US than Avatar (and it will be, no doubt about it) unless China becomes a game changer.

  • December 28, 2015 at 12:50 am
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    In spite of its many shortcomings I like avatar and rewatch it often but I cannot believe it did so well at the box office; for an untested new franchise too.

    I put some of down to it being billed as the next generation of 3D movies. I recall Cameron saying something about it being so immersive that your brain would actually create memories from it as if you were really there. It was good but no James.

  • December 28, 2015 at 1:38 am
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    Rey’s mother is Felicity Jones’ character in the upcoming Rogue One?

    Both actresses look similar.

    Mark Hamill was 26 during ANH. Jones is 32 (and Rogue One takes place soon before the events of ANH). So her age range would fit if we assume that Luke, like his father before him, was into older women. (This is assuming also that Luke is Rey’s father.)

    There’s a rumor that actresses in their late-60’s age range are being auditioned for a role in Episode VIII.

    Rogue One and Episode VIII are sharing sound stages. So it would be fairly trivial for Jones to appear in a flashback sequence, just as another actor was able to for their cameo in TFA because their movie was being shot at the same time in the same studios.

    • December 28, 2015 at 2:03 am
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      I’ve noticed those two women myself. It would be cool if they were the same character, married to Luke and Rey’s mother.

    • December 28, 2015 at 3:30 am
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      Luke was 19 years old

      • December 28, 2015 at 3:51 am
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        He meant the actor.

    • December 28, 2015 at 4:15 pm
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      They just wanted to make money to finance other projects – Lucas himself stated as much. SW was to be the yearly profitable blockbuster that he could hand off to other people (until ESB went over-budget) and he could use the money to finance his own projects – which really ended up being digital effects.

  • December 28, 2015 at 2:51 am
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    It’s reached $1 billion? Well, it is a wonderfully great movie.

  • December 28, 2015 at 3:29 am
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    There is no stopping this train

  • December 28, 2015 at 4:12 am
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    The 4 billion Disney spent buying Star Wars from ol’ George is going to look like a bargain with all the money they’re going to make in the next decade

  • December 28, 2015 at 9:30 am
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    Um, Gross is not net so “makes” is a misnomer but there is no question that Lucas undersold the IP.

    • December 28, 2015 at 9:18 pm
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      on the front end, maybe, but lucas is no doubt getting points on every SW movie disney makes(not to mention that a good chunk of his four billion was in disney stock which will only go up at this point). so both parties are coming out of this with insane piles of money. 😉

      • December 29, 2015 at 9:27 am
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        Yeah, Everyone forgets that he owns more stock in Disney than anyone which is why even if it was worse than Episode II he was never going to put it down.

  • December 28, 2015 at 11:05 pm
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    IMAGINE JAMES CAMERON DIRECTING A STAR WARS MOVIE !!!!!!

    • December 29, 2015 at 9:27 am
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      80’s Cameron would be interesting, Today’s Cameron would not.

      • December 30, 2015 at 10:23 pm
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        Today’s Cameron did a shitty promo vid for the last Terminator movie talking about how awesome it was and how much he loved it.

        • December 31, 2015 at 12:38 pm
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          For a neo-hippie, He sure loves them greenbacks.

          • December 31, 2015 at 7:09 pm
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            Money talks and integrity walks man….

          • January 1, 2016 at 10:52 am
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            It’s horrible but I hope him and Lucas really have some sort of creative mental disorder they gave each other which would at least excuse their lack of reasoning as of late.

    • December 29, 2015 at 10:38 am
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      i’d rather he save the terminator franchise first. 🙂

      • December 29, 2015 at 11:26 am
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        Agree!

  • December 28, 2015 at 11:10 pm
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    Star Wars always is the best.Fuck avatar!

  • December 29, 2015 at 4:56 am
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    Already one billion their on track to beat titanic though I don’t believe they will reach to avatar levels due to them releasing it many more times again to receive more money. And the fact their was nothing in their way in the other months star wars will be okay for January. But in February when some more popular films that are not crappy horror films come star wars will have already begun to fall in the number in american box office. Though they have yet to be released in china which could be another 100 mil

    • December 29, 2015 at 9:28 am
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      Supposed to by the week.

  • December 29, 2015 at 2:36 pm
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    This news would be a lot more exciting if I were getting a cut of it.

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