‘Recordbreaking weekend’
LOS ANGELES—To say that the force is strong with this one is an understatement.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens brought in a galactic $238 million over the weekend, making it the biggest North American debut of all time according to studio estimates on Sunday.
The Walt Disney Co. earnings destroy the previous opening record set by Universal’s Jurassic World, which drew $208.8 million this summer.
This is just the latest in a laundry list of records set by J.J. Abrams’ film, the seventh in the franchise, which had analysts anticipating a debut anywhere from $150 million to $300 million. The “X-factor” was quality. While
The Force Awakens drew enormous pre-sales, the film was kept under lockdown from the press and critics until mere days before it was released to the public. Reviews turned out to be stellar (95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), as did early audience reaction, who gave the film an A CinemaScore.
Rentrak’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said that’s the key element that may push the film to the $2 billion mark by the end of its run. Many are already going back for a second helping.
“The enthusiasm has really turned into a cultural event,” said Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president of theatrical distribution. “It’s unbelievable.”
IMAX, 3D and other premium large format screens further helped drive the massive earnings. Nearly half of moviegoers—47 percent—chose to see the film on the generally pricier screens. IMAX screens alone accounted for $48 million of the global earnings.
But Star Wars didn’t fly alone this weekend. A few other movies attempted to provide some counterprogramming and ended up with comparatively decent results.
Almost a galaxy away, Fox’s animated Alvin and the Chipmunks:
The Road Chip came in second with $14.4 million.
According to exit polls, 70 percent of audiences were comprised of families. The film also played to a rather diverse audience of 22 percent Hispanics and 19 percent AfricanAmericans.
“Starting on Monday, 73 percent of K through 12 is out of school. Why wouldn’t we make our picture available?” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s president of domestic distribution as to why they released their film “in the teeth of the hurricane.”
In third place, the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy Sisters earned an estimated $13.4 million out of the gates. A whopping 79 percent of audiences were female for the R-rated comedy—a solid indicator that the counter-programming against Star
Wars was in fact a wise choice. This is the biggest overall weekend in box office history with combined grosses north of $300 million, putting 2015 in range of becoming the first $11 billion year in history.
“We’re on the verge of a recordbreaking year,” Dergarabedian said. “I think we’re going to do it.”