Hey, we all knew it was gonna be big. The only question was how big. And we’re still asking.
According to unofficial estimates, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned $238 million over its first weekend—the largest domestic opening ever and setting a bevy of records besides. (If you’re really interested in them all, jump on over to Box Office Mojo.) Just how big was The Force Awakens? If you take the $57 million it made on Thursday night—one day before it officially opened—it was more than last week’s Top 5 combined.
You know when I use italicization three times in one sentence, we’re talking about a big movie.
And when you lump in the $279 million that the movie made overseas, its overall gross now rests at $517 million. That’s about $8 million short of the $524.9 million global record set by Jurassic World earlier this year, but keep in mind that The Force Awakens hasn’t yet opened in China, which shoveled $99 million into Jurassic World’s opening weekend coffers.
But here’s the thing: Some folks are reporting that Disney’s seriously lowballing its own estimates (more italics). According to Deadline Hollywood, The Force Awakens’ actual domestic take is more likely between $248 million and $251 million, which would trump Jurassic World and leave Star Wars towering above the box office opening-weekend record book like the Jedi temple on Coruscant. We’ll let you know how the final figures shake out as soon as we can, so check back.
So, needless to say, pretty much everything else was the definition of an also-ran this week. The other 35 movies in theaters this week made a combined $62.9 million—about a quarter of what The Force Awakens collected all by its lonesome. But just for kicks …
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip was the best of the rest, earning $14.4 million and a (very) distant second-place finish. Next up was yet another newcomer, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s R-rated Sisters, with $13.4 million.
Last week’s champ, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, slid all the way down to fourth place with a $5.7 million weekend. Creed settled into fifth with $5.1 million.
Final figures update: As we thought might happen, the initial predictions for Star Wars: The Force Awakens were a smidge low—if you’d call $10 million a smidge. Box Office Mojo now reports that Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned just about $248 million in North America over its opening weekend. That officially boosts its worldwide earnings to $529 million—about $4.1 million more than Jurassic World’s previous global opening-weekend record. And now for the rest: 2. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, $14.3 million; 3. Sisters, $13.9 million; 4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, $5.9 million; 5. Creed, $5 million.
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