‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ has become the fastest film to earn $1 billion at the box office.
The hit sci-fi film – which raked in an estimated $517 million on its opening weekend – has rocketed to the staggering amount in just 12 days, with Walt Disney Co. confirming the sequel reached the milestone over the festive holiday weekend.
What’s more, the space opera has yet to come out in China – ranked as the world’s second-largest movie market – and will not open in the Far East country until January 9.
Speaking of the achievement, box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak said: "You almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie. It’s absolutely mind-blowing that ‘Star Wars’ could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn’t even opened in China, the second-biggest movie market in the world."
‘Jurassic World’ was the previous record holder for being the fastest film to reach $1 billion in box office takings, reaching the huge sum in 13 days when it opened earlier this year and had the benefit of record grosses in China.
The seventh film in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise – which stars John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill among others and is directed by J.J. Abrams – could struggle to top the box office in China, since the last ‘Star Wars’ movie only made $9 million there in 2005.
The current highest-grossing movie of all time is ‘Avatar’, which raked in $2.8 billion globally.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens becomes fastest film to bank $1 billion
