LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens\u201d has reached $1 billion at the box office, achieving the milestone with record-setting hyper speed.<\/p>\n
The Walt Disney Co. said \u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d crossed the billion-dollar mark Sunday, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days. The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal\u2019s \u201cJurassic World,\u201d which did it in 13 days in June. \u201cJurassic World\u201d also had the benefit of record grosses in China. \u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d doesn\u2019t open in the world\u2019s second-largest movie market until Jan. 9.<\/p>\n
J.J. Abrams\u2019 installment of \u201cStar Wars\u201d also posted the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million and the best second-weekend earnings with $153.5 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d has been setting records since its debut Dec. 17. It brought in a galactic $238 million in North America over its opening weekend, besting previous record-setter \u201cJurassic World,\u201d and set international opening-weekend records in Australia, New Zealand and throughout Europe. It scored the biggest worldwide debut with $529 million. It also topped $100 million in IMAX screenings in 10 days, another global record.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie,\u201d box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak said. \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely mind-blowing that \u2018Star Wars\u2019 could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn\u2019t even opened in China, the second biggest movie market in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The power of \u201cStar Wars\u201d meant the rest of the week\u2019s releases were competing for second place. That prize went to the Paramount comedy \u201cDaddy\u2019s Home,\u201d which opened with $38.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. David O. Russell\u2019s new drama starring Jennifer Lawrence, \u201cJoy,\u201d debuted in third place with $17.5 million.<\/p>\n
A flurry of new films also opened in the top 10 this weekend. \u201cConcussion,\u201d the Will Smith-NFL drama, took in $11 million, good for sixth place, followed by the financial-crisis saga \u201cThe Big Short,\u201d which collected $10.5 million. The remake of \u201cPoint Break\u201d opened with $10.2 million. And Quentin Tarantino\u2019s latest film, \u201cThe Hateful Eight,\u201d debuted in 10th place with $4.5 million.<\/p>\n
A juggernaut like \u201cStar Wars\u201d empowers the entire industry, Dergarabedian said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great for the audiences, great for studios and theater owners in particular who can point to this and say the movie theater industry is as viable and relevant as it\u2019s ever been,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n
1. \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d $153.5 million ($133.3 international).<\/p>\n
2. \u201cDaddy\u2019s Home,\u201d $38.8 million ($4.4 million).<\/p>\n
3. \u201cJoy,\u201d $17.5 million ($2 million international).<\/p>\n
4. \u201cSisters,\u201d $13.9 million ($300,000 international).<\/p>\n
5. \u201cAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,\u201d $12.7 million ($8.1 million international).<\/p>\n
6. \u201cConcussion,\u201d $11 million.<\/p>\n
7. \u201cThe Big Short,\u201d $10.5 million ($1.4 million international).<\/p>\n
8. \u201cPoint Break,\u201d $10.2 million ($2 million).<\/p>\n
9. \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2,\u201d $5.3 million ($6.4 million).<\/p>\n
10. \u201cThe Hateful Eight,\u201d $4.5 million.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:<\/p>\n
1. \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d $133.3 million.<\/p>\n
2. \u201cDevil and Angel,\u201d $55 million.<\/p>\n
3. \u201cMojin: The Lost Legend,\u201d $44 million.<\/p>\n
4. \u201cMr. Six,\u201d $27 million.<\/p>\n
5. \u201cThe Peanuts Movie,\u201d $25 million.<\/p>\n
6. \u201cThe Himalayas,\u201d $14.5 million.<\/p>\n
7. \u201cAlvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,\u201d $8.1 million.<\/p>\n
8. \u201cThe Good Dinosaur,\u201d $8 million.<\/p>\n
9. \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2,\u201d $6.4 million.<\/p>\n
10. \u201cSpectre,\u201d $5.6 million.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens\u201d has reached $1 billion at the box office, achieving the milestone with record-setting hyper speed. The Walt Disney Co. said \u201cThe Force Awakens\u201d crossed the billion-dollar mark Sunday, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days. The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-2436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2436"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=2436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}