Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the first new film in the franchise since Disney’s acquisition, has raked in an estimated $57 million from Thursday evening preview screenings. This handily breaks the previous record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which had held since 2011 at $43.5 million.
On top of the domestic triumph, Force Awakens has already totted up $72.7 million since it began rolling out internationally on Wednesday with 12 markets, adding 32 more yesterday. This gives the J.J. Abrams-directed saga a global cumulative take of $130 million. Japan and Spain will see openings Friday.
Other records falling to the hotly anticipated title include all-time Thursday single day B.O., which was previously set at $50 million by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005); and the December single day record of $37.13 million set by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Force Awakens is expected to surpass on Friday the $84.62 million December opening weekend record also set by The Hobbit. The preview night also broke the IMAX tickets record set by Avengers: Age of Ultron earlier this year, with $5.7 million.
Boxofficemojo adds that The Force Awakens is now the largest single day performer of all time in UK/Ireland ($14.4m), Germany ($7.1m), Sweden ($1.7m) and Norway ($1.1.m) and boasts the largest opening day in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland (French-speaking) and Ukraine.
