BOX OFFICE: STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Will Pass $2 Billion Worldwide Later This Week
While it will now definitely become only the third movie in history to reach $2 billion, just how close is Star Wars: The Force Awakens going to come to both Avatar and Titanic amazing records?
According to Variety, Star Wars: The Force Awakens should hit the $2 billion mark at the worldwide box office by the end of this week. That's an incredible feat for a movie which has only been out for a little over six weeks, and it's well ahead of Avatar domestically with an incredible $895.4 million (it should become the first movie in history to make $900 million any day now).
Of course, the story worldwide is a little different. With $1.983 billion in total, the J.J. Abrams helmed release needs only $17 million more to reach $2 billion. However, that's a long way off the $2.78 billion held by Avatar and still some distance behind Titanic's $2.19 billion. It's now believed that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will finish its run with around $2.05 billion. Of course, a re-release somewhere down the line could push that number up, but for now, it will have to settle with being the third highest grossing release in history and one of only three movies to earn $2 billion. Not too shabby, eh?
Talking about the fact that the movie has broken records it too months for Avatar to break in North America, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak, told the trade: "The box office performance of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ shows just how much ‘Star Wars’ is part of the DNA of moviegoers in North America. It shows how important legacy can be for a movie because there’s been an incredible enthusiasm for this one."