Star Wars: The Force Awakens has made movie history, setting a new record opening weekend high with a domestic debut of $238 million.

Disney also confirmed that J.J. Abrams' space epic made a whopping $279 million during its five-day international debut, bringing the current global earnings to a staggering $517 million.


"Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves," Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement.

"To all of the fans around the world who not only came out in Force to make this such an exciting and astronomical debut but who treated this film as their own and helped preserve the experience for their fellow fans by not spoiling it – thank you, we do."


The studio shared a number of the film's other record-breaking achievements, confirming The Force Awakens had the biggest Thursday preview gross of all time, earning $57 million. It also set a new record high for a Friday opening with $120 million, becoming the first film ever to earn over $100m in a single day.

Additionally, The Force Awakens shattered the record for a December debut, nearly tripling the prior leader's $84.6 million figure. Unsurprisingly, the film also performed incredibly well in IMAX, setting new Thursday, single-day and weekend records.

The Force Awakens allowed Disney to reclaim the title of biggest opening weekend, as Jurassic World had stolen it from Marvel's The Avengers with the Universal pic's $208.8 million debut in June.

Here are the top 10 weekend box office estimates via Rentrak:

  • 1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $238 million
  • 2. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip $14.4 million
  • 3. Sisters $13.4 million
  • 4. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 $5.7 million
  • 5. Creed $5.1 million
  • 6. The Good Dinosaur $4.2 million
  • 7. Krampus $3.8 million
  • 8. In the Heart of the Sea $3.5 million
  • 9. Dilwale $1.9 million
  • 10. Bajirao Mastani $1.7 million