In its second week at the box office, ‘The Force Awakens’ is showing no signs of waning.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was still pulling in big audiences at theatres over the Christmas weekend and has now passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office. The film is now the fastest ever to reach $1 billion worldwide, doing so in just 12 days.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Previous record holder Jurassic World took 13 days to reach $1 billion globally when it smashed records earlier this year. In the US, The Force Awakens racked up $153.5 million at the festive box office, bringing its US total so far to over $544.5 million.
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The weekend numbers meant it now holds the title of the biggest Christmas holiday result at the US box office and the best second weekend for a film, according to Variety. The three-day holiday takings at the box office overall mean it was also the biggest Christmas weekend ever, beating the $269.8 million generated in 2009 when Sherlock Holmes launched and Avatar was in its second weekend.
"You almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie," box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak told ABC News. "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.” The film is expect to smash even more records when it opens in China on January 9th.
But the success of Star Wars meant the takings for the Christmas period’s new releases paled in comparison. Comedy Daddy’s Home, starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg took second place at the box office debuting with $38.8 million.
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David O. Russell’s Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, debuted in third place with $17.5 million, while NFL drama Concussion, starring Will Smith just missed out on the top five, opening with $11 million in sixth place. Another new entry came from financial drama The Big Short which debuted in seventh place with just over $10.5 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
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