Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the series, debuted to a record breaking $238 million in North America – beating Jurassic World’s $208.8 million for the biggest opening of all time.
“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.
Globally, J.J. Abram’s sequel/reboot launched to a total of $517 million, behind Jurassic World’s $524.9 million. Moviegoers, who were primarily male (66 percent) and over the age of 25 (54 percent), gave the film an A CinemaScore, while critics gave it a strong 95 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Set 30 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, the sequel features a strong female heroine, a young scavenger named Rey played by newcomer Daisy Ridley. Rey and a renegade Stormtrooper (John Boyega) team together to find the lost Jedi knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). The Force Awakens also stars Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher from the original trilogy, as well as Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o and Domhnall Gleeson.
The weekend’s other new releases included Universal’s raunchy comedy Sisters and Fox’s family flick Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.
Snagging the second spot is Alvin and the Chipmunks with $14.4 million from 3,653 theaters – the lowest debut from the franchise. The film received an A minus CinemaScore from moviegoers and a 13 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.
“We believed that ‘Star Wars’ might be rated PG-13 and that there would be an opportunity to reach a younger age group,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s distribution chief. “We saw a chance to take advantage of that and we did.”
Sisters, starring comedians Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, took the third spot at the box office with $13.4 million from 2,961 theaters. Audience members, who were primarily females (76 percent), gave the film a B minus CinemaScore, while critics gave it a 62 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“It’s great to have a comedy for Christmas,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s domestic distribution head. “We’re very happy with the way it started out and we’ll play well into January.”
Finishing in fourth and fifth place is The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 and Creed, with $5.7 million and $5.1 million, respectively. The Hunger Games sequel has accumulated $254.4 million and the Rocky spinoff has made $87.9 million since opening in November.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: December 18-20
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $238 million
- Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip — $14.4 million
- Sisters — $13.4 million
- The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 — $5.7 million
- Creed — $5.1 million
- The Good Dinosaur — $4.2 million
- Krampus — $3.8 million
- In The Heart Of The Sea — $3.5 million
- Dilwale — $1.9 million
- Bajirao Mastani — $1.7 million
