'Force Awakens' crosses $250M globally after record Friday

Dec 23, 2015, 00:08
'Force Awakens' crosses $250M globally after record Friday

The film also set a new opening day box office record in the United Kingdom and Ireland as well. At the current pace, The Force Awakens is on track to bring in more than $250 million over the course of this weekend. One of the film's many marketing draws have been a series of pre-release cast and crew interviews, all of which claim in one form or another that it harkens back to the style of the 1977 Star Wars film, now subtitled Episode IV - A New Hope.

The film is playing at a total of 4,134 North American locations on Friday - a record for a December opening.

This photo provided by Disney/Lucasfilm shows a scene from the new film, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens". Some $100 million in advance tickets were sold for the movie's Thursday night debut. Disney said theaters were adding showtimes to meet "unprecedented demand". If they're going to take home the title for the highest grossing opening weekend of all time, and they nearly certainly are, Jurassic World's $208 million is the number to beat.

Yes, that's a record, topping Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 at $91.1 million set on its opening Friday in July 2011.

US says ISIS oil smuggling to Turkey 'insignificant'
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As far as all-time box office sales, two films by James Cameron hold the record - "Avatar" ($2.78 billion) and "Titanic" ($2.18 billion).

Since beginning its overseas rollout Wednesday, "The Force Awakens" has made an estimated $129.5 million internationally.

Star Wars 7 begins 30 years after the events of The Return Of Jedi and introduces new characters to carry forward the story of the Force, the Jedi and Empire.

Industry pundits previously predicted that The Force Awakens has the potential to become the greatest movie of all time in terms of earnings. The screening is part of the Joining Forces initiative, which has received strong support from Star Wars' new director, J.J. Abrams.

Huskers to play UCLA in Foster Farms Bowl
Although officially the 14th Foster Farms Bowl, this is the first year the chicken giant has been the sponsor. The Huskers hope it will work as a springboard into 2016 after a challenging first season in the Riley era.

The first live-action "Star Wars" film in a decade will nourish Disney's studio, theme-park and merchandise businesses for years.

Critics applauded "Force Awakens", which features newcomers Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac alongside original stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. The sequel is ranked fresh at Rotten Tomatoes with 95% fresh on the Tomatometer.

When the 49-year-old behind The Force Awakens was initially offered the movie by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, he said he felt it was not the right move for him.

When Barack Obama opened his press conference, he made sure to admit that it was not the most important thing happening in the White House today.

Carrie Fisher says banning Princess Leia gold bikini merchandise is 'stupid'
I showed it to Billie [Lourd, her daughter] when she was six, but she said to me it's too loud and didn't want to watch it. She first started making waves last week, when she noted that producers wanted her to lose weight to play General Leia.

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