“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has blasted past the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office in record time, Disney said Sunday.
The seventh entry in the beloved sci-fi space franchise achieved the feat in 12 days of global release, beating the 13 days that former record-holder “Jurassic World” took to manage the feat in June.
The J.J. Abrams-directed reboot took in a spectacular $286 million worldwide this weekend, with $153 million coming from North America and $133 million from overseas. That lifted the global total to $1.09 billion, with $546 million coming from abroad — without China — and $544.5 million from North America.
The biggest market for “Star Wars” other than North America has been the U.K., where it has taken in $97 million, followed by Germany with $54 million and France with $48 million. “The Force Awakens” will open in China on January 9.
As it has throughout its run, “The Force Awakens” received a huge boost from IMAX. Its 673 screens brought in $27.5 million, lifting the global total from the giant screens past $100 million — in record time — to $106 million.
While currently No. 15 on the all-time global box office list, “The Force Awakens” is on pace to eventually overtake leaders “Avatar” ($2.8 billion), “Titanic” ($2.2 billion) and “Jurassic World” ($1.6 billion).