Well, this was hardly surprising, was it? After a mere 22 days on release, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now officially the highest-grossing film of all time in the UK, hitting the top spot faster than the Millennium Falcon after a galactic MOT.
Only the second film in UK box-office history to reach £100million, The Force Awakens has now dethroned Skyfall’s £103.2million haul to take the top spot. And it continues to climb, toppling records in its path.
It is already the biggest film of all time in the US, with a three-quarters-of-a-billion domestic haul. But it remains some distance from the worldwide number one, Avatar. James Cameron’s 2009 alien sci-fi romp is the one to beat, with a seemingly insurmoutnable global gross of $2.8billion.
All eyes are now on how The Force Awakens performs in China. It is the world’s second-biggest film market, but audiences there aren’t as familiar with the franchise – the original trilogy first screened in July 2015 – and Disney have accordingly been marketing the hell out of it there. The Force Awakens opens in China on January 9, and analysts will be watching the results like a hawk.
Here in Blighty, though, Disney and LucasFilm have plenty to be happy about: as well as the number one movie of all time, they can also boast the following box office records: the biggest ever UK opening weekend; the biggest ever opening worldwide; widest release of a title in the UK; highest advance bookings of all time; the first film to reach £50m within a week; and the biggest ever single day at the box office with £9.7million.
If that wasn’t enough, J.J. Abrams’ sequel today earned four BAFTA nominations, for Original Music, Production Design, Sound and Special Visual Effects. When it comes to Disney’s buyout of LucasFilm (to paraphrase a certain L. Calrissian), this deal is getting better all the time.