Is $1 Billion Domestic Possible for Star Wars: The Force Awakens?
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is currently sitting on quite an impressive nest egg of money right now. The film has grossed $651.9 million domestically after yesterday (Dec. 31), and it’s showing no signs of stopping. Now in the new year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens looks like it is about to bust through a lot more domestic and all-time box office records. The question becomes, is the sky the limit for Star Wars at the box office? Box Office Mojo is predicting yet another $100 million+ weekend for the sequel this weekend.
Currently, the film sits at No. 4 on the domestic all-time box office chart right behind 2015’s Jurassic World. This weekend, Star Wars will crush the domestic records for Jurassic World and James Cameron’s Titanic ($658 million domestic). Credit to Titanic, as that film stayed high up on the list for many years. The big prize, though, for Disney and Star Wars is the No. 1 spot, which is currently held by James Cameron’s Avatar with $760 million domestic. What does that mean? It means that The Force Awakens will soon surpass Avatar at the domestic box office chart in a matter of mere days. Even more mind-boggling, that Star Wars’ box office tally will continue to climb over the next couple of weeks. Suddenly, an $800 million or more box office take. As insane as it sounds, one can almost believe this film could make a staggering $1 billion at the US domestic box office. It sounds insane now, but if the film continues to do well, it could very well finish very close to that figure.
On the overseas end, the film is slated to open in China, a big marketplace, on January 9. That should give a boost to the film’s overseas take, which currently stands at $679 million. Under the current standings, the sequel currently sits at No. 8 on the all-time list based on the worldwide box office takes. That will change a few spots after this weekend, where it will be closer to around No. 5. Now Avatar has a pretty sizable worldwide take of $2.87 billion dollars, with over $2 billion coming from its overseas take. So while Star Wars: The Force Awakens will definitely cruise past the domestic record for Avatar, the overseas number is still a question mark. Either way, it will be interesting to check the standings again come Monday.
But regarding the $1 billion domestic figure, which is basically unheard of. After this weekend, the film will have about $755 million weekend. The film has only been out for about two weeks. No film has ever really had box office like this in recent memory. With a lack of strong new releases over the coming weeks, that could give Star Wars an edge to continue destroying the box office.