Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE:DIS) “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is poised to hit the record to become the fastest film to reach a worldwide ticket sales of $1 billion.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened in some international markets on December 18 and in theaters across the United States on December 18. Since its debut, the film already accumulated $890.3 million in ticket sales worldwide as of Christmas Day.
Data from The Numbers showed that the film generated $440.39 million in ticket sales domestically and $449.9 million in ticket sales internationally through Christmas Day.
“Jurassic World” from Universal Pictures holds the record for the fastest film to reach $1 billion. The film crossed the $1 billion mark in 13 days in June. Star Wars: The Force Awakens already surpassed the record held by Jurassic World for the largest opening weekend.
Rentrak Corporation, a consumer viewership information provider for the entertainment and marketing industries, expected Star Wars: The Force Awakens to reach the $1 billion threshold by Sunday.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is Bigger than Expected
Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock in 2012. George Lucas, the founder of Lucasfilm created the Star Wars franchise, which already boosted the consumer products, TV and theme park divisions of Walt Disney Company, according to its Chairman and CEO Bob Iger. The mass media and entertainment conglomerate plans to make as much as five more movies in the franchise.
During a previous interview with Bloomberg, Iger said, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is “bigger than big. It’s bigger than we thought it would be.”
In a recent press statement, Alan Horn, the Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, said, “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.”
The film received a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an excellent A recommendation from CinemaScore. The film was rated A+ by women and younger audiences.
Walt Disney reached its highest yearly box office record
According to Walt Disney Company, Star Wars: The Force Awakens helped the company reach the $5 billon mark in global box office in a calendar year, its first time and highest ever. The company topped its previous full-year record of $4.73 billion in 2013.
The outstanding performances of Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Disney Pixar’s Inside Out and Disney’s Cinderella also helped the mass media and entertainment conglomerate achieved its 2015 milestones.
