‘The Force Awakens’ Overtakes ‘Avatar’ as Domestic Box Office King
It’s official: Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the all-time domestic box office king. With over $760.6 million in tickets since the much anticipated continuation of the Star Wars franchise hit theaters on December 17th, the blockbuster passed Avatar Wednesday as the top grossing film in history. The film surpassed the $760.5 million James Cameron’s 3D epic earned during its theatrical run. However, The Force Awakens needed just 20 days to surpass the domestic (U.S. and Canada, combined) record, while Avatar needed 72 days to set the mark, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Disney confirmed the record in a press release, but did not divulge the film’s exact box office as of Wednesday evening.
Despite cruising to the domestic record, The Force Awakens will have a more difficult task overtaking Avatar‘s $2.7 billion total as the highest-grossing film worldwide. J.J. Abrams’ movie also currently sits behind Jurassic World and Titanic, but The Force Awakens has yet to open in China; the film will arrive in the world’s second-largest movie-going market on January 9th, although – as Stephen Colbert pointed out – the Star Wars franchise isn’t a phenomenon in that country like it is in other parts of the world.
When adjusted to reflect inflation of ticket prices, however, The Force Awakens sits at Number 21 all time on the domestic list, according to Box Office Mojo. At $760 million, the film should soon pass the adjusted $777 million domestic total of 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, yet The Empire Strikes Back (Number 12 and $845 million, adjusted) and Return of the Jedi (Number 15 and $809 million) are still well ahead of the latest Star Wars episode.
The Force Awakens also faces near-impossible odds to topple the original Star Wars on the adjusted box office list, as that film pulled in an estimated $1.5 billion in domestic box office, good for Number Two on the all-time list. (Gone With the Wind remains Number One by a healthy $200 million margin.)