"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" Set to Break Box Office Records

The next record that will fall is the three-day opening set this past June by Universal's Jurassic World, which also served to relaunch a beloved franchise. The mass media and entertainment conglomerate expected the movie to collect another $60 million in ticket sales from domestic box office on Saturday.

Star Wars: "The Force Awakens" hurtled toward $125 million in US and Canadian ticket sales on Friday and a potential record-breaking $225 million through Sunday, giving the long-awaited movie a shot at the biggest opening weekend of all time. Theaters added showtimes to meet demand, Disney said.

In the United Kingdom, where cinemas began showing the film at 00:01 on Thursday morning, The Force Awakens took £9.6m in its first 24 hours, well ahead of the recent James Bond film Spectre, which managed £6.3m on its opening day in October.

It was a foregone conclusion that Friday's single-day record, also held by the final Harry Potter film, would also fall given that the Thursday record was beaten by such a wide margin.

Disney plans four "Star Wars" movies through 2019, plus major expansions at its USA theme parks to incorporate the droids, spaceships and otherworldly creatures of the universe Lucas invented.

"Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience", Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios said in a statement yesterday. The record holder for the biggest opening during the month is "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey", which took in $85 million in domestic receipts in 2012.

3-D and Imax screenings are helping to propel the record gross.

Disney said 47 percent of Thursday's domestic ticket sales came from higher-priced 3D tickets.

"The Force Awakens" picks up the intergalactic story of good versus evil 30 years on from "The Return of the Jedi", the finale of the original trilogy.

Nomura Securities analyst Anthony DiClemente, who rates Disney a "buy", said he was more confident after seeing the movie that it could become the top-grossing film of all time.

But so far, "The Force Awakens" is attracting the interest of seemingly everyone. The record is held by "Avatar" with $2.8 billion. The film cost about $200 million to make, according to industry estimates.

The image of Han Solo appears on a screen, as enthusiasts wait to spot members of the cast at the European premiere of "Star Wars, The Force Awakens" in Leicester Square, London, Dec. 16, 2015.

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