“Star Wars” Breaks Box Office Records in Weekend Debut in U.S., Canada

With the initial estimate of $238 million in ticket sales, the seventh installment in the galactic adventure created by George Lucas shredded the record set by “Jurassic World” last June of $208.4 million in box office receipts during its first weekend on the big screen.

Internationally, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has already brought in an estimated $517 million, although that figure does not exceed the worldwide first-weekend receipts of $524 million for “Jurassic World.”

The Star Wars film, which was handled by Disney for the first time, is said to have brought in $120.5 million on Friday alone in the United States and Canada, breaking the record of $91 million set by the second Harry Potter film – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.”

Since Thursday, the film is said to have broken prescreening records by raking in $57 million in the United States alone, handily beating out the second Harry Potter film, which had collected $43.5 million.

The film will also make history by opening in 4,134 theaters in the United States and Canada, outstripping the figure of 4,045 theaters for “The Hobbit.”