MostStar Wars fanshave already combed through every shred of special features available onStar Wars: The Force AwakensBluray by now, but believe it or not, the film actually just wrapped up its theatrical run not too long ago. After a record breaking release in December,The Force Awakensjust kept raking in the money for Disney week after week and only recently left its final theater. Now we can finally see how the film stacked up at the box office.
According toBox Office Mojo, this sci-fi sequel spent a total of 168 days in theaters and made a whole lot of money in that time. Worldwide, the film made $2,068,176,052, which is going to put it at the number 3 spot on the all time box office chart, behind the twoJames CameronjuggernautsTitanicandAvatar.The Force Awakensis also only the third film in history to ever make more than $2 billion worldwide, the next closest beingJurassic Worldwith $1.67 billion, which isn’t even really that close.
Many had predicted thatJ.J. Abrams' entry in theStar Warsfranchise had a great chance of overtakingAvatarfor the all time top spot, but it ultimately didn’t even get close as Cameron’s sci-fi epic made a staggering $2.788 billion, which at this point seems out of reach for pretty much any film ifStar Warscouldn’t do it. Granted, the landscape of blockbuster filmmaking has changed a lot sinceAvatarcame out in 2009 and it would be very hard to replicate those circumstances for any other film moving forward.
Disney will get to take a massive record to the bank though, asThe Force Awakensis far and away thehighest grossing movie of all timedomestically, besting bothAvatarandTitanicby a very wide margin.The Force Awakenstook in a staggering $936,662,225 domestically, which is nearly $200 million more thanAvatar’s $760 million. The drop off from there is pretty steep, with bothTitanicandJurassic Worldtopping out around $650 million worldwide. When adjusted for inflation,The Force Awakensfalls to number 11 on the all time domestic chart, with the originalStar Warscoming in at number 2 behind onlyGone With The Wind.
Though some of the focus will be on how Disney’s first newStar Wars moviedidn’t become the highest grossing film of all time as some expected it could, it is by no means a disappointment. In the long run, faith in the franchise has been restored and the success ofThe Force Awakenshave created massive opportunities for revenue from merchandise, theme parks and everything in between. So, even thoughAvatarmay have made more money, you don’t see a whole lot ofAvatarmerch at Wal-Mart these days, but people will probably be buying Kylo Ren shirts until long after we’re gone.
Disney has much larger plans for theStar Warsfranchise, andThe Force Awakenswas just the first part of it.Rogue One: A Star Wars Storywill be released this December and will be the first non-episodicStar Warsfilm ever, with others such as a Young Han Solo movie already in development for a 2018 release. Next year, fans can of course look forward toStar Wars Episode VIII, which is being directed byRian Johnsonand is currently filming.
