'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Opens with Record Breaking $57 Million Thursday Previews December 18, 2015 Star Wars: The Force Awakens is firing on all cylinders, bringing in an estimated $57 million from Thursday evening "previews", breaking the previous record of $43.5 million set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 back in 2011. Additionally, the film's international rollout, which began on Wednesday in 12 markets, continued yesterday with an additional 32 markets and it has now crossed $72.7 million in its first two days internationally, with a global cume that now stands at $130 million. Star Wars adds Japan and Spain today along with its first full day in 4,134 North American theaters (a December record) as the sky is the limit on just how high this one will go. Interestingly enough, $57 million is enough to break the all-time Thursday single day record of $50 million, which was set by Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith in 2005. Of course, as is standard operating procedure, Disney will be rolling these Thursday numbers into their overall Friday gross, which will almost certainly break the largest Friday, opening day and single day record currently held by Deathly Hallows - Part 2 at $91 million. As a matter of fact, once it crosses $84.62 million on Friday it will have already broken the December opening weekend record previously set by The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey. Add to that, it has already obliterated the largest December single day, also previously owned by The Hobbit, a paltry $37.13 million by comparison. 3D accounted for 47% of the evening's take along with $5.7 million from IMAX screenings, breaking the previous IMAX record of $3 million set by Avengers: Age of Ultron earlier this year. For those curious, these Thursday preview numbers do include the Star Wars marathon screenings, which included back-to-back-to-back-etc. screenings of the first six Star Wars films leading up to the release of Force Awakens. Prices were upwards of $59.99 at AMC theaters per USA Today. Additionally, there is no set time as to when theaters specifically report Thursday preview numbers. Some may report grosses only up to midnight on Thursday, while others may report well into the Friday AM. All of which leads to one big question... Should these numbers count for Friday's gross? The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 record was set based on midnight screenings in 3,800 theaters while Force Awakens began showing on a large percentage of its opening weekend theaters at 7 PM on Thursday, making the two records virtually impossible to compare. That being said, including these Thursday evening grosses into the Friday total is standard operating procedure, but it does mean a comparison toPotter's number isn't apples-to-apples. A more apt comparison would be to the blowing away of the $18.5 million and $27.6 million Jurassic World andAvengers: Age of Ultron brought in from their Thursday previews respectively earlier this year.Jurassic World went on to bring in $81.9 million on its opening day, eventually leading to an opening weekend record of $208.8 million, while Avengers 2grossed $84.4 million on Friday and an opening weekend that ended just shy of $200 million. Our weekend prediction for Force Awakens of $231 million now looks like it may be in jeopardy of being too low. Though everything depends on that Saturday drop. With this $57 million accounting for Friday's total the Saturday drop will be large and perhaps even more than the 33% drop Age of Ultronexperienced and almost certainly larger thanJurassic World's 15% Saturday drop. That does depend, once again, on when Disney cut off their Thursday preview estimate? If they cut it off at midnight then that $57 million looks even more impressive and the Saturday drop could be even lower. As we speculated yesterday, should Force Awakensopen with $100 million on Friday (including Thursday previews) and then drop similarly to Age of Ultron it would be looking at a $226.5 million opening. The film's opening, however, looks as if it could go as high as $120 million and if that ends up being the case attempting to predict where it will end up becomes futile, though a final three-day total north of $250 million would seem almost a certainty. At that point it may even challenge the largest weekend of all time (top 12 gross) of $266 million all on its own. As for that international performance, the film now accounts for the largest single day of all time in UK/Ireland ($14.4m), Germany ($7.1m), Norway ($1.1m) and Sweden ($1.7m). Along with those four territories, it also accounts for the largest opening day in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Switzerland (French-speaking), Austria, Ukraine, Slovakia, Croatia, Iceland, Serbia, Chile and Peru.
List of the most anticipated Hollywood Biggies in 2016 - Part 1 The New Year 2016 has an exciting lineup of Hollywood films that will release one after the other in India and here we give you a four part list of what lies ahead for the movie goer. 'The Revenant' Cast : Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hardy Director : Alejandro G. Inarritu Starring the inimitable Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, an 1820s frontiersman who is left for dead by his fellow travelers after a vicious bear attack and subsequently seeks revenge on them for abandoning him. On his experience filming, DiCaprio stated: "I can name 30 or 40 sequences that were some of the most difficult things I've ever had to do...Whether it's going in and out of frozen rivers, or sleeping in animal carcasses, or what I ate on set. I was enduring freezing cold and possible hypothermia constantly." 'Captain America Civil War' Cast : Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansen Director : Anthony and John Russo After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, another international incident involving Steve Rogers and the Avengers results in collateral damage, prompting politicians to form a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to call in the Avengers, which results in the fracturing of the team into two opposing factions-one led by Rogers who wishes to operate without regulation, and one led by Tony Stark who supports government oversight-while they attempt to protect the world from a new enemy. 'Independence Day Resurgence' Cast : Jeff Golblum, Bill Pullman, Liam Hemsworth Director : Roland Emmerich Twenty years after the events of the first film , the international community recovers and builds up Earth's defenses using technology salvaged from the remains of the alien forces, with some military forces assembled on the moon. However, the aliens were able to send a distress signal before their final defeat while others go into hiding elsewhere around the world. The aliens in deep space receive the signal and threaten the human race once more with a new battle fleet. 'Star Trek Beyond' Cast : Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana Director : Justin Lin The USS Enterprise crew, led by Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), have been attacked by a powerful unstoppable wave of unknown aliens, who destroy the Enterprise, leaving them stranded on a new planet where they find themselves in conflict with a new ruthless enemy. 'The Legend of Tarzan' Cast : Alexander Skarsgard, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Christoph Waltz Director : David Yates It has been years since the man once known as Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgård) left the jungles of Africa behind for a gentrified life in London as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane Porter (Margot Robbie) at his side. Now, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the corrupt Belgian Captain Rom (Christoph Waltz). 'Mechanic Resurrection' Cast : Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Sam Hazeldine Director : Dennis Gansel After the demise of his partner turned enemy Steve McKenna (Foster), Arthur Bishop (Statham) retires his status as a contract killer. But when his most formidable foe kidnaps the love of his life, he is forced to travel the globe to complete three impossible assassinations, and do what he does best, make them look like accidents. 'Underworld Next Generation' Cast : Kate Beckinsale, Theo James, Tobias Menzies, Lara Pulver, Charles Dance Director : Anna Foerster The fifth installment in the 'Underworld' series promises more thrills and chills with cinematographer Anna Foerster making her directing debut. 'The Conjuring 2' Cast : Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Frances O'Connor Director : James Wan The much awaited sequel to the 2013 super hit 'Conjuring' which enjoyed a great run in India and the same is expected. 'Dr. Strange' Cast : Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mads Mikkelsen Director : Scott Derrickson After Stephen Strange, the world's top neurosurgeon, is injured in a car accident that ruins his career, he sets out on a journey of healing, where he encounters the Ancient One. An extraordinary superhero from Marvel. 'The Witch' Cast : Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie Director : Robert Eggers In the 17th century, a Puritan family lives alone on the edge of a New England wilderness. Soon their infant son disappears, their daughter is suspected of witchcraft, and the family begins to break down in the face of an unknown evil. 'Finding Dory' Cast : Ellen DeGeneress, Albert Brooks, Hayden Rolence Director : Andrew Stanton Sequel to the immensely successful 'Finding Nemo' the sequel has Dory accompanied by Nemo and Marlin, sets out to find her family. She arrives at the Monterey Marine Life Institute, where she meets Bailey, a white beluga whale, Destiny, a whale shark and Hank the octopus, who becomes her guide. 'The Huntsman' Cast : Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, Colin Morgan, Nick Frost Director : Cedric Nicolas-Troyan Long before the evil Queen Ravenna was thought vanquished by Snow White's blade, she watched silently as her sister, Freya, suffered a heartbreaking betrayal and fled their kingdom. With Freya's ability to freeze any enemy, the young Ice Queen has spent decades in a remote wintry palace raising a legion of deadly Huntsmen - including Eric and warrior Sara - only to find that her prized two defied her one demand: forever harden your hearts to love. When Freya learns of her sister's demise, she summons her remaining soldiers to bring the Magic Mirror home to the only sorceress left who can harness its power. But once she resurrects Ravenna from the Mirror's golden depths, the wicked sisters threaten this enchanted land with twice the darkness it's ever seen. Now, their amassing army shall prove unbeatable unless the banished Huntsmen who broke their Queen's cardinal rule can fight their way back to one another. 'Triple 9' Cast : Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet Director : John HIlcoat The film follows a group of criminals and corrupt cops who find themselves in serious trouble. The Russian mafia is blackmailing them, and the only way to deal with them is to perform what is believed to be an extremely challenging heist. Impossible as it may seem, however, they eventually hatch a plan: on one side of town, half of the crew will plan the murder of a rookie cop named Chris Allen (Casey Affleck), and while the rest of the force is distracted by a 999 call ("officer down"), the other half of the corrupt cops will pull off the job. 'Moana' Cast : Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Auli'i Cravalho Director : Ron Clements and John Musker In the ancient South Pacific world of Oceania, a born navigator named Moana sets sail in search of a fabled island. During her journey, she teams up with her hero the legendary demi-god, Maui. 'Gods of Egypt' Cast : Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Director : Alex Proyas The Egyptian god of darkness Set takes over the throne of the Egyptian empire. A mortal hero, Bek, allies with the Egyptian god Horus in a mission to save the world and to rescue his love.
Box Office Mojo 18 mins · 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Shatters Opening Day Record, Hits $250M Globally http://imdb.to/1ZhGigP
