J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued to blast through box-office records at warp speed over the Christmas holiday, hitting the $1 billion milestone faster than any film in history and leading North American theaters’ biggest Christmas weekend ever, taking in $153.5 million for a domestic total of $544.6 million.
Force Awakens surpassed $1 billion on Sunday on its twelfth day out, edging past Jurassic World‘s previous record of 13 days. Jurassic World was helped significantly by a day-and-date China release which brought in an opening total of $100 million, while Force Awakens doesn’t arrive in Chinese theaters until January 9.
Jurassic World also had its biggest second weekend crown snatched by the new Star Wars.
In addition to the North American box-office, Force Awakens raked in $133.3 million overseas, totting up a foreign release total of $546 million and $1.09 billion worldwide. The largest hauls were from theaters in the U.K. ($97.2 million), Germany ($54.3 million), France ($47.8 million), Australia ($35.7 million) and Japan ($31.3 million).
This Christmas weekend saw a raft of new titles hitting screens, contributing to a record setting $300 million-plus draw. In addition to Star Wars, audiences flocked in for newly opened Daddy’s Home, Joy, Concussion, The Big Short and Point Break. Additionally, Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and Alejandro G. Inarritu’s The Revenant drew major crowds to select cinemas.
