Star Wars: The Force Awakens Becomes Top-Earning Movie of All Time in North America

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the top-earning movie of all time in North America after unseating Avatar, Disney says.

According to Disney studio, the JJ Abrams movie has passed the $760.5 million taken by Avatar over its lifetime, but has yet to give official figures.

In December 2015, Star Wars: The Force Awakens became the fastest film to take $1 billion at the global box office.

However, Avatar, which was released in 2009, still holds the global record.

Avatar took $2.8 billion across the world, as compared to The Force Awakens worldwide earnings of $1.6 billion to date.

The Force Awakens is already the fourth highest-grossing global movie of all time after just three weeks in release, but analysts believe it will have to play well in China, where it opens on January 9, to beat the record set by Avatar.

Disney thanked its fans for helping it clinch the domestic record, saying that without them “there is no Star Wars.”

“There has indeed been an awakening – and it’s all thanks to you,” Disney said, in a statement released on January 6.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens returns the action to “a galaxy far, far away” some 30 years on from the action of 1983’s Return of the Jedi.

The movie, which reunites the original trilogy stars, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill alongside newcomers including Daisy Ridley and John Boyega, scored the biggest US Christmas Day box office takings in history with $49.3 million.

The Force Awakens also smashed the record for the biggest box office debut weekend globally – when it opened on December 16, in most countries – with ticket sales of $529 million.

Top 5 US Box Office Hits:

1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
2. Avatar (2009)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Jurassic World (2015)
5. Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)