Star Wars: The Force Awakens breaks several blockbuster records

The latest movie of the Star Wars franchise has shattered box office records on its first weekend, even without the Chinese market.

Disney's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" not only surpassed expectations; it also broke several records previously held by the final Harry Potter and "Jurassic World", and that's without the Chinese moviegoers.

According to a report from The Guardian, the J.J. Abrams directed space saga has a worldwide ticket sales that hauled in $517m, as of Sunday. It also had the biggest domestic opening in Hollywood History, breaking the record that was previously held by Jurassic World with $238m versus $208.8m.

Gizmodo reports that the film is now on its way to the billion dollar mark, which is good news for Disney as it already spent $4b just to buy the franchise from George Lucas.

Other box office records that "The Force Awakens" shattered are the following: Biggest Thursday preview previously held by "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part II" with $57 million versus $43.5 million; Single Day gross of $100 million; Fastest film to $100 million and $200 million held by "Jurassic World"; Biggest December Debut held by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; Biggest Imax debut with $48 million; Biggest opening weekend of all time in UK, Germany, Russia, Australia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Iceland, Ukraine, New Zealand, and Serbia; Biggest opening for all Star Wars films previously held by "Revenge of the Sith" with $108.4 million.

Engadget writes that it's not a surprise why the film is a massive success. Star Wars simply is the most successful movie franchise of all time so the hype towards the premiere was overwhelming. Moreover, with the brilliant direction of J.J. Abrams, the film did not disappoint. There have been plenty of successful sci-fi movies in the past but nothing surpassed the culture that only Star Wars has created in this world.

The film is poised to break the highest grossing movie ever which is Avatar with $2.8b global ticket sales. China, the world's second largest movie market, could get The Force Awakens there when it premieres on January 9.