‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ takes in record $130M in worldwide opening
NEW YORK — The box office has awakened.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" took in a record breaking $57 million at the U.S. box office for its preview showings on Thursday night.
That number blasted the record for the biggest pre-opening in box office history held by "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2," which made $43.5 million on its opening night in 2011.
To be fair, "Deathly Hallows: Part 2" began its preview showings at midnight while "The Force Awakens" kicked off its U.S. debut at 7 p.m. EST on Thursday.
So far, the Disney film has pulled in roughly $130 million worldwide since opening overseas on Wednesday.
The movie had opened in 44 overseas markets before its U.S. debut, breaking records in numerous countries including the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.
The Death Star-sized Thursday night in the U.S. should also help to boost the film's outlook for a record breaking opening weekend as well.
The record for biggest box office opening weekend ever belongs to Universal's "Jurassic World" which premiered to $208.8 million just six months ago.
3-D screening accounted for 47 percentof the night's grosses on Thursday.
The sci-fi adventure film starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Harrison Ford has been a intergalactic hit with both fans and critics.
The film currently holds a near perfect 95 percent score on review site, RottenTomatoes.com, and has many fans calling it the best film in the series since 1983's "Return of the Jedi."
Some users see Star Wars overkill as NASA says it found 'a cosmic lightsaber'
With Stars Wars fever raging across the Internet over the release of the latest installment in the movie franchise, one organization was making sure it didn't miss out on the buzz.
Outer-space adventure is right in NASA's wheelhouse, and the agency conveniently busted out a vaguely Star Wars-themed image on Thursday as "The Force Awakens" opened in theaters.
Facebook might have offered users a chance to add a lightsaber to their profile photos, but NASA went bigger, claiming its Hubble Space Telescope had photographed "what looks like a cosmic, double-bladed lightsaber."
The space agency's post showing spectacular beams of yellow-orange light garnered thousands of likes and retweets. But the Star Wars link was more artistic license than hard science.
'It looks nothing like a lightsaber'
The "lightsaber" beams radiating from what NASA described as "a dark, Jedi-like cloak of dust" are in fact jets of superheated material shooting out from a newborn star, the agency explained in a longer article peppered with humorous Star Wars references.
Plenty of people praised the majestic beauty of the image, and some liked the nod to the movies. But others were unimpressed by NASA's attempt to use the force to its advantage.
"It looks nothing like a lightsaber, guys," grumbled Charles Roberts on Facebook, adding the hashtag #starwarspandering.
"Maybe you should hire astronomers and not scifi nerds," quipped Twitter user @Pazzjurist.
A post too far?
NASA has been lauded for its hugely successful social media strategy that seeks to draw wider attention to its work, but some people felt it had gone too far this time.
"Dear NASA. We like science. We like information. We don't have to be sold on it using pop culture references," commented Facebook user Isobelle Fox.
But Albert Cofrin, who identifies himself on Facebook as an engineer at NASA, shot back, saying, "For a majority of the population that is not the case, but thanks for your input."
NASA did acknowledge that its image falls short on at least one key Star Wars measure.
"This celestial lightsaber does not lie in a galaxy far, far away, but rather inside our home galaxy, the Milky Way," it said.
