‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Is a Box Office Force to Be Reckoned With

On Thursday night, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released across America for late-night previews, and it's already proven itself a cinematic force to be reckoned with.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest film in the Star Wars franchise has already broken Thursday night release records, racking up an amazing $57 million dollars in sales at North American box offices alone.

Prior to its opening in North America, The Force Awakens was released internationally to its first 12 markets on Wednesday, grossing $14.1 million in sales, thereby eclipsing all previous films in the franchise's history. A day later, sales skyrocketed to the insane total of $72.7 million, bringing its total global sales close to $130 million already.

As of Friday, The Force Awakens has had the biggest December release of any film in cinema history, opening in a total of 4,134 theaters domestically. It is also projected to earn somewhere between $180-$220 million dollars over the weekend and to surpass this summer's blockbuster Jurassic World, which earned $208.8 million.

To put these records into perspective, consider the following films for comparison in terms of their gross sales for their Thursday evening premieres: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 earned $43.5 million in July 2011, making it the previous record-holder. The Dark Knight Rises earned $30.6 million in 2012, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 pulled in numbers slightly below that with $30.4 million that same year.

And if the sales aren't impressive enough, The Force Awakens is already winning over the hearts of critics all over, earning a 95 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 94 percent of which were positive—another record-breaker.

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