"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" continued its history-setting ride at the Monday box office, grossing $40.1 million from 4,134 theaters in North America to crush the previous daily record set by "Spider-Man 2" in summer 2004 with $27.7 million.
Buoyed by many kids and college students being out of school, J.J. Abrams' tentpole finished the day with $288.1 million in domestic ticket sales and $610.8 million worldwide. It will race past the $300 million mark in North America sometime on Tuesday.
"Spider-Man 2" took in $27.7 million on the Monday following July 4th, when many people were on holiday. The biggest non-holiday Monday belongs to this summer's "Jurassic World" with $25.3 million. As a way of comparison, Force Awakens came in nearly 40 percent of "Spider-Man 2" and more than 25 percent ahead of "Jurassic World."
Over the weekend, "Force Awakens" launched to a stunning $248 million domestically and $529 globally, wresting the crown from "Jurassic World," which opened to $208.8 million domestically and $524 million globally.
Its performance so far is a major victory for Iger and Disney's film studio. “Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind "Star Wars" experience, and director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves,” Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement.
Abrams' sequel, set 30 years after the events of "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi," features a strong female heroine in Rey, a young scavenger played by newcomer Daisy Ridley. Rey and a renegade stormtrooper (John Boyega) band together to challenge a rising evil that includes a new planet-killing laser cannon.
The film also stars Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong'o and Domhnall Gleeson, along with original trilogy stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
At this rate, there's no telling how high "Force Awakens" will ultimately fly in terms of box-office revenue, since films over the year-end holidays can see huge multiples. James Cameron's "Avatar" opened to $77 million on the same weekend in 2009 on its way to becoming the top-grossing film of all time with $2.79 billion in global ticket sales, including $760.5 million domestically. And on the weekend before Christmas in 1996, Cameron's "Titanic" took in a mere $28.6 million on its way to grossing $2.19 billion worldwide.
"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" came in No. 2 with $2.9 million from 3,653 theaters for a four-day domestic total of $17.2 million for 20th Century Fox. Universal's raunchy, R-rated comedy "Sisters," starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, followed with an estimated $2.5 million from 2,961 locations for a four-day domestic total of $16.5 million.
