‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Overtakes ‘Titanic’ Into Second Most Successful Film Ever

When it comes to the most successful film releases of all time, that’s a space reserved for some pretty big players. Names including Avatar and Titanic sit comfortably as box office sellouts and the most successful films of all time. However, a fairly recent release in the form of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has overtaken the latter to become the second most successful film of all time… and it’s no surprise, really.

Launching less than three weeks ago, the JJ Abrams’ addition to the beloved Star Wars saga was always destined for box office success, but nobody quite imagined it would happen this quick. In fact, since the film’s release on December 17, 2015, it has brought in a staggering $1.511 billion in revenue across the globe. To give that some perspective, over its lifetime in the box office, Titanic brought in a total of $658,672,302 domestically and $2.168 billion globally. Taking those two amounts into consideration, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has undoubtedly overtaken Titanic domestically.

That being said, those hoping to see the latest addition of the Star Wars saga break into the top spot when it comes to the most successful film releases ever may be disappointed to hear that James Cameron’s hit Avatar release still holds onto the top spot with a firm domestic total of $2.79 billion. The latest Star Wars may have come very far in terms of ticket sales, but it still has a good way to go if it wants to knock Avatar of its thrown.

In terms of 2015’s cinematic releases, the year also saw plenty of other big names bringing in a fair amount of revenue. Furious 7 and the Jurassic Park sequel, Jurassic World, both brought in respective revenues of their own. However, both were still unable to compare to the colossal success that is the latest Star Wars. In fact, considering these films were released earlier in 2015, that leaves plenty of space for the latest Star Wars addition to grow where those other titles won’t necessarily be able to.

It should go without saying that the success of this movie isn’t a huge surprise. However, what is pretty surprising is the fact that the latest addition in the saga hasn’t actually released across the globe yet. Some major markets are yet to see a national roll out of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One of the most prominent of such markets is China, where the film is set to see a nationwide release on January 9, 2016. It’s worth taking into consideration that China is home to the world’s largest population, and considering their growing love for western culture, the latest Star Wars is expected to be huge.

We’d definitely imagine that millions of Chinese viewers flocking to cinema screens across the country will definitely give Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ revenue a further boost.

There’s one company in particular that will definitely be profiting from the sell-out success of this movie, and that’s Disney. The company acquired Star Wars in a deal that gave it control of LucasArts and all rights to the film franchise. With that in mind, the figures give a good sign that Disney will want to continue the franchise as long into the future as possible.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is without a doubt one of those once in a generation film releases. If it continues to grow at this current rate, we’re not going to see a film live up to JJ Abrams’ standout hit for a long time, or at least until the next Star Wars release, that is.

[Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images]