Star Wars sets box office records in U.S. after 10-year hiatus

Star Wars that has made a comeback for the first time in 10 years is rocking all over the American continent. As the movie has returned as "classic" that was created by America, rather than a Hollywood blockbuster for the year-end holiday season, it is even creating social syndromes.

For one, the movie is breaking records in various statistics. Walt Disney, the distributor of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” said its box office sales in the first weekend after the release amounted to 238 million U.S. dollars, which far exceeds the previous record of 208.8 million dollars set by “Jurassic World” this summer. Star Wars has raked in a total of 120.5 million U.S. dollars as of last Friday, the first day of its official release in the U.S. and Canada, making it the first movie ever to break the 100 million dollar mark in daily box office sales.

People are awash with talks about Star Wars all over America these days. Movie fans in major cities, including Los Angeles and New York, staged flash mobs in which they engage in duels with laser swords concurrently at multiple places over the weekend. U.S. President Barack Obama attended a reception with major movie characters such as R2D2 and Storm Trooper in attendance, at the White House, and danced with his wife Michelle before leaving for Hawaii for vacation on Friday, while White House press secretary Josh Earnest brought with him a mockup of R2D2 to the briefing room on the day, driving reporters to laughter.

In the U.S. that lacks notable classics due to its short history, Star Wars that is clearly didactic and showcases the rises and falls of individuals and organizations is effectively considered a "video version of Sangokushi (Records of the Three Kingdoms)." The New York Times said that the movie is just the only work in 100-year Hollywood history that has struck the world both commercially and culturally, adding that given the nostalgia for the first Star Wars series, it is even difficult to fathom how large profit the Star Wars franchise will bring about going forward.

ddr@donga.com