Another day, another huge milestone for Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens . As of this Thursday, the long-anticipated sequel has raked in $1,293.1 million worldwide. Yes, that's $1.2 BILLION. (Just four days ago, TFA became the fastest movie in history to cross the $1 billion threshold, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days and breaking the record set by Jurassic World earlier this year.) That impressive global cumulative means that The Force Awakens has officially become the eighth highest-grossing film of all time, passing the record Frozen previous set — sorry, Olaf — but it still has a ways to go if it hopes to become first.
The $28.1 million that TFA added to its domestic total on Wednesday means that the Star Wars sequel is already Disney's top-grossing movie EVER in the United States; it has pulled in more dough in its two weeks of release than The Avengers earned in all of 2012. (Two Disney properties still sit ahead of it on the worldwide list; more on that in a bit.) So which high-grossing movies does TFA still have to surpass if it wants to claim the title of top earner? These seven films are all that stands between Star Wars and total global domination:
7. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows — Part 2 ($1.3 Billion)
The final Harry Potter movie is currently situated preciously at only $48.4 million above TFA's current gross — a gap that TFA should easily close in the next couple of days at its current rate. Snape can cry about it all he wants, but The Boy Who Lived is about to meet his match.
6. Avengers: Age Of Ultron ($1.4 Billion)
It's no surprise the superhero sequel pulled in an impressive haul globally — but TFA should be Hulk-smashing its fellow Disney movie into oblivion before too long.
5. Furious 7 ($1.5 Billion)
Furious 7 pulled in an impressive $1.5 billion globally when it hit theaters in April of this year.
4. Marvel's The Avengers ($1.5 Billion)
TFA has already surpassed the first superhero team-up domestically speaking; it will do the same globally after only another $226.5 million. No amount of assembling or wise-cracking will stand in the way of TFA becoming the highest-grossing Disney movie ever made.
3. Jurassic World ($1.7 Billion)
Given that TFA has already broken the opening weekend record — and the time-to-$1-billion record — set by Jurassic World earlier this year, there's no reason to believe it won't also surpass its eventual total. However, despite the fact that Jurassic World exploded out of the gate with a $437 million opening weekend, it still couldn't crack the top two. Will Star Wars?
2. Titanic ($2.2 billion)
The oldest movie on this list is still sitting pretty at number two, dethroned six years ago by its own director, James Cameron. Since then, its position near the top of the chart has seemed pretty unshakable. But will the icy Starkiller Base be the giant iceberg that finally sinks this ship?
1. Avatar ($2.8 billion)
When James Cameron's sci-fi spectacle opened in 2009, it didn't have nearly the speed that TFA has boasted. By comparison, TFA grossed $629 million domestically after 13 days, while Avatar grossed $269 million in that same time frame. What the movie DID prove to have was stamina: it stayed in theaters a whopping 34 weeks (The Avengers lasted 22), gradually building its total until it eventually became the highest-grossing movie of all time.
It's a classic case of the tortoise and the hare. Will the slow and steady way in which Avatar broke records prove unbeatable? Or will TFA be able to maintain its breakneck pace long enough to reach Avatar's sky-high totals? We probably won't find out for a while... but it will be a thrilling race no matter who comes out on top.
Images: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Giphy (7)
