"The Force Awakens" turned out to be as big as everyone thought it would be — and possibly even bigger.
The latest entry in the "Star Wars" movies toppled previous box-office records for domestic and global grosses, taking in $247.97 million domestically over the weekend and $529 million worldwide, according to the final official numbers.
"It's bigger than big. It’s bigger than we thought it would be... And China has yet to open," Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a release Monday. "So that's an incredible weekend. And I must say it's higher than we said yesterday."
The previous all-time best US opening was "Jurassic World" with $208.8 million (not adjusting for inflation), which was also the previous worldwide best at $524 million. "Force Awakens" was No. 1 in every country where it played except South Korea and Vietnam.
"Force Awakens" also had the biggest Friday of all time, with $120.5 million. You can see the rest of the records broken by the movie at Box Office Mojo.
The domination of "Force Awakens" is a huge win for Disney, which bought Lucasfilm and the "Star Wars" franchise from George Lucas for $4 billion.
Two other films competed against "Force Awakens.""Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip" came in second domestically with $14.4 million, the lowest opening of any title in the franchise. The new Tina Fey and Amy Poehler comedy "Sisters" got third place with $13.4 million.
You can expect all those movies to significantly increase their hauls over the coming holidays.
*Post updated to include the final official box-office numbers.