STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS Crushes Opening Weekend Record With $247M

The Force is much stronger with Star Wars: The Force Awakens' opening weekend than original estimates thought. After estimates of $238 million domestic and $517 million globally made the rounds on Sunday, Disney updated its numbers on Monday: $247 million domestic and $528 million globally.

These numbers are still estimates, but if this is what Disney is publicizing now, don't expect the actual weekend numbers to get any lower.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens obliterated Jurassic World's domestic opening weekend record of $208.8 million. As long as the overall numbers hold up, The Force Awakens will also squeak by Jurassic's World's global opening weekend record of $524.9 million — an impressive feat considering the latest Star Wars movie hasn't opened in China yet.

The next big test for Star Wars: The Force Awakens will come in the following weeks. With these major records already under its belt, the movie will next have to chip away at the records for following weekends, with Avatar's all-time domestic gross record of $760.5 million as the finish line. The Force Awakens will likely become only the third movie to ever have a second weekend of $100 million or more. After that, it's all Avatar territory. James Cameron's special-effects-heavy but plot-light film owns the records for third through seventh weekends.