Star Wars: The Force Awakens on course to break box office records

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is targeting box office records after posting impressive opening day tallies.

The Force Awakens took $14.1 million on its opening day in a number of European countries on Wednesday, along with an estimated $50 million from US previews on Thursday.

J.J. Abrams instalment has already broken online US retailer Fandango’s all-time record for total ticket sales, though it only opened in US cinemas at 12:01am this morning. Total US presales are estimated at more than $100 million, while figures from the UK's opening day are yet to be posted.

The Force Awakens secured opening records in Belgium, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands, while it took $5.2 million in France, putting it just behind Spectre's all-time single day record there.

Experts at Box Office Mojo estimate that The Force Awakens could achieve a record $575m-650m total globally over its opening weekend. It's also thought that it will surpass Jurassic World’s $204.6m record for the biggest opening weekend in the US.

Could it become the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide? 2009's Avatar currently holds that record with a $2.78 billion tally.