Star Wars: The Force Awakens tipped to smash box office records

As Irish audiences flock to the latest chapter in the Star Wars saga, the blockbuster is set to smash sales records.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens matinees helped push the movie to a record $120.5m in North American ticket sales on Friday, giving the space adventure a good chance to break the $208.8m opening-weekend record set last summer by Jurassic World.

It also marks the first time a movie has surpassed $100m so soon, Walt Disney said, topping the record held by a Harry Potter picture.

Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution, said: “There are literally millions of tickets available for this weekend, and exhibitors have a lot of flexibility in terms of capacity and increasing the number of shows based on demand.”

The film industry’s transition to digital distribution over the past decade means Disney doesn’t have to ship extra reels of film to increase the screen count. That has allowed cinemas to add new showings as others sell out.