--- title: Two Key Ways 'The Force Awakens' Isn't the Biggest Movie Ever description: Two key box-office measures show that the film is extremely popular but not truly the highest-grossing—yet. authors: - name: Susie Poppick url: https://money.com/author/susie-poppick/ at_money_since: 2013 articles: 117 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/susiepoppick former_staff: true published: '2016-01-07T17:14:38.000Z' modified: '2024-05-16T10:47:25.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - China - Entertainment - Entertainment - movies - Star Wars - The Force Awakens word_count: 236 canonical: https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![star-wars-force-awakens-box-office](https://img.money.com/2016/01/star-wars-force-awakens-box-office.jpg) *The European Premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" in London, England.* *Star Wars: The Force Awakens* has mesmerized moviegoers—minds, hearts, and wallets—and it's no Jedi trick. The film keeps blowing up [domestic box-office records](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/) like Death Stars: Best single day, best opening week, best second weekend, best third weekend (you get the idea). It even just sped past *Avatar* as the [highest-grossing film](http://fortune.com/2016/01/07/star-wars-box-office-us/) ever in North America, with more than $800 million in sales. But by two crucial measures, *Episode VII* still has ground to cover if it's truly going to become number one in the (movie ticket) universe. First is all-time domestic gross—adjusted for movie ticket price inflation. After all, if the [200 million-some](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm?adjust_yr=1&p=.htm) people who saw *Gone With the Wind* in theaters in 1939 were paying today's ticket prices, the movie would have pulled [$1.7 billion](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm) (and the original *Star Wars* would have gotten $1.5 billion), double what *The Force Awakens* has grossed so far. By that measure, the new film still ranks at position 21. **Read More: *These Are the Weirdest Marketing Tie-Ins for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’*** Second is worldwide gross: 2009's *Avatar* still reigns as emperor of the global box-office, with $2.8 billion, meaning *The Force Awakens* still needs to rustle up more than $1 billion to beat the record before it leaves theaters. That's not [unobtainable](http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Unobtanium): The film opens in China this weekend. And, if it's any clue, the movie has already taken the trophy for best [opening weekend](http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/) worldwide. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Movies", "item": "https://money.com/movies/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Two Key Ways 'The Force Awakens' Isn't the Biggest Movie Ever" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/", "name": "Two Key Ways 'The Force Awakens' Isn't the Biggest Movie Ever", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-01-07T17:14:38.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:47:25.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Two Key Ways 'The Force Awakens' Isn't the Biggest Movie Ever", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/01/star-wars-force-awakens-box-office.jpg", "width": 5760, "height": 3840, "caption": "star-wars-force-awakens-box-office" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susie Poppick", "url": "https://money.com/author/susie-poppick/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/susie-poppick/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/05/14-05-21_bio_author_poppick.jpg?quality=85&w=190&h=190&crop=1", "email": "susie_poppick@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/susiepoppick" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2016-01-07T17:14:38.000Z", "description": "Two key box-office measures show that the film is extremely popular but not truly the highest-grossing—yet.", "abstract": "Two key box-office measures show that the film is extremely popular but not truly the highest-grossing—yet.", "@id": "https://money.com/star-wars-the-force-awakens-box-office/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-05-16T10:47:25.000Z", "wordCount": 236, "keywords": [ "China", "Entertainment", "Entertainment", "movies", "Star Wars", "The Force Awakens" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Film", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film" ] } ] } ] } ```