‘Star Wars’ smashes ‘Harry Potter’ Thursday box office record

Star Wars fans were out in full force Thursday night.

The long-awaited seventh film in the space saga — Star Wars: The Force Awakens — collected a record-smashing $57 million (Dh159.73 million) in ticket sales on Thursday night in the United States and Canada.

That tops the previous record holder, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, which grossed $43.5 million from Thursday shows in July 2011.

Box office analysts went into the weekend expecting the new Star Wars from director J.J. Abrams to gross $180 million to $220 million through Sunday in its domestic opening weekend.

It remains to be seen if The Force Awakens will top the record $209 million that Jurassic World opened with in June.

Lines stretched around the block between Thursday showings of The Force Awakens at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. Pre-sales for the movie hit a staggering $100 million.

The film began its international rollout on Wednesday and has grossed $72.7 million overseas so far, bringing its global cumulative box office to $130 million.