This weekend, the droids beat the dinosaurs.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now pegged to have a $528 million global opening, putting it ahead of the historic $524.9 million global launch of Jurassic World this summer.
Jurassic World producer Frank Marshall took to Twitter to send congratulations to everyone who worked on the film, set in the galaxy far, far away for the “biggest opening weekend in galactic history.”
Marshall praised the cast and crew of the latest Star Wars installment, including director J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who is married to Marshall.
Cheers to J.J., Kathy, the cast and crew, and DIS/LFL marketing teams! #TheForceAwakens @Disney @StarWars @Bad_Robot pic.twitter.com/oa0zwuAb2Q
— Frank Marshall (@LeDoctor) December 21, 2015
At the world premiere of the The Force Awakens in Hollywood last Monday, Marshall interrupted a live-stream interview with George Lucas to jokingly ask the director: “You’re not going to beat my movie, are you?”
Lucas responded: “The job is they have to crush you like a bug.”
This summer, Marvel president Kevin Feige tweeted out a congratulations to the Jurassic World cast and crew, including producer Steven Spielberg and director Colin Trevorrow, for dethroning Avengers as the most successful opening weekend of all time.
Congrats Mr. Spielberg @UniversalPics @Legendary @LeDoctor @colintrevorrow and especially @prattprattpratt pic.twitter.com/5DxlDM8pgK
— Kevin Feige (@Kevfeige) June 16, 2015
This type of good-natured well-wishing is not new, of course. When Lucas’ A New Hope first hit theaters, it beat the previous record-holder, Jaws. The film was helmed by the Lucas’ friend and later collaborator Spielberg, who sent a note of congratulations to the director.
