‘Star Wars’ Trailer Blasts Past 40M Views in 72 Hours

Don’t mess with the Force.

The Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens teaser trailer — 88 seconds of geeky goodness — has surpassed 40 million YouTube views in less than 72 hours online, according to a preliminary estimate by The Hollywood Reporter.

For comparison, the Fifty Shades of Grey trailer did 36.4 million YouTube views in its first four days when the trailer dropped in late July.

Read more ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Teaser: Perfectly Potent Nostalgia Strikes Back

Avengers: Age of Ultron racked up 50.6 million in its first five days, giving it the biggest debut week of any coming attraction in 2014.

THR and technology firm Zefr use a Monday-to-Monday week to calculate trailer views through proprietary monitoring of YouTube. Comprehensive Zefr numbers will be available Monday (Dec. 1). 

The Star Wars trailer has been met by positive reviews, parodies (what would Lucas do?), a Lego version and comparisons with the Jurassic World trailer that dropped a few days ahead of The Force Awakens.

See more ‘Star Wars’: The Saga in Trailers

Anglo-African actor John Boyega responded to criticism about his character, a black stormtrooper, that pops up in the first few seconds by writing on instagram, “Get used to it.”

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens opens in theaters Dec. 18, 2015. Boy, does that year feel further away than it would take to travel to a galaxy far, far away …

An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to John Boyega as African American. He is in fact British. 

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