Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens has become the movie of the year in Romania in 2015, after registering ticket sales of some USD 2.7 million (more than RON 11.3 million) in Romanian cinemas and 510,000 spectators.

The new Star Wars movie surpassed the action movie Fast and Furious 7, which had revenues of RON 11.2 million last year. The animation Minions was third, with total revenues of RON 8.15 million, followed by Spectre - RON 6.3 million, and Fifty Shades of Grey - RON 5.7 million.

The new Star Wars movie was launched on December 18, 2015. It also set a new box office record in Romania in its debut weekend, with ticket sales of close to USD 1 million (RON 4 million) and more than 175,000 spectators.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the sixth film distributed by Forum Film Romania which becomes the movie of the year in Romania, reports local Mediafax. The other five were Alice in Wonderland (2010), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), and each of the three films in the Hobbit saga (2012, 2013, and 2014).

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens has set new records for the biggest box office debut weekend in the US and globally. The movie grossed USD 247 million in US cinemas and USD 529 million worldwide in the first weekend. The movie also recently set a record for highest revenues in the US, surpassing Avatar, which held the record since 2009.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com