Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars: The Force Awakens has shattered its opening day box office in South Africa where the latest 7th film in the Star Wars film franchise raked in a massive R4,72 million on its Wednesday opening day.
What is means is that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the biggest Wednesday film draw in South Africa's cinema's history.
The Walt Disney Company Africa announced that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken the record for the biggest opening Wednesday in South African box office history, pulling in R4 726 865 on its first day of release in South Africa alone.
In South Africa, Africa's most sophisticated consumer film market, over 70 000 moviegoers flocked on Wednesday to specifically see Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Ticket tallies for other African countries besides South Africa are not yet available but its a given that Disney's latest Star Wars film from producer and director JJ Abrams will set new African records - especially in South Africa where Star Wars: The Force Awakens also shattered records for ticket pre-sales, as well as for IMAX and 3D screenings.
Similar to its American and other international Disney counterparts, Walt Disney South Africa and Walt Disney Africa was cautious to make any statements pre-release of the movie in a bid to contain and manage box office expectations, but now Disney is talking.
"We are thrilled at the reception South African fans have given Star Wars: The Force Awakens," says Christine Service, the senior vice president and country manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa in a statement released on Thursday.
"As the next instalment in the Star Wars saga, the release of this film means that every generation will now have their own Star Wars story to experience."
Earlier this year M-Net's M-Net Movies division and MultiChoice launched a successful Star Wars pop up channel on DStv in South Africa and throughout Africa showing the previous Star Wars films as well as other related Star Wars content on a dedicated channel that ran for a month.
Like elsewhere in the world, Star Wars fans embraced , dressing up as characters and attending fan events like in Sandton, Johannesburg at the Nelson Mandela Square on Wednesday.
