Highest-grossing film on New Year minted $100 million at box office, broke Avatar, Lord of the Rings, Titanic's records

The record for highest box office collection on New Year belongs to a science-fiction fantasy that beat heavyweights like Titanic and Avatar.

Updated on: Jan 1, 2025, 15:36:54 IST

By Abhimanyu Mathur

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The New Year may be a holiday but it is one that the movie industry has been wary of. While Christmas (worldwide) and Sankranti (in south India) do see big releases in theatres, not many come out for the New Year weekend. Yet, there have been films that have minted millions of dollars on the holiday, most of these carrying momentum from December. The biggest of them all set a record that is unlikely to be broken any time soon. (Also read: World's most profitable film of 2024 earned 45x its budget, beat Joker 2)

The highest-grossing film on New Year

In 2015, Star Wars returned to the theatres in the form of the sequel trilogy. The first of the new films - The Force Awakens - was released on December 18 and it created havoc at the box office. Minting over half a billion dollars in its opening weekend, Star Wars Episode VII rewrote the record books. But unlike many other big blockbusters, The Force Awakens maintained its momentum into its second and third weeks. Buoyed by the New Year holidays, the film earned $39 million worldwide on December 31, New Year's Eve. Then, it saw a huge jump on New Year's Day, earning an all-time record $35 million in North America and $26 million overseas. This gave Star Wars: The Force Awakens a $100-million haul on New Year.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned over $2 billion at the box office.

How The Force Awakens beat Avatar and Titanic

For years, the New Year Day collection record had been held by one or the other James Cameron film. The filmmaker's Titanic had broken bank in 1998 when it earned $11.5 million in North America on January 1. Cameron's crown was briefly snatched in 2004 when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King minted over $12 million. On January 1, 2010, Avatar obliterated that record with a domestic collection of $25 million. Eventually, The Force Awakens broke that record in 2016 with earnings of $35 million, a record that stands to this day.

Eventually, Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned over $2 billion at the worldwide box office. As of January 1, 2025, it is the 5th highest-grossing film ever.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abhimanyu Mathur
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well. A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism. Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day. Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More

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