Box Office Passes $11 Billion Record, 2015 Is Officially Biggest Year Ever

And what do we say, domestic box office? "Thank you, Star Wars."

Thanks in part to the record-breaking success of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," the overall North American box office record has also been broken. For the first year ever, the domestic box office has reached -- and passed -- the $11 billion mark.

According to Deadline, Rentrak confirmed on December 29 that the domestic film revenues had crossed the $11B mark for 2015, with $11.1 billion projected as the final tally by Thursday, December 31. They also gave the bulk of the $11B credit to the estimated $250 million opening weekend for "Star Wars," writing, "In fact, if we didn't have Force Awakens in the holiday mix, we would definitely fall short of that number."
Variety offered a box office comparison, noting that 2015's total will be about $200 million more than the previous record in 2013 of $10,919,694,802. It's also 7.2 percent ahead of the 2014 tally of $10,356,099,042.

Of course, "Star Wars" did not save the 2015 galaxy alone. "Jurassic World" had a head start, and it is currently third on the list of domestic champs of all time at $652 million. "Force Awakens" could pass that any day now, but the dinos deserve credit for boosting the box office this year, too. "Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Inside Out," "Furious 7," and "Minions" also did their bits to reach these record numbers.

So congrats to 2015. Do you think 2016 can top it, or perhaps 2017 when "Episode VIII" arrives?

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