Star Wars: The Force Awakens had the biggest ever day in UK box office history

The film earned £9.6M on its opening day.

(AFP/Getty Images)

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is breaking records even faster than expected.

The film has broken records for both the biggest opening day of all-time and for the biggest single day in UK box office history, taking an estimated £9.6M. Midnight screenings alone accounted for £2.4M of that final amount.

Estimates are putting its Thursday preview box office receipts in the US between $50M to $55M. A distributor told Deadline, "I can tell you this: No one has ever seen anything like this." Some NYC theatres are playing the film 24/7, others on the West Coast until 4.30am. The same occurred simultaneously in the UK, with the Vue at Westfield City in London hosting 78 screenings in 24 hours, including showings at 03.45am, 04.15am, and 05.00am.

Rentrak's cinema exit polling service has revealed that 94% of audience members are grading the film as either excellent or very good. More than half stated it had even exceeded their expectations. Granted, those who attend preview screenings are largely a core of fans not representative of the general cinema-going population, but these initial kind of numbers are rarely seen.

Added to this are the film's significant takings overseas, with Variety reporting $14.1 million for its Wednesday previews.

The Force Awakens had already previously demolished the record for presale tickets, with insiders estimating a total of $100M earned in the US. Fandango are even reporting the film to have beaten the company's record for most tickets sold during an entire theatrical run. Just from presales. Truly, as Fandango President Paul Yanover stated, “’The Force Awakens is a genuine cultural phenomenon."

The preview numbers will roll over into the film's first full day in cinemas; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 also holds the record here, with $91M to beat on the day. This year's Jurassic World currently has the record for biggest opening weekend ever at $208.8M, which has itself surpassed the previous record of $207.4M set by The Avengers. Clearly, The Force Awakens has an extremely good shot of surpassing that record, but only time will tell.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is (obviously) in theatres now.