Will Star Wars: The Force Awakens break box office record?

The latest instalment of the Star Wars franchise is widely believed to be nailed on to break the global box-office record as it prepares for its launch in China.

According to figures reported in the Financial Times, The Force Awakens took $740.3m in North America in its first three weeks. This is only marginally lower than the $760.5m taken in 2009 by current record-holder Avatar, an amount expected to be surpassed by the middle of this week.

Internationally, the seventh episode of the saga - the first to be released by its new owner, Disney -took a total of $1.5bn in its first 19 days. This is before its premiere in China, one of the fastest-growing film markets in the world, on 9 January. The Force Awakens is already sixth on the all-time list for box-office takings and "the Avatar global haul of $2.8bn is within reach", says the FT.

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However, these figures have not been adjusted for inflation. When monetary devaluation is taken into account, the latest film ceases to be the saga's biggest grossing and, in fact, has some way to go before it can claim the overall top spot.

Hollywood Reporter notes that the first Star Wars film, released in 1977 and later retitled Episode IV: A New Hope, took $307.3m in North America on its original run, which rises to $1.2bn when accounting for inflation. When the re-releases are added, this figure goes up to $1.5bn.

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back are also still ahead of The Force Awakens on domestic takings, with $810m, $777m and $745m respectively after re-releases are accounted for.

Adjusting international figures for inflation, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest-grossing film of all time is the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind, which took $3.45bn. The original Star Wars took $2.825bn in total on this basis and sits third in the list, while there is still a way to go for the latest chapter to catch the film in tenth place, 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which took $1.8bn.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens breaks box office records

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The first Star Wars film in ten years has recorded the biggest domestic opening weekend in cinema history, taking in $238m (£160m) in the United States and Canada.

Worldwide, the movie is expected to take in just over $517m (£346m) in ticket sales, putting it in second place behind Jurassic World, which took $525m (£351m) this summer. It's worth noting that Jurassic's box office takings were achieved with the assistance of the Chinese market, where the new Star Wars film won't open until 9 January.

It's also worth noting that ticket sales for December debuts are usually underwhelming compared to big summer blockbusters, as Christmas parties often take priority over trips to the cinema. CNBC notes that Avatar, the biggest grossing film of all time, took just $77m during its December release in the US – and no film has previously bagged more than $100m in North America for its debut in that month.

"Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director JJ Abrams, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves," Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said in a statement.

Opening weekend record aside, industry pundits are still unsure how the film will perform in terms of final sales, according to Pamela McClintock of the Hollywood Reporter.

"At this rate, there's no telling how high Force Awakens will ultimately fly in terms of box-office revenue, since films over the year-end holidays can see huge multiples," she said, citing James Cameron's film Avatar, which eventually raked in $2.79bn (£1.82bn) around the world.

According to Disney, the North American audience on the opening weekend was predominantly male (58 per cent), with ticket holders in the 26-34 age bracket making up the largest chunk of the audience (26 per cent), followed by those between the ages of 35 and 49 ( 24 per cent ).