‘Star Wars’ Sets Record

20th Century Fox’s “Star Wars” crossed the threshold of another record on Thursday night as the classic sci-fi adventure became the highest-grossing film in U.S.-Canadian box-office history, with its cumulative gross of all six releases estimated at $421.8 million.

“Star Wars” swept by the previous long-held record of Universal’s “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” which posted - before now - an untouched record of $399 million.

The Fox film doesn’t show signs of slowing up, continuing to surprise industry analysts as it easily took the top spot for the last three weekends. The latest four-day weekend brought in an estimated $21.8 million, bringing its total for this release to around $99.1 million in 18 days, a remarkable performance for any film. Ironically, the only film that may be able to unseat “Star Wars” from the top spot in the foreseeable future is the second film in the trilogy, “The Empire Strikes Back,” which is opening this weekend.

“It’s nice to be in a situation like this,” noted Tom Sherak, chairman of the 20th Domestic Film Group at Fox. “We’re floating at Fox. I don’t think anybody could have predicted the performance of ‘Star Wars,’ ” he continued. “The public is having a good time.”

“Star Wars” was originally released on May 25, 1977, and it took in a total of $221.3 million. Its first rerelease opened on July 21, 1978, earning a record $10.1 million in three days - marking the first time that $10 million was reached in one weekend - and went on to earn $43.8 million. The second reissue was on August 15, 1979, which took in $22.5 million, followed by the April 10, 1981, rerelease, which counted up $17.2 million. And another reissue opened on Aug. 13, 1982, as “Star Wars” was seen for the last time on the big screen before its present rerelease, at that time gathering another $18 million.