New ‘Star Wars’ breaking box-office records

It should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, but “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is a hit. A monster hit. And not just in the United States.

According to a story in today’s New York Times , the J.J. Abrams-directed, Disney-produced addition to the “Star Wars” franchise took in some $248 million in North America over its opening weekend. Compare that to the $85 million that “Avatar” earned over its first three days or the $87.5 million that the previous December record-holder, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” posted.

Abrams’ film, which picks up roughly 30 years after 1983’s “The Return of the Jedi” ended (with the Battle of Endor ), earned approximately $517 million world-wide.

This kind of success signals that “Star Wars,” the world that George Lucas created in 1977 with the release of the first Harrison Ford-Carrie Fisher-Mark Hamill film ( fourth in franchise chronology ), is more than just a mere movie series. It’s a bona-fide cultural phenomenon.

And reviews of the film are mostly good — though as has been proven in the past, all such phenomena tend to promote critical group-think, with those who post anything remotely negative being targeted by fanboys of all genders, ages and ethnicities.

Let’s just wait and see how many critics place “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” on their year-end Top 10 lists.