Here's How Much Money Star Wars: The Force Awakens Could Make in Its First Weekend

With a huge amount of hype around it, Disney's Star Wars: The Force Awakens is expected to be a major hit when it comes to theaters in December. Now, a new report estimates the movie will generate at least $170 million at the box office in the United States during its opening weekend.

That's according to "early tracking" figures obtained by Variety. This tracking data also reveals that interest in The Force Awakens basically even between men and woman and adults and children. This classifies the film as a "four quadrant hit," appealing to all major demographic groups.

The site also reports that some in Hollywood believe The Force Awakens could reach or surpass $200 million and set a new domestic debut record. If it does exceed $200 million, it would become just the third movie in history to do that, joining Jurassic World ($208.8 million) and The Avengers ($207.4 million).

Whatever the case, the movie is already breaking records, having generated more than $50 million in ticket pre-sales with a month to go before it arrives.

One element that might hurt The Force Awakens at the box office, at least its first-weekend performance, is that the film arrives on December 18--a time when people might be tied up with shopping and traveling. Variety also points out that no December movie ever has opened to more than $100 million. Two of the biggest films in history, Titanic and Avatar, released in December, but neither reached $100 million right away.

The Force Awakens' second-week performance could be very strong, others say. That's because many adults are off work and children out of school during the Christmas-New Year's week. It's also worth noting that Variety's data only covers the US; Star Wars is an internationally popular brand.