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Jason Barney: The presence of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia here is the wild card. Since the movie is apparently good, and word-of-mouth is spreading, I think the chance of there being a new weekend record is very high. This will be the definition of an event film, as anybody born during the 1970s and ‘80s will want to bring their kids - and the Disney advertising blitz has been massive. Kids will insist seeing it.

With an opening near its budget ($200 million) and a strong Christmas season, Disney is going to make A LOT of money.

Edwin Davies: At the time of writing, The Force Awakens has already earned more than $100 million in pre-sales, so I think it's fair to say that the current record is going to fall hard.

In terms of where the film will end up, I want to temper my expectations with talk about how December releases tend to be suppressed on opening weekends and how behavior is different etc. But if any film is going through buck long established trends, it's The Force Awakens. Excitement for this film has been off the hook for the better part of a year, and now that it's upon us and is apparently pretty good, that's going to stoke the flames higher and prevent it from cratering quite as quickly as it could have. That X factor of the film's quality was always the big question mark for me, and if people respond to it positively on Friday, then I see no reason why it won't top Jurassic World, possibly by as much as $10-20 million.

Jim Van Nest: My box office predicting chops are rusty but I feel like I have to chime in here. I understand that December is usually better for legs than openings, but I think this will be the exception to the rule. For me, the bottom line is this: if a sequel that no one asked for to a series that was "meh" at best can set the opening weekend box office record, I see no reason that a sequel to one of the most loved series in history won't do the same. As I'm typing this, The Force Awakens is 169/179 Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes - which means it's good. And if it's good, the fan boys who are seeing it tomorrow will be back again Saturday and/or Sunday. Repeat business will be sick. I think the opening weekend record will fall and fall rather easily. And if word-of-mouth and reviews keep being this positive, we could be looking at a new overall box office champ.

Max Braden: I've been resisting, all the way up until today, the idea that Star Wars could open to anywhere near to the $200 million or so that enthusiasts have been projecting. I think it's significant that December is the third from the bottom of months in the year ordered by top opening box office amounts (ahead of October and September, and just behind February). Whether it be weather or scheduling due to holiday shopping and events, it's clear that December is not the month to gamble on taking the all-time opening weekend record for any property. And even when you're talking about *the* property, you can look at Lord of the Rings (Fellowship and Return of the King) as the epic, big budget, high quality property with high awareness and existing fan base that set records but didn't come close to doubling the previous amount. So until now I've held firm focus on the numbers and not the hype, believing that Star Wars would only open to about $150 million - that the presales indicated frontloading that would not be supported by walk-in audiences until the second weekend or later.

In looking at the record progressions over the last 25 years I only found two cases where the new record holder more than doubled the old record. Rush Hour 2 smashed the August record in 2001 with $67.4 million vs. The Sixth Sense's $26.6 million, and just this year American Sniper's first wide weekend took the January record from Ride Along, $89 million to $41 million. So a doubling has happened before and looking at the trends I think we're seeing a recent acceleration in monthly record jumps. Fast & Furious increased the April opening record by 68% with a $70.9 million weekend in 2009, and just six years later this Furious 7 had increased the record by $77 million with its $147 million opening weekend this year. The month of May saw a stepped up increase from 2007 to 2012 with $151 million for Spider-Man 3 and $207 million for The Avengers. This summer's Jurassic World increased the June record by $92 million in just two years, a 79% increase over Man of Steel's $116 million weekend. These recent blockbusters lead me to accept the possibility that Star Wars could open at two-and-a-half times The Hobbit's record. It does have the killer combination of not only an excited fan base but reviews that say it's a movie worth seeing on its own merits. But it's a tough call. If had to choose, I'm going to say that The Force Awakens won't take the all-time opening weekend record, nor will it break $200 million by Sunday. But with great legs and a December release? It could end up holding the #1 spot all the way through the end of January and even make Kung Fu Panda 3 struggle to put up a challenge.

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