In news that will surprise absolutely no one, the force is incredibly strong with Star Wars fans across the United Kingdom. Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke opening day records in the UK. The film opened on Thursday, and brought in $14.3 million on that one day alone.  Experts believe the film is on the right course to shatter the opening weekend record in the UK, currently held by the most recent James Bond adventure, Spectre. In addition, The Force Awakens broke the prior record for midnight screenings, making $3.6 million off of late night move-goers across the UK. 

Pre-sale tickets for The Force Awakens were released in October selling more than 200,000 tickets in the first day they were available, which broke yet another record.  The next sales record the film may be looking to break is the top grossing film at the UK box office, which is currently Skyfall. 

The Force Awakens also opened in another 12 markets on Thursday, and from those screenings made a combined total of $14.1 million. 

The film has been projected to post world record highs with respect to ticket sales, with estimates putting opening weekend ticket sales around $575 million to $650 million worldwide. The Force Awakens is also likely to break the record for biggest opening weekend in the United States; a record currently held by Jurassic World. 

As impressive as breaking tons of sales records is, Star Wars: The Force Awakens still has to go up against quite the foe when it comes to becoming the highest grossing movie of all time worldwide. This record is currently held by Avatar, which had a less than impressive opening weekend but carried on to bring in $2.78 billion dollars. 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens boasts an impressive cast including returning stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill. The film also includes a number of ties to the UK, which may have, in a small way, contributed to its strong opening. New cast members Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Gwendoline Christie, and Andy Serkis are all British, the production was based at a studio just west of London, and Skellig Michael, an island off the coast of Ireland, was used as a filming location. 

What do you think, Star Wars fans? Have you seen the film yet? Are you planning on contributing to some of those opening weekend numbers? Should Star Wars beat Avatar as the highest grossing film of all time worldwide?