Star Wars: The Force Awakens has reached $1 billion at the box office, reaching the milestone with record-setting hyper speed.

Walt Disney said The Force Awakens crossed the billion-dollar mark today, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days.

The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal's Jurassic World, which did it in 13 days in June. Jurassic World also had the benefit of record grosses in China. The Force Awakens does not open in the world's second-largest movie market until January 9.

J.J. Abrams's instalment of Star Wars also posted the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million and the best second-weekend earnings with $153.5 million.

"You almost have to rewrite all the record books for this movie," box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Rentrak said. "It's absolutely mind-blowing that 'Star Wars' could get to a billion dollars in 12 days and it hasn't even opened in China, the second biggest movie market in the world."

A juggernaut like Star Wars empowers the entire industry, Mr Dergarabedian said.

"It's great for the audiences, great for studios and theater owners in particular who can point to this and say the movie theater industry is as viable and relevant as it's ever been," he said.

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