Well that sure didn’t take long. Although the official numbers still have yet to be reported, yesterday afternoon Disney issued a press release confirming that Star Wars: The Force Awakens had passed James Cameron’s Avatar to become the highest grossing movie of all time in the United States. Unlike Avatar, however, it took just 20 days to hit that mark. Considering that Star Wars is still going strong and doesn’t have a ton of major competition for at least a few more weeks, it seems safe to assume that the new domestic box office record will be significantly larger when all is said and done. Hit the jump for more details.

As of January 5th, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had grossed $758.2 million domestically, putting it just $2 million behind Avatar‘s $760 million box office record. Based on early box office estimates from Wednesday, Disney was confident enough to announce that it had become the new U.S. box office champ. The movie has been consistently earning $7 or $8 million per day throughout the week, so it seems like a safe assumption, although the official results will be posted later today.

Now the only major record remaining for Star Wars is the worldwide box office record. Globally, the movie has made $1.5 billion thus far, putting it at #4 behind Jurassic World, Titanic and Avatar. Avatar‘s record is a staggering $2.7 billion, so it still has quite a ways to go. The general feeling is that Star Wars won’t be able to get there, although the movie opens in China this weekend which should give us a better idea of how likely that is. Star Wars is generally more popular in North America and Europe than in Asia, however. Do you think Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a shot at topping Avatar‘s worldwide record?