Star Wars: The Force Awakens becomes fastest to take $1bn

Image copyrightDisney/Lucasfilm

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the fastest film to take $1bn (£674m) at the global box office.

JJ Abrams' film achieved the feat in 12 days, beating the previous record of 13 days set by Jurassic World in June.

But while Jurassic World had the benefit of record takings in China over the period, The Force Awakens has yet to open there.

Star Wars also scored the biggest US Christmas Day box office takings in history with $49.3m (£33.2m).

The film took $153.5m (£103.5m) in the US in its second weekend, bringing its total domestic haul to $544.6m (£367m).

Image copyrightParamount

Image captionDaddy's Home sees Will Ferrell star as a stepfather trying to outshine his wife's first husband, played by Mark Wahlberg

The weekend's other releases included the Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg comedy Daddy's Home, which took $35m (£23.6m).

The Jennifer Lawrence film Joy - which sees the actress reunite with Silver Linings Playbook director David O Russell for the biopic about the creator of the Miracle Mop - took $17.5m (£11.8m).

Point Break, a remake of the 1991 Kathryn Bigelow film starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze, flopped however with audiences.

The film, which had a reported budget of $105m (£70.8m), took just $10.2m (£6.9m) across 2.910 venues,

In limited release, Leonardo DiCaprio's film The Revenant earned $471,000 (£317,000) from four locations, averaging $117,750 (£79,000) per screen.

The actor's performance as a wilderness guide abandoned after a savage bear attack, is expected to earn him an Oscar nomination next month.