'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' beats 'Avatar' to become highest-grossing movie ever in the US

It's been inevitable for a while, but it's now official: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the highest-grossing movie of all time in the US, according to a press release sent out by Disney.

The domestic box-office record was previously held by "Avatar," which had a lifetime gross of $760.5 million. As of Tuesday, "The Force Awakens" had made $758.2 million in North America and $799.1 million internationally, giving the film a global total of $1.557 billion. While final numbers for Wednesday were still not in as of Thursday morning, they push "Star Wars" past the total domestic gross for "Avatar."

"The Force Awakens" became the domestic leader in a record-setting 20 days in theaters.

This is just the latest in many records the seventh episode in the "Star Wars" franchise has broken. It also had the biggest US opening-Friday/single-day gross ($119.1 million) and the biggest opening weekend ($390.85 million), and it was fastest to gross $1 billion globally (12 days).

These records do not adjust for inflation. When grosses are adjusted, "Gone with the Wind" is still the all-time domestic champ with $1.7 billion (unadjusted: $198.6 million). "The Force Awakens" is in 21st place, with "Avatar" and two of the original "Star Wars" movies ("The Empire Strikes Back" and "A New Hope") ahead of it.

"The Force Awakens," however, has yet to open in China, the second-largest film market. It opens there Saturday, so expect more global records to come.