Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[Venardhi]

Exactly so. The prequels weren't great movie. By all accounts this is shaping up to be as good as we all wanted them to be, and it is hard to beat that kind of enthusiastic word of mouth for driving a film over those billion marks and sustaining it for months (though the money the studio sees after those first few weeks is significantly less).

 

[davejames]

Yeah I'd say people out there are still MORE than interested in Star Wars. If the prequels could make as much money as they did despite being as bad as they were (and even the crushing disappointment of TPM didn't stop people from flocking in droves to the other movies), then a SW movie that's genuinely fun, thrilling and exciting to watch could probably make twice that amount.

And oh yeah, it's got freakin Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewie in it.

 

[Dream]

Hate the prequels all you want, but the prequels brought back the public's interest in Star Wars in a big way after interest was at an all time low in the 90s, like the situation Star Trek was in after ENT was canceled.

In the 90s, Star Wars fans didn't really have anything to look forward to outside of an occasional SW novel being released.

 

[Ithekro]

Revenge of the Sith is not the film you want to check against the likes of Avatar. Believe it or not, the one you should be looking at in terms of money made, is The Phantom Menace and A New Hope. Both the first of their trilogies. Both did very well. Hype is strongest at the beginning, as people will go back to see it over and over again if it is even remotely good. They don't do that as much with the middle and ending films.

Adjusted for inflation, Star Wars is only about 0.2 billion short of Avatar. Of course adjusted for inflation, Gone With the Wind beats Avatar by 0.4 billion.

For this year, it has to compete with Jurassic World to top of the year.

 

[Tulin]

It's Star Wars.

And it's not the PT!

 

[Venardhi]

Hate the prequels all you want, but the prequels brought back the public's interest in Star Wars in a big way after interest was at an all time low in the 90s, like the situation Star Trek was in after ENT was canceled.

In the 90s, Star Wars fans didn't really have anything to look forward to outside of an occasional SW novel being released.

See, I saw it the opposite way. The popularity of merchandise and tie-in media in the 90s seemed to be the push that Lucas needed to bring about the prequels. I grew up in a world where Star Wars was practically genetic memory. I can't remember my friends or I ever not knowing the names of all the characters, making lightsaber noises while we fenced with sticks, etc. Those kids were the ones demanding more action figures, more books, more comics, more video games, more movies. The prequels didn't create that fever pitch, they capitalized on it.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Since the 2000s, a large number of fantasy films completely surpassed Star Wars as a top movie interest,

Not even a little.

 

[Saga]

Hate the prequels all you want, but the prequels brought back the public's interest in Star Wars in a big way after interest was at an all time low in the 90s, like the situation Star Trek was in after ENT was canceled.

In the 90s, Star Wars fans didn't really have anything to look forward to outside of an occasional SW novel being released.

we had comics, toys, video games...lots of stuff.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

It's Star Wars.

You can say this, but its not the days when Star Wars as a concept, was the biggest game in sci-fi / fantasy filmmaking. Since the 2000s, a large number of fantasy films completely surpassed Star Wars as a top movie interest, and that was due to more than the prequels being terrible.

Again, it's Star Wars.

And if flippin' Jurassic World can earn top grosses with reviving a franchise that everyone had forgotten about, and audiences flock to everything Marvel puts out no matter how mediocre it is, this is going to be huge.

Record-breaking huge.

The box office dynamic has changed. Just 7 years ago, $300m domestic was considered a success. Now? Every blockbuster is expected to surpass that.

And The Force Awakens is going to breeze by $208m opening weekend. I wouldn't be surprised to see $230m. Or more. And the only way I don't see it completely blowing past Jurassic World, and the Avengers, and whatever else, is if it sucks and word of mouth kills the momentum.

It'll open in China later than other territories, which will affect the gross somewhat...but it will definitely take a shot at Avatar worldwide.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

It's winter.. weather is a factor in opening weekend

 

[cooleddie74]

Then again, Titanic opened in the late autumn or early winter of 1997 and went on to make $600 million domestic in just a few short months and far more than that worldwide.

 

[Skywalker]

Avatar also opened in December 2009 and spent the next few months dominating because of the lack of box office competition. Just saying.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Avatar was an experience worth seeing in the theater, in 3D and in IMAX if you could get there. I'm willing to assume that that contributed majorly to its success.

 

[Mach5]

Avatar also opened in December 2009 and spent the next few months dominating because of the lack of box office competition. Just saying.

This. Neither of those movies had any competition whatsoever.

Plus, after a while, they both had this "society expects you to see this movie" thing going on, so a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't have seen them at all, let alone in theaters, went just so they didn't feel left behind.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I was referring to why TFA will not break opening weekend records

 

[Mach5]

I was referring to why TFA will not break opening weekend records

Honestly, it doesn't need to. What it does need is word of mouth. People will want to see it, but those who won't be able to because of the weather will be itching to see it even more when they see all those ecstatic tweets and Facebook statuses.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Call me crazy, but thinking about it for a while, I DO agree with Campea that we will get a trailer TODAY or THIS WEEKEND. I mean the teaser is a hint to that. But they are trying to sell both the film and the toys to the general public. Since the toys are coming out next week you want to get people ready, so that the average every day person can see some of the elements of the new film and maybe recognize a character or vehicle that intrigued them on the store shelf. Get ready for the internet to explode

 

[cooleddie74]

Social media is going to light up like crazy a week from today. Force Friday is the biggest Star Wars merchandising event in more than 10 years and arguably since the premiere of The Phantom Menace.

 

[Tulin]

Call me crazy, but thinking about it for a while, I DO agree with Campea that we will get a trailer TODAY or THIS WEEKEND. I mean the teaser is a hint to that. But they are trying to sell both the film and the toys to the general public. Since the toys are coming out next week you want to get people ready, so that the average every day person can see some of the elements of the new film and maybe recognize a character or vehicle that intrigued them on the store shelf. Get ready for the internet to explode

Okay this is not on - YOU'RE ON THE INTERNET - STOP MAKING SENSE!!!

 

[DWF]

The prequels weren't terrible movies and I don't see the frenzy for Star Wars the way it was after that first trailer for TPM in 1999. Movies anymore makee their money thanks to 3D IMAX showings, take that and any Asian box office away and movies don't make as much as they used to. Titanic opened on Decc. 17, 1997 spent 13 weeks at no. 1 and made 600 million at the box office, that doesn't happen anymore.