$21,846,132 on Wednesday. I absolutely did not recall that the weekdays between Christmas and New Year's Day were such big movie days...
Semi-related... With TLJ, Disney has now recovered its initial investment in Lucasfilms based solely on box office take from TFA, RO and TLJ... I bet George is wishing he'd asked for more..... SYFY Wire story
Probably... that being said, if Lucas still owned the franchise, we'd still only have the two trilogies and unlikely to see anything else as far as movies go. Regardless of Disney's direction for the new films and the fan reaction (good or bad), it's an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan.
Sure, unless you include the cost of actually making them, or the cut that theaters take, or any other expenses related to releasing and promoting them. All that considered, they probably need another solid billion to billion and a half to actually break even. Solo has almost certainly gone well over budget at this point so I wouldn't count on them actually turning a profit from the films until episode IX.
^ Everything you have stated is probably true. It's just another one of those pretty pointless little facts bantered around Holly-weird. No one ever mentions the profits that, say, ILM or Skywalker Sound or THX add to the mix. Nor do they toss around what the merchandise and licensing has brought in. Disney may have already broken even on the deal... Just my two credits... Q2
Lucas didn't seem to be too concerned with getting the maximum value for his company. I remember hearing around 2010 that Lucasfilm was worth around 29 or 30 Billion. He didn't shop around for the highest bidder. He just went straight to Disney, and could have asked for more. He seemed more concerned with keeping the thousands of Lucasfilm employees from being laid off. And he donated most of the money from the sale. Around 2012, a reporter asked Samuel L. Jackson what he thought of Lucas selling his company to Disney. He replied "I think he got cheated." and wouldn't elaborate. Lucas was going to produce episode 7, and had begun preparations for the film, like hiring Michael Arndt to write the screenplay, working out a contract with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, et al. He wanted to do the first film, then hand it over to someone else, but decided it was too much time and effort to get invested in, sold it, and retired. "The negotiations were short."
Just wait until Star Wars World (or whatever it's going to be called) opens at Disney... You may as well carry the cash out in dump trucks... While the upfront costs to develop and build the theme park are astronomical, the money it will eventually bring in boggles the mind...
Which is what makes it a legendary, generational film... and anyone obtuse enough to use those kinds of paramerers to judge a films success is out of touch with reality.
It is common standard to judge by, though, for fans and studios alike. Which is why ESB was such a departure from what made ANH a success. It was darker in tone, the heroes lose, and that "hope" that the first film referred to was almost extinguished. But, TLJ is "too cynical?" I don't understand...
Current trends are showing that Jumanji will be very very close for this weekend. How close do current trends show you being to having sex with Kate Upton tonight?
Speaking of Jumanji, Sony has been withholding the actuals for an entire week. No idea what that is about.