Star Wars: Episode VII: The Nerd Rage Awakens

[theenglish]

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.

Many people went to see Avatar just to see the revolutionary 3D. You had people who didn't normally go to genre films, or movies in generally, lining up to see Avatar. My wife saw it four times because she kept taking friends who wanted to see the 3D.

The story itself was secondary, although it certainly helped that it was engaging and accessible.

TFA is going to make a lot of money, but for it to beat Avatar it will need to be a quality, engaging story that people can take both their children and their parents to go see.

 

[Mr Light]

Avatar was a unique situation that defied all normal expectations, it was the introduction of a new kind of movie viewing technology that made more news than any single movie ever could have. It was the movie you HAD to see in theater rather than waiting for home video.

(yes, I know 3D existed before this, but not in a popular fashion)

 

[Tulin]

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.

And it hadn't happened before, to such a degree, either.

Movies DO NOT increase their weekend takings, a month or two into their runs. We had NEVER seen a box office experience like "Titanic" before and I doubt it we'll ever see it again in our lifetimes. It was a unique confluence of many factors that resulted in a phenomenon. Likewise there are just as many factors, today, that mean while a film may peak with a MASSIVE opening weekend, the general trend is that as each week passes, the takings drop off by around 50%, until the film closes. Yes there are exceptions, the most notable recently being JW which had the benefit of starting out with a record opening weekend BO and then had much smaller than expected percentage fall offs each week, but by and large, as somebody who has monitored these things for years, the pattern holds.


I will reiterate though, "Titanic" was a cultural phenomenon and, massive and major "Star Wars" fan that I am, I cannot see ANYTHING equalling the actual records Cameron's film set, in terms of increasing takings, months into its run.

 

[Richard Baker]

Avatar was a unique situation that defied all normal expectations, it was the introduction of a new kind of movie viewing technology that made more news than any single movie ever could have. It was the movie you HAD to see in theater rather than waiting for home video.

(yes, I know 3D existed before this, but not in a popular fashion)

I always regretted not seeing Avatar in the theater- I try to catch the epic films there which truly need to be on the big screen instead of a home theater.

 

[theenglish]

Avatar was a unique situation that defied all normal expectations, it was the introduction of a new kind of movie viewing technology that made more news than any single movie ever could have. It was the movie you HAD to see in theater rather than waiting for home video.

(yes, I know 3D existed before this, but not in a popular fashion)

But the movie was shot on cameras and using techniques that Cameron had specifically designed and made for it. It was a revolution of 3D filming. To be honest though, other than Hugo, I am not sure what films since then have actually been made as 3D films and which ones have the much lesser quality 3D transfers.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

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

Not even a little.

...the Marvel movies (Raimi's Spider-Man, the MCU films), Avatar, the Nolan Batman movies, etc.. So, you're saying the prequels captured the public's interest over that?

 

[davejames]

Hey as long as the movie's good, I don't care how much money it makes. I mean, we're already guaranteed a bunch of sequels and spinoffs, after all, which is the main reason we all pay attention to the box office of these movies to begin with.

 

[Samurai8472]

I cannot see ANYTHING equalling the actual records Cameron's film set, in terms of increasing takings, months into its run.

Anyone else think that the general audience are now obligated\required to make a James Cameron movie reach 1 billion dollars really fast?

I don't know if it's just me

Maybe it's the hype built up around it. "Titanic" was a surprise.

Maybe it's the hype surrounding James Cameron?

Between "Titanic" and "Avatar" he didn't release a big movie for 12 years.

 

[JD]

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

I have to admit, I expected to wake up this morning and find out that they had released a surprise TFA trailer, and was kind of disappointed when they hadn't.

 

[FPAlpha]

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

See and i fully expect TFA to break at least the opening weekend record.. that movie is so hotly anticipated by fans and mainstream people alike and it's one of the biggest merchandise juggernauts there ever was.

After that it depends on how good the movie really is if it wants to break the record of biggest box office.. the hype is so strong now for the movie that one could believe it'll break the 2 billion easily but i've been burned bad by hype before (most of all the very PT) so no one knows. However i do know for sure it'll be a very profitable movie for Disney.

 

[CorporalClegg]

...the Marvel movies (Raimi's Spider-Man, the MCU films), Avatar, the Nolan Batman movies, etc.. So, you're saying the prequels captured the public's interest over that?

But that wasn't your argument.

Your argument was Star Wars isn't the biggest thing in sci-fi anymore.

Not only is it still the biggest thing in sci-fi, it's the biggest thing. Period.

There is nothing else in history that has ever (or will ever) compare to it.

 

[JD]

There might be some stuff that is closing in on it's popularity, like Marvel, but when it comes to overall franchise popularity, I'm talking books, comics, merchandise, TV shows, movies, everything, than nothing beats SW. If anything, it's just going to get bigger now that more movies and possibly TV shows are coming.

 

[JoeZhang]

...the Marvel movies (Raimi's Spider-Man, the MCU films), Avatar, the Nolan Batman movies, etc.. So, you're saying the prequels captured the public's interest over that?

But that wasn't your argument.

Your argument was Star Wars isn't the biggest thing in sci-fi anymore.

Not only is it still the biggest thing in sci-fi, it's the biggest thing. Period.

There is nothing else in history that has ever (or will ever) compare to it.

Bigger than Jesus or Mohammed?

 

[FPAlpha]

Star Wars basically invented professional merchandise (or at least perfected it) and it has never left the public eye completely, even during the period between the Empire strikes back and Phantom Menace.

Since then it has only increased.. while the PT movies did not do well with many fans they were financially successful and since Disney took over they really ramped it up and it's going to blow up for Christmas season and on with a movie each year for Christmas for at least the next 5-6 years alongside the merchandise.

Heck.. i play the X-Wing miniature game (awesome game btw) and recently pictures were leaked of the new base set featuring the new movie X-Wing and Tie Fighters and there's tons of more merchandise that has already been presented before the official merchandise day next Friday.

 

[B.J.]

"Titanic" was a surprise.

Actually, I'd argue that it wasn't. The public in general has been very fascinated by the Titanic and its story for over 100 years now (85 then), so a major movie set on the ship already had a built-in audience (much like Star Wars does now). The fact that it was actually a good story was just icing on the cake.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Bigger than Jesus or Mohammed?

Who?

 

[Hound of UIster]

Some guys who will never get an action figure made by Hasbro.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

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

I have to admit, I expected to wake up this morning and find out that they had released a surprise TFA trailer, and was kind of disappointed when they hadn't.

Probably on the 4th. If it was to happen.

 

[martok2112]

...the Marvel movies (Raimi's Spider-Man, the MCU films), Avatar, the Nolan Batman movies, etc.. So, you're saying the prequels captured the public's interest over that?

But that wasn't your argument.

Your argument was Star Wars isn't the biggest thing in sci-fi anymore.

Not only is it still the biggest thing in sci-fi, it's the biggest thing. Period.

There is nothing else in history that has ever (or will ever) compare to it.

Bigger than Jesus or Mohammed?

Or Elvis or The Beatles?

 

[theenglish]

I cannot see ANYTHING equalling the actual records Cameron's film set, in terms of increasing takings, months into its run.

Anyone else think that the general audience are now obligated\required to make a James Cameron movie reach 1 billion dollars really fast?

I don't know if it's just me

Maybe it's the hype built up around it. "Titanic" was a surprise.

Maybe it's the hype surrounding James Cameron?

Between "Titanic" and "Avatar" he didn't release a big movie for 12 years.

I don't know what it is but Cameron's movies keep defying expectations. He has a knack of making movies that are criticized prior to release for the incredible amounts of cash that he sinks into their production and then they make record breaking profits. Terminator 2, Titanic, Avatar.

He pays attention to detail, when the technology doesn't exist to portray his vision then he has it invented, he writes stories that have mass appeal in that they are intelligently written but not "avante garde".