Will the new Star Wars movie top Avatar at the box office?

[Chino]

I don't think Disney will have any trouble making back their $4bn investment on Lucasfilm.

Hell no. Especially once they get the Star Wars parks up and running.

[Kotowboy]

I don't think Disney will have any trouble making back their $4bn investment on Lucasfilm.

Hell no. Especially once they get the Star Wars parks up and running.

Force Awakens will make half that on it's own and then there's still five more movies to come out.

[Chino]

I don't think Disney will have any trouble making back their $4bn investment on Lucasfilm.

Hell no. Especially once they get the Star Wars parks up and running.

Force Awakens will make half that on it's own and then there's still five more movies to come out.

They're making six new movies? I thought it was three.

[Zantera]

3 main story films (episode 7/8/9) every other year and then 3 anthology films (rogue one next year, talks about a han solo/boba fett film) in between them, so 1 every year.

That's just the beginning of course. If this trilogy is successful they will definitely do more with the new cast, and with anthology films you can really do how many you want as long as you have a good character or story.

[BlobVanDam]

They'll keep making movies for as long as it's profitable. I imagine they might ease up on the "anthology" films after a little while though so as not to oversaturate people with Star Wars and wear it out.

[Chino]

So are the anthology movies just side films that aren't really involved with the main story arch?

[cramx3]

I believe Disney's goal is a new Star Wars film every year until it fails, not necessry Star Wars, but spin offs included.

[Kotowboy]

So are the anthology movies just side films that aren't really involved with the main story arch?

Yes.

Rogue One is set around the time of A New Hope and is about the rebels stealing the plans for the death star.

[Chino]

Cool. I'd love it if Avatar got a similar treatment, but it looks like we're going to have to settle for comic books.

[Kotowboy]

Cool. I'd love it if Avatar got a similar treatment, but it looks like we're going to have to settle for comic books.

GOOD.


I will accept three more Avatar films but after that - I want Jim Cameron to drop Avatar entirely and do something new...

[Chino]

Cool. I'd love it if Avatar got a similar treatment, but it looks like we're going to have to settle for comic books.

GOOD.


I will accept three more Avatar films but after that - I want Jim Cameron to drop Avatar entirely and do something new...

I'll be happy with the official trilogy arch following the first film. From a fan perspective, and I know this would probably put everyone else to sleep, I'd love to see a true prequel about our journey to Pandora. I'd love to see how we discovered Pandora, made the decision to go, geared up, and ultimately end the film with first contact with the Na'vi.

The Avatar survival guide goes into some really good detail about events that took place prior to the movie, but I'd like to see it outside of just text on a page.

[Kotowboy]

Make Avatar 4 the prequel and be done with it.

[Chino]

Make Avatar 4 the prequel and be done with it.

They can't. Technically the first film is the prequel and 2,3,4 is the trilogy. I want a pre-prequel.

[Kotowboy]

Who say's they can't ?

They probably *won't* but they *should*.

I'd be more than happy with just two more Avatar's. Four is pushing it a bit.

But whatevs.

[Zantera]

The anthology parts will take place in the same universe but be used more to explain different time periods and different characters I guess. The main story is still the episode-films, but with Rogue One you can tie it into A New Hope while still doing something unique, and I think both Tarkin (via CGI) and Darth Vader are confirmed to appear, so it should be cool. Movies like a young Yoda film, or a young Han Solo film, or even a Boba Fett film could be great films to give you more depth on those characters or the universe in general, but it also isn't needed for the more casual fanbase who just follow the main story.

Unlike Marvel where every movie is vital in the bigger picture, I think Star Wars will take a different route where the anthology movies aren't necessarily important, but they provide us fans with more great content.

[Chino]

$238M in the first weekend. Impressive. I know two people who work at movie theaters that have already said that the theaters have already begun to stop filling up and that monster figure was mainly months worth of pre-ordered tickets. I think this is going to clear a $1B no problem, but I really think $2.8B is pushing it.

[jingle.boy]

$238M in the first weekend. Impressive. I know two people who work at movie theaters that have already said that the theaters have already begun to stop filling up and that monster figure was mainly months worth of pre-ordered tickets. I think this is going to clear a $1B no problem, but I really think $2.8B is pushing it.

[Bolsters]

That's rather disappointing.

[cramx3]

I can't say I really care other than the fact that Star Wars seems like a really good movie where as Avatar was only good from the visual perspective.  You'd like to think the overall best movie would hold the record, but like I said, I don't really care, and I have not seen Star Wars yet to say I like it better than Avatar, just basing that off what people have said.  Hoping to see it within the next few days.  By me, I can already see most of the theaters around me don't have many seats open for the evening shows.

But like was discussed, for this to get the record, people are going to have to watch it a few times.  As much as I have heard positive reviews, I have not heard people say "I need to see this again" but maybe that is just me and my circle of friends.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

Can't speak for globally....but here in the states I'm still waiting for a movie to top Gone With the Wind... which still tops the list.

[bl5150]

$238M in the first weekend. Impressive. I know two people who work at movie theaters that have already said that the theaters have already begun to stop filling up and that monster figure was mainly months worth of pre-ordered tickets. I think this is going to clear a $1B no problem, but I really think $2.8B is pushing it.

I don't     That doesn't mean that Star Wars will win out but......

AFAIK the 238m was just US/Canada..........they more than doubled that around the rest of the world .  The Avatar $2.8B figure is worldwide , so I don't think that's an apples/apples comparison.

I never even saw Avatar btw

[Implode]

I wonder how much movie audience fatigue is a part of this. I'm not saying it's the whole reason, but is there really a movie that would be more anticipated than Star Wars sequel that's likely to be good? I think overall theater excitement has gone down in the past 5-10 years.

[gmillerdrake]

I don't expect it'll beat AVATAR....but I just hope that it beats Jurassic World. Nothing against JW, but it still baffles me how much $$ that movie made. It was an 'alright' movie....that was it IMO...

[Chino]

I don't expect it'll beat AVATAR....but I just hope that it beats Jurassic World. Nothing against JW, but it still baffles me how much $$ that movie made. It was an 'alright' movie....that was it IMO...

Ditto. JW was definitely the result of people chasing the nostalgia and the Chris Pratt hype. Nothing more. It made a third of its overall revenue in the first weekend and then saw a huge drop off in ticket sales.  I enjoyed the movie, but I am in no rush to see it a second time.

[hefdaddy42]

Can't speak for globally....but here in the states I'm still waiting for a movie to top Gone With the Wind... which still tops the list.

That will never happen.

[Nekov]

The number worldwide is $528 million.

Edit: This doesn't include China. It opens on January 9 there.

[Chino]

China is the wild card. The last three SW movies released in China made less than $25M combined.

[King Postwhore]

Can't speak for globally....but here in the states I'm still waiting for a movie to top Gone With the Wind... which still tops the list.

That will never happen.

It will never be surpassed since at that time, the movies were the only media besides plays.  Now, helk, people watch downloads on their phone or computer and no TV.

[hefdaddy42]

China is the wild card. The last three SW movies released in China made less than $25M combined.

Well, China has changed a lot in the last 10 years or so.

We'll see.  I think it will largely have to be done on the backs of repeat customers, the way the fortunes of the OT were made.  Given the fantastic reviews the film is getting, I would say that a lot of that is likely. 

[Nekov]

Specially for hardcore fans and there are lots of those when it comes to SW.

[gmillerdrake]

China is the wild card. The last three SW movies released in China made less than $25M combined.

Well, China has changed a lot in the last 10 years or so.

We'll see.  I think it will largely have to be done on the backs of repeat customers, the way the fortunes of the OT were made.  Given the fantastic reviews the film is getting, I would say that a lot of that is likely.

I'll be good for (3) Viewings. Seen it once already, Taking my kids on Wednesday to see it.....and then I plan to see it AT LEAST (1) more time before it leaves the theaters...hopefully that one will be an IMAX viewing.

[ZirconBlue]

One thing I noticed was just how many screens this movie is playing on.  I went to see it in Raleigh in a 14-screen theater, and they had 22 different showings that day.  Another 20-screen theater had even more.  So, just in Raleigh, it was probably doing 100-200 showings per day. 

[BlobVanDam]

China is the wild card. The last three SW movies released in China made less than $25M combined.

Well, China has changed a lot in the last 10 years or so.

We'll see.  I think it will largely have to be done on the backs of repeat customers, the way the fortunes of the OT were made.  Given the fantastic reviews the film is getting, I would say that a lot of that is likely. 

Yep. I think it will easily top $2bn. Whether or not it can make $2.8bn, way too early to tell even given that TFA has thoroughly smashed almost every record so far.

[TioJorge]

I think the real question here, the real important issue...

is whether it'll break 2 billion galactic credits?

[Implode]

Credits don't work out here! They need something more real...