Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The opening weekend estimates are in, and they’re spectacular. From The Hollywood Reporter:
J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens shattered numerous box-office records over the weekend, grossing $238 million in North America — the biggest opening of all time, not accounting for inflation — for a global launch of $517 million. Some rival distributors even have Force Awakens grossing closer to $245 million domestically; final weekend numbers will be released Monday.
The story goes on to note that it didn’t set the global opening day weekend record – Jurassic World still holds that one, $524.9 million to $517 million. However, Jurassic World opening in China on the same day that it opened in the rest of the world, but The Force Awakens won’t open in China until January 9th. It’s the box office equivalent of fighting with one arm tied behind your back, and yet The Force Awakens came within just $8 million of delivering the smackdown despite the handicap.
So, now the debate about whether The Force Awakens can become the biggest movie of all time gets real. There’s a terrific analysis at The Numbers about TFA’s chances that was published before the release, which suggested that $3 billion is the high end of TFA’s potential – easily topping Avatar for the #1 spot. And the data they’d based that projection on held up pretty well compared to the actual opening weekend numbers.
One things’s for sure – it already has a tremendous jump on Avatar, which earned only $77 million on its opening weekend domestically, and it opened on the exact same day in 2009. What do YOU think the chances are that TFA will become the biggest movie of all time? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Trivia Time!
Test your knowledge of the Star Wars universe!Yesterday’s answer: Chewie
Today’s question: What’s the Empire’s primary starfighter?