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[BronsonLee]

GEORGE LUCAS IS A MAN OF HIS WORD.

BB-8 ran over everyone after he got the iggy from George

 

[bananafactory]

I asked this before but what do you guys think the film could have done in the summer in more theatres? 300?

 

[Abounder]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhQPu-5C-WY - George Lucas Thug Life

"I'm gonna crush you like a bug" to Jurassic World lol

edit- holy shit dammit Bobby

 

[SenorPopOff]

I think people need to take a step back and really take in what they are typing. You are contemplating how good a movie is based on planning to see it anywhere from 2 to 5 times.

I think those numbers are being tossed around a little too casually.

 

[BronsonLee]

I asked this before but what do you guys think the film could have done in the summer in more theatres? 300?

This is probably what it would've done in summer. Maybe a little bit more.

Winter isn't really hitting hard right now

 

[Bobby Roberts]

edit- holy shit dammit Bobby

 

[Solo]

I asked this before but what do you guys think the film could have done in the summer in more theatres? 300?

Probably no better, maybe even worse. Yes, the kids are out of school but there's also a lot more competition. Since Avatar destroyed the box office the Christmas opening has become a lot more attractive.

 

[ratcliffja]

I was extremely skeptical of TFA and kind of expected it to be bad to terrible, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It was really fun and made me want to see the other sequels. I'm really, really glad to see Creed continuing to do so well, though, as it's easily my movie of the year.

Edit:

Probably no better, maybe even worse. Yes, the kids are out of school but there's also a lot more competition. Since Avatar destroyed the box office the Christmas opening has become a lot more attractive.

The LOTR movies all did very well around Christmas as well, long before Avatar.

 

[inm8num2]

.

 

[Charles Foster Kane]

Wait, Spiderman 2 still has the monday record? Wow, that was a long hold.

 

[DieH@rd]

So, $247M is the latest "official" figure, but still not final one?

 

[Ogimachi]

I was hoping there wuold be a wall of shame with all of the ridiculously low predictions people made here.

 

[kswiston]

Transformers if the ww launch is simultaneous?

I don't know it Transformers is big enough domestic anymore. Even with a huge Chinese gross, a $150M shortfall from US+Canada would be hard to make up. However Age of Ultron would have been in the $570M range if you take the domestic and international grosses and add them all together. First weekend take for the international territories was around $380M including that $155M from China.

If you get a movie of that size to launch simultaneously in most territories, including China $530-540M (or whatever the actuals for Star Wars end up being) can be passed. Even with a relatively Modest gross there, Star Wars would have likely cleared $600M with China.

 

[CreepingFear]

Wait, Spiderman 2 still has the monday record? Wow, that was a long hold.

It feels like yesterday when Spiderman was the "it thing" and the prequels were considered a joke. Funny how things have reversed.

 

[mdphilli]

That's one tiny T. rex.

I prefer to look at it as one giant BB-8.

 

[CreepingFear]

I prefer to look at it as one giant BB-8.

BB-8 is power lifting.

 

[MiamiWesker]

TFA is safe for a Star Wars movie but it still has all the mythology, the focus on timeless themes of good and evil, of family drama that most every summer movie doesn't even come close to examining. Comparing this movie to JW is a giant insult. Plus it's just part 1 of a new trilogy, the story will be fantastic and this was an excellent start.

 

[JeffZero]

I like TFA a lot pretty much the whole way through. The first 30 minutes is great, but apart from a few choppy scenes here and there, I never found anything afterward particularly rough.

I may see it a third time; not sure.

 

[Abounder]

It feels like yesterday when Spiderman was the "it thing" and the prequels were considered a joke. Funny how things have reversed.

Do you think Spidey will help further boost Avengers numbers? He went from being a box office king to basically this, maybe the Marvel movie magic can turn things around for him:

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

I want to see George's personal films.

How personal are we talking?

 

[CreepingFear]

Do you think Spidey will help further boost Avengers numbers? He went from being a box office king to basically this, maybe the Marvel movie magic can turn things around for him:

I think Marvel will do Spidey pretty well. I was referring more to the recent Sony Spiderman films and Spiderman 3.

 

[kswiston]

TFA is safe for a Star Wars movie but it still has all the mythology, the focus on timeless themes of good and evil, of family drama that most every summer movie doesn't even come close to examining. Comparing this movie to JW is a giant insult. Plus it's just part 1 of a new trilogy, the story will be fantastic and this was an excellent start.

I think getting into this sort of thing just leads to subjective shouting matches. I liked TFA a lot more than I liked Jurassic World (which I didn't really like at all), but they are both popcorn movies that are more concerned with selling toys than exploring the human condition.

 

[Abounder]

I think getting into this sort of thing just leads to subjective shouting matches. I liked TFA a lot more than I liked Jurassic World (which I didn't really like at all), but they are both popcorn movies that are more concerned with selling toys than exploring the human condition.

JJ and co. doesn't get a cut from merch

 

[Solo]

JJ and co. doesn't get a cut from merch

Disney does, and Disney controls the movies.

 

[shandy706]

How did you get good seats? I thought finding some is difficult.

I thought it would be too.

Just walked up both nights and bought what we wanted (1 hour before showing).

Went and did something else for 30 minutes, came back 30 min before start time and walked right in.

Sat halfway up and dead center both times.

 

[Oersted]

TFA is safe for a Star Wars movie but it still has all the mythology, the focus on timeless themes of good and evil, of family drama that most every summer movie doesn't even come close to examining. Comparing this movie to JW is a giant insult. Plus it's just part 1 of a new trilogy, the story will be fantastic and this was an excellent start.

Star Wars as prime example of examing good and evil and families. Yikes. Granted, you limited it to summer blockbusters, but still, this is sad.

 

[3N16MA]

So, $247M is the latest "official" figure, but still not final one?

I believe it is not final.

 

[kswiston]

JJ and co. doesn't get a cut from merch

JJ and co. don't get free reign to do whatever they want in a franchise film either. BB-8 ended up being pretty amusing, so I don't really care, but he's there to merchandise.

 

[3N16MA]

I thought it would be too.

Just walked up both nights and bought what we wanted (1 hour before showing).

Went and did something else for 30 minutes, came back 30 min before start time and walked right in.

Sat halfway up and dead center both times.

Order online and be done with it.

 

[BronsonLee]

Yeah BB8 is clearly a merch machine, he was designed to be one

 

[shandy706]

Order online and be done with it.

Meh, had no trouble just walking up and buying. Online costs are much higher than normal prices here.

I agree that's the easiest though.

 

[3N16MA]

Yeah BB8 is clearly a merch machine, he was designed to be one

You bought a Sphero BB-8. Don't deny it.

 

[Come to Butt-Head]

Yeah BB8 is clearly a merch machine, he was designed to be one

Sure, but that doesn't take anything away from it. Ewoks were also for merch, and BB-8 is several notches above them.

 

[BronsonLee]

You bought a Sphero BB-8. Don't deny it.

I don't buy trash

Sure, but that doesn't take anything away from it. Ewoks were also for merch, and BB-8 is several notches above them.

The execution being better doesn't change the intent though

 

[MiamiWesker]

Star Wars as prime example of examing good and evil and families. Yikes. Granted, you limited it to summer blockbusters, but still, this is sad.

So you don't believe Star Wars is our modern mythology. That the reason the series is so strong is only cause it's a summer blockbuster with cool effects and not because it touches on timeless themes that everyone can relate to.

 

[hodayathink]

Wait, Spiderman 2 still has the monday record? Wow, that was a long hold.

Memorial Day, IIRC.

 

[Abounder]

Disney does, and Disney controls the movies.

I thought JJ delayed TFA

JJ and co. don't get free reign to do whatever they want in a franchise film either. BB-8 ended up being pretty amusing, so I don't really care, but he's there to merchandise.

And/or because it's a fun character following in the footsteps of fan favorites (R2). You think Disney told JJ and Kasdan to make BB-8? Also just about anything from Star Wars turns into merch

 

[CrichtonKicks]

I thought JJ delayed TFA

He wanted a 1 year extension but received 6 months.

 

[guek]

classy

If only the fans could be as well

 

[Chamber]

I think TFA will do another $250m (conservative estimate) or so from Monday-Sunday.

Yeah, I think 500m by the end of this week is the goal if this is going to surpass Avatar.

 

[Toa TAK]

classy

That's awesome.

 

[kswiston]

I thought JJ delayed TFA

And/or because he's a fun character following in the footsteps of fan favorites (R2). You think Disney told JJ and Kasdan to make BB-8? Also just about anything from Star Wars turns into merch

Yes, I think that Disney and Lucasfilm had a lot of say in the inclusion of elements that could drive merchandising. Lucas himself was at the forefront of the modern trend towards merchandising the hell out of blockbuster films, as is evident in Return of the Jedi and all of the prequels. This film is no different. A lot of it is subtle, but

Spoiler

do you think one character got a custom painted X-Wing because it enhances J.J.'s artistic vision? It's there to sell two X-Wing toys instead of one.

(extremely mild spoiler that I wouldn't even classify as a spoiler if this wasn't Star Wars, leading people to be hypersensitive to spoilers)

Yes, the creators are still striving to create a fun movie going experience that adds to the existing Star Wars universe instead of detracting from it, but these films exist to make money. The Force Awakens was a better film than Jurassic World, but acting like it belongs on a special pedestal far removed from that film is silly. Acting like differences in quality is what's leading to differences in box office gross is also silly.

 

[guek]

I think getting into this sort of thing just leads to subjective shouting matches. I liked TFA a lot more than I liked Jurassic World (which I didn't really like at all), but they are both popcorn movies that are more concerned with selling toys than exploring the human condition.

A million times, YES! That's why I find it so mystifying how caught up people get in the "wrong" blockbuster finding success or not striving to be high art. Most of the time, people are bickering about over glorified toy commercials.

 

[Kagari]

You bought a Sphero BB-8. Don't deny it.

I want one, I admit it. But I know I'll use it for 10 minutes and that'll be it.

 

[RayStorm]

Women, Hispanic, and Black audiences were under-represented:

(From Hollywood Reporter) Caucasians made up 62 percent of ticket buyers, followed by Hispanics (15 percent), African-Americans (10 percent), Asians (7 percent) and Native American and other (7 percent), according to PostTrak.

Wikipedia tells me the ethnical breakdown of the USA as the following:

63.7 % Non-Hispanic White 
12.2 % Non-Hispanic Black 	
 4.7 % Non-Hispanic Asian
 3.0 % Non-Hispanic Other (Native Americans, Islanders, multi-ethnicity)
16.4 % Hispanic or Latino

Which in fact suggests to me that whites are underrepresented as well, whereas Asians and Others are overrepresented. However I would argue that the differences are fairly small and in turn this makes it rather hard to really take a strong position on whether this actually matters enough to mention.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

classy

When ANH overtook ET (via Special Edition rerelease) they had a similar ad having ET award R2-D2.

EDIT: It was a crown.

 

[CrichtonKicks]

This film is no different. A lot of it is subtle, but

Spoiler

do you think one character got a custom painted X-Wing because it enhances J.J.'s artistic vision? It's there to sell two X-Wing toys instead of one.

(extremely mild spoiler that I wouldn't even classify as a spoiler if this wasn't Star Wars, leading people to be hypersensitive to spoilers)

Actually I do firmly believe he may have wanted it because it looks cool. Because it does.

Further they actually cut sequences that could have been a boon to merchandising. There was going to be a major speeder cheese that ended up being cut. The speeder toy still exists but without a cool action sequence attached to it I imagine it will hurt sales of that toy.

And in the finale

Spoiler

There were going to be capital ships duking it out as well, including some newly designed ships on each side that would probably make cool toys. But it was cut because they thought it would make the finale too confusing.

 

[kswiston]

Actuals should be out any minute. Given the time of year, if Sunday is over $60M, Monday could crack $40M.

 

[Arthr2ShdsJcksn]

Actuals should be out any minute. Given the time of year, if Sunday is over $60M, Monday could crack $40M.

Who report the actuals? Do they get blasted out to anyone on a mailing list, or are they like the NPDs where studios/investors have to pay for the privilege of getting the info?

 

[Dan]

This was the best box office congratulations:

This and the ET one at least involve actual art. Obviously the Jurassic World thing is short lived and not particularly special, but their little card is just a simple photoshop job by an intern.