The latest Box Office Mojo all-time worldwide box office chart reports $2,008,400,000 and counting for the latest episode of Star Wars, making it #3 behind #1 Avatar with $2,788,000,000 and #2 Titanic with $2,186,800,000.
But The Force Awakens has been the all-time #1 in North America for some time now. It recently became the first movie to earn $900 million in box office is the US and Canada; #2, Avatar, had held the record at $760.5 million. 72.7% of Avatar's worldwide total comes from overseas box office, compared to 69.9% for Titanic and just 54.9% for Force Awakens.
In other Star Wars news, the standalone feature ("standalone" means it's separate from Episode One, Episode Two etc) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released on December 16, 2016. The next movie in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: Episode VIII, will open on December 15, 2017. Can you say "Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney"? Disney and Lucasfilm can!
Showing posts with label star wars franchise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label star wars franchise. Show all posts
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Friday, January 29, 2016
'The Force Awakens': Box Office Is Slowing Down
Box Office Mojo's weekend forecast reports that the box office revenue of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is slowing down. When it comes to the North American box office, the US plus Canada, Force Awakens is playing in 2556 North American theatres, 809 less than last weekend. Box Office Mojo predicts the film will earn $9.86 million in North America this weekend, a drop of over 30% even though the winter storm greatly impacted last weekend's ticket sales.
The latest Box Office Mojo all-time worldwide box office chart shows Force Awakens still holding at #3 with $1.9497 billion, still $237.1 million behind the all-time #2, Titanic, and its total of $2.1868 billion. $237.1 million seems to me like a long way to go when the domestic weekend box office is expected to plummet to under $10 million.
I would imagine that almost all of the real die-hard Star Wars fans in the world have now seen Force Awakens at least once. I'm no expert -- my previous posts on the box-office earnings of this movie have made that much abundantly clear -- but it seems to me that the chances of Force Awakens overtaking Titanic for all-time worldwide #2, let alone surpassing all-time #1 Avatar and its total of $2.788 billion, have very much to do with how many of those die-hard fans are going to buy tickets to see the movie in theatres again. There may be very knowledgeable wizards somewhere with actual reliable estimates about how many such repeat tickets can be expected to be sold from this point on, but so far I have not found nor even heard about such wizards.
There's also the possibility that suddenly, for some reason, vast numbers of people who were not interested in the movie up until suddenly will become interested -- like The Rocky Horror Picture Show on a larger financial scale -- but I would guess that such a sudden widening of a movie's appeal must be like a show-biz version of winning the lottery, not realistically to be expected, and very hard indeed to predict.
My predictions: Will Force Awakens pass $2 billion in worldwide box office? Yes? Will it overtake Titanic for #2? Yes -- but perhaps not until a re-release. Will it catch Avatar? No. Well, maybe. But definitely not before a re-release.
And as I've said before on the blog, I cannot emphasize how strongly how silly it is to focus on these numbers which the movie industry for some reason (tradition? I don't know why) makes public, without access to the huge amounts of revenue which movies earn without the exact figures ever being made public, from cable and broadcast TV and home video and merchandising, the last of which is especially huge in the case of the Star Wars franchise.
PS: I've seen Avengers: Age of Ultron now, and I liked it but didn't love it. I had a bit of a meh-there's-not-so-much-here-that-the-earlier-Avengers-and-Iron-Man-and-Hulk-and-Captain-America-and-Thor-movies-didn't-have feeling -- and I haven't even seen every single one of those earlier ones.
PPS: Susan Sontag REALLY sucks! Publishing an oh-if-only-there-were-a-rebirth-of-passionate-cinema piece of nauseating pretension three years AFTER 'Pulp Fiction' was released?! Get out of my office!
The latest Box Office Mojo all-time worldwide box office chart shows Force Awakens still holding at #3 with $1.9497 billion, still $237.1 million behind the all-time #2, Titanic, and its total of $2.1868 billion. $237.1 million seems to me like a long way to go when the domestic weekend box office is expected to plummet to under $10 million.
I would imagine that almost all of the real die-hard Star Wars fans in the world have now seen Force Awakens at least once. I'm no expert -- my previous posts on the box-office earnings of this movie have made that much abundantly clear -- but it seems to me that the chances of Force Awakens overtaking Titanic for all-time worldwide #2, let alone surpassing all-time #1 Avatar and its total of $2.788 billion, have very much to do with how many of those die-hard fans are going to buy tickets to see the movie in theatres again. There may be very knowledgeable wizards somewhere with actual reliable estimates about how many such repeat tickets can be expected to be sold from this point on, but so far I have not found nor even heard about such wizards.
There's also the possibility that suddenly, for some reason, vast numbers of people who were not interested in the movie up until suddenly will become interested -- like The Rocky Horror Picture Show on a larger financial scale -- but I would guess that such a sudden widening of a movie's appeal must be like a show-biz version of winning the lottery, not realistically to be expected, and very hard indeed to predict.
My predictions: Will Force Awakens pass $2 billion in worldwide box office? Yes? Will it overtake Titanic for #2? Yes -- but perhaps not until a re-release. Will it catch Avatar? No. Well, maybe. But definitely not before a re-release.
And as I've said before on the blog, I cannot emphasize how strongly how silly it is to focus on these numbers which the movie industry for some reason (tradition? I don't know why) makes public, without access to the huge amounts of revenue which movies earn without the exact figures ever being made public, from cable and broadcast TV and home video and merchandising, the last of which is especially huge in the case of the Star Wars franchise.
PS: I've seen Avengers: Age of Ultron now, and I liked it but didn't love it. I had a bit of a meh-there's-not-so-much-here-that-the-earlier-Avengers-and-Iron-Man-and-Hulk-and-Captain-America-and-Thor-movies-didn't-have feeling -- and I haven't even seen every single one of those earlier ones.
PPS: Susan Sontag REALLY sucks! Publishing an oh-if-only-there-were-a-rebirth-of-passionate-cinema piece of nauseating pretension three years AFTER 'Pulp Fiction' was released?! Get out of my office!
Monday, January 11, 2016
'The Force Awakens' Is Now 3rd All-time In World-Wide Box-Office
Okay, this is my 8th report on the worldwide box-office earnings of Star Force: The Force Awakens, and I think I'm starting to get a better idea of what I'm talking about, and why my earlier reports were somewhat muddled. This is how it looks to me now, kiddies:
When it comes to North American box-office, US plus Canada, I can give a fairly exact report of how much the movie has taken in as of a day or two ago.
When it comes to box office in other countries, the situation varies by country. This is what was throwing me off in my earlier reports. The Force Awakens is showing in more than 60 countries. Some of them are reporting the box-office total on roughly the same schedule as North America, which is reporting $812,011,043 as of January 10, yesterday. Some are providing the total as of January 7, some January 3, some as of December 27.
So it occurred to me that the best I can do is sort of like what an election-night reporter does when he or she says that so-and-so-many votes have been counted so far from so-and-so-many precincts.
So far, a total of $1.7334 billion in worldwide box office has been reported for The Force Awakens, with the counting still underway.
That must be why the all-time world-wide box office chart at Box Office Mojo highlights current and recent releases in yellow: they want to make sure all the votes are counted before they give an official total.
How many more countries will The Force Awakens play in, countries where it hasn't opened yet? Gee, I wish I knew. It seems like it opened within a day or two of the North American opening in most countries, but it only opened last Saturday in China. There is a report of $53 million for the first two days of box office for The Force Awakens in China.
The current, incomplete total of $1.7334 billion leaves The Force Awakens $453.4 million behind all-time #2 Titanic and $1.0546 billion behind all-time #1 Avatar. Will it catch them? I'm not even going to go there, Girlfriend!
And no, I still haven't seen The Force Awakens. I haven't seen Titanic or Avatar either. I think James Cameron sucks. Out of the current all-time worldwide top ten, I've seen #5, Marvel's The Avengers and #10, Iron Man 3. I plan to see #7 Avengers: Age of Ultron when it comes to cable. And that's probably when I'll see The Force Awakens, too: when it comes to cable. Unless someones drags me to a theatre while it's still running in theatres. That could happen. They wouldn't have to pull all that hard. I've liked JJ Abrams ever since 2001 and the 1st episode of "Alias." (You want me to watch a network TV show? Do what "Alias" and "24" did: air a commercial-free feature-movie-length episode.)
While I'm going down the all-time world-wide box office chart, let me look at #11 through 20: I've seen two of them: #16, The Dark Knight Rises, and #20, Jurassic Park. I like The Dark Knight Rises okay, but Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight was an impossible act to follow. I like about 3 minutes of Jurassic Park. Spielberg gets a good shot every now and then, a few seconds' worth of striking moviemaking at a stretch. But sitting through an entire Spielberg movie is usually a high price to pay for those occasional pleasing moments. Minority Report is the only entire Spielberg movie I like. (I'm sure he's sleepless and tearful because of my lack of approval. I can hear him now: "Sure, I have billions of dollars and many awards and I've been married to one of the most beautiful and talented women on Earth for 30 years -- but how much of is any of that really worth when Steven Bollinger says that I suck?!")
Well cheer up, Steve: you're not nearly as untalented as James Cameron, and you can tell everybody I said so!
When it comes to North American box-office, US plus Canada, I can give a fairly exact report of how much the movie has taken in as of a day or two ago.
When it comes to box office in other countries, the situation varies by country. This is what was throwing me off in my earlier reports. The Force Awakens is showing in more than 60 countries. Some of them are reporting the box-office total on roughly the same schedule as North America, which is reporting $812,011,043 as of January 10, yesterday. Some are providing the total as of January 7, some January 3, some as of December 27.
So it occurred to me that the best I can do is sort of like what an election-night reporter does when he or she says that so-and-so-many votes have been counted so far from so-and-so-many precincts.
So far, a total of $1.7334 billion in worldwide box office has been reported for The Force Awakens, with the counting still underway.
That must be why the all-time world-wide box office chart at Box Office Mojo highlights current and recent releases in yellow: they want to make sure all the votes are counted before they give an official total.
How many more countries will The Force Awakens play in, countries where it hasn't opened yet? Gee, I wish I knew. It seems like it opened within a day or two of the North American opening in most countries, but it only opened last Saturday in China. There is a report of $53 million for the first two days of box office for The Force Awakens in China.
The current, incomplete total of $1.7334 billion leaves The Force Awakens $453.4 million behind all-time #2 Titanic and $1.0546 billion behind all-time #1 Avatar. Will it catch them? I'm not even going to go there, Girlfriend!
And no, I still haven't seen The Force Awakens. I haven't seen Titanic or Avatar either. I think James Cameron sucks. Out of the current all-time worldwide top ten, I've seen #5, Marvel's The Avengers and #10, Iron Man 3. I plan to see #7 Avengers: Age of Ultron when it comes to cable. And that's probably when I'll see The Force Awakens, too: when it comes to cable. Unless someones drags me to a theatre while it's still running in theatres. That could happen. They wouldn't have to pull all that hard. I've liked JJ Abrams ever since 2001 and the 1st episode of "Alias." (You want me to watch a network TV show? Do what "Alias" and "24" did: air a commercial-free feature-movie-length episode.)
While I'm going down the all-time world-wide box office chart, let me look at #11 through 20: I've seen two of them: #16, The Dark Knight Rises, and #20, Jurassic Park. I like The Dark Knight Rises okay, but Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight was an impossible act to follow. I like about 3 minutes of Jurassic Park. Spielberg gets a good shot every now and then, a few seconds' worth of striking moviemaking at a stretch. But sitting through an entire Spielberg movie is usually a high price to pay for those occasional pleasing moments. Minority Report is the only entire Spielberg movie I like. (I'm sure he's sleepless and tearful because of my lack of approval. I can hear him now: "Sure, I have billions of dollars and many awards and I've been married to one of the most beautiful and talented women on Earth for 30 years -- but how much of is any of that really worth when Steven Bollinger says that I suck?!")
Well cheer up, Steve: you're not nearly as untalented as James Cameron, and you can tell everybody I said so!
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Correction: My Prediction About The Weekend Box-Office Of 'Force Awakens' Was Correct! [PS: ACTUALLY, NEVERMIND, BECAUSE... WELL, READ THE PS]
On Sunday I blogged that Star Force: The Force Awakens would finish the weekend in 6th place in all-time world-wide box-office . I said this based on Box Office Mojo's projection on Sunday afternoon. But the total projected by Box Office Mojo, $1.5108 billion, was low by $17.5 million. The movie's corrected worldwide box-office through Sunday is $1.5283 billion. So after Sunday it was in 4th place all-time, not 6th.
Which means that the prediction I made last Friday, that it would be in 4th or 3rd place by the end of the weekend, was actually correct.
I made a correct box-office prediction. This is strange and confusing to me.
PS, 6:32 PM: Hold everything. I actually don't know whether this or my other predictions have been accurate or not because the foreign totals come in 1 country at a time and are added as they come in. Some countries' results come in faster than the North American totals, some come in a day later, some a week later. So I must say 'nevermind' to ALL of my predictions on this blog concerning the worldwide box office of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Which means that the prediction I made last Friday, that it would be in 4th or 3rd place by the end of the weekend, was actually correct.
I made a correct box-office prediction. This is strange and confusing to me.
PS, 6:32 PM: Hold everything. I actually don't know whether this or my other predictions have been accurate or not because the foreign totals come in 1 country at a time and are added as they come in. Some countries' results come in faster than the North American totals, some come in a day later, some a week later. So I must say 'nevermind' to ALL of my predictions on this blog concerning the worldwide box office of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
'Force Awakens' To Finish W'End In 6th In All-Time W/W BO
On Friday I predicted that Star Wars: The Force Awakens would finish this weekend in 4th or 3rd place all-time in worldwide box-office.
I missed again. Not all of the figures are in yet, but Box Office Mojo projects that The Force Awakens will finish the weekend with $1.5108 billion, #6 all-time, less than than $9 million out of 4th place, but more than $158 million shy of 3rd.
I believe this series of posts on the latest Star Wars movie's box-office has proven one thing conclusively: I am not a wizard at box-office predictions. In the light of my misjudgments of the movie's business thus far, if you were to ask me how soon The Force Awakens will be in 3rd place all-time, I would answer, "Good question, Sparky!" If you were to ask me whether it will eventually surpass Titanic to take the #2 position, or out-do Avatar and become the new #1, I might say something like, "Let's see if we can find an expert somewhere, and ask him or her!"
I missed again. Not all of the figures are in yet, but Box Office Mojo projects that The Force Awakens will finish the weekend with $1.5108 billion, #6 all-time, less than than $9 million out of 4th place, but more than $158 million shy of 3rd.
I believe this series of posts on the latest Star Wars movie's box-office has proven one thing conclusively: I am not a wizard at box-office predictions. In the light of my misjudgments of the movie's business thus far, if you were to ask me how soon The Force Awakens will be in 3rd place all-time, I would answer, "Good question, Sparky!" If you were to ask me whether it will eventually surpass Titanic to take the #2 position, or out-do Avatar and become the new #1, I might say something like, "Let's see if we can find an expert somewhere, and ask him or her!"
Friday, January 1, 2016
'The Force Awakens' Finished 2015 w/ $1.3312 Billion W/W, 8th All-Time
That's $1,331,200,000 in worldwide box-office, according to Box Office Mojo. (North American readers may be more familiar with the North American total of $651,965,583.)
That means it raked in $245.1 million (worldwide) from Monday through Thursday, yesterday. It means it's $10.3 million behind the current all-time #7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, $73.8 million behind #6 Avengers: Age of Ultron, $183.8 million behind #5 Furious 7, #188.4 million behind #4 Marvel's The Avengers, $337.8 million behind #3 Jurassic World, $855.6 million behind #2 Titanic and $1.4568 billion behind #1 Avatar.
I predict that by the end of of the January 1-3 weekend, The Force Awakens will be 4th ($1.5196 billion+) or 3rd ($1.669 billion+) all-time. Maybe after this weekend's totals are in I will be more inclined to predict whether it will eventually be #3 or #2 or #1, before they decide to take it out of the theatres where for some reason we have such detailed information about its earnings, and start making undisclosed shiploads worth of cash from home video and TV.
That means it raked in $245.1 million (worldwide) from Monday through Thursday, yesterday. It means it's $10.3 million behind the current all-time #7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, $73.8 million behind #6 Avengers: Age of Ultron, $183.8 million behind #5 Furious 7, #188.4 million behind #4 Marvel's The Avengers, $337.8 million behind #3 Jurassic World, $855.6 million behind #2 Titanic and $1.4568 billion behind #1 Avatar.
I predict that by the end of of the January 1-3 weekend, The Force Awakens will be 4th ($1.5196 billion+) or 3rd ($1.669 billion+) all-time. Maybe after this weekend's totals are in I will be more inclined to predict whether it will eventually be #3 or #2 or #1, before they decide to take it out of the theatres where for some reason we have such detailed information about its earnings, and start making undisclosed shiploads worth of cash from home video and TV.
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Last Thursday, I Predicted 'Force Awakens' Would Reach All-Time Top 10 BO This Weekend
It looks like I was wrong. Box Office Mojo is predicting that 'The Force Awakens" will finish the weekend with $1.0906 billion worldwide, leaving it in 15th place, more than $66 million behind the current #10, Minions.
Now, note well, that figure of $1.0906 billion is a prediction, an estimate. It's just a few minutes past 3PM Eastern Standard Time Sunday, a few minutes past noon in Hollywood. The weekend isn't actually over yet. Box Office Mojo's estimate might be low.
$66 million low? Probably not. (PS, 28. December 2014: It was $4,5 million high.)
I got carried away by the thrill of the huge numbers. I lost my head. My only consolation is that it's quite possible that no-one anywhere on Earth actually gives a tiny crap how inaccurate my prediction from last Thursday was.
Now, note well, that figure of $1.0906 billion is a prediction, an estimate. It's just a few minutes past 3PM Eastern Standard Time Sunday, a few minutes past noon in Hollywood. The weekend isn't actually over yet. Box Office Mojo's estimate might be low.
$66 million low? Probably not. (PS, 28. December 2014: It was $4,5 million high.)
I got carried away by the thrill of the huge numbers. I lost my head. My only consolation is that it's quite possible that no-one anywhere on Earth actually gives a tiny crap how inaccurate my prediction from last Thursday was.
Thursday, December 24, 2015
I Predict That 'The Force Awakens' Will Be Top 10 Worldwide BO By End Of Christmas Weekend
After Wednesday's box office has been tallied, The Force Awakens stands at #60 all-time with $765.9 million. In order to be in the top 10 after Sunday, it needs somewhat more than an additional $391.4 million. I say "somewhat more" because the current #10, Minions is still in release, with a total of $1.1573 billion. But Minions was released months ago and I don't expect it to do Earth-shattering business over the Christmas holiday.
(Again: in this blog I'm concentrating on worldwide figures, not the North American box office which makes the headlines more often in Murrka than worldwide.)
The Force Awakens made $529 million in its first weekend (plus Thursday-night sneak previews), then $81.8 million on Monday, $78.6 million on Tuesday and $76.5 million yesterday, Wednesday.
(Again: in this blog I'm concentrating on worldwide figures, not the North American box office which makes the headlines more often in Murrka than worldwide.)
The Force Awakens made $529 million in its first weekend (plus Thursday-night sneak previews), then $81.8 million on Monday, $78.6 million on Tuesday and $76.5 million yesterday, Wednesday.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Still Don't Care About The New Star Wars, Still Find The Economics Interesting
Box Office Mojo's early estimate on Sunday of the box-office take for the first four days of the new Star Wars movie, Thursday-night sneak previews through Sunday, was low: they estimated $517 million. They've since adjusted that up to $529 million. After Monday's receipts were added, it's up to $610.8 million, placing it at #102 on Box Office Mojo's list of all-time worldwide box office leaders.
Friday is Christmas. The combination of Friday and Christmas and a one-week-old blockbuster movie is leading to predictions that The Force Awakens will do very well on its second weekend. The movie has gotten extremely good reviews, which makes me tend to agree with these optimistic expectations. By the end of Sunday the 27th, the movie may well be among the all-time worldwide top 20 with over a billion dollars at the box office. (Currently Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace is #20 with $1,027 billion.) Certainly, at the very least, it will break the top 50 (Current #50: Independence Day, with $817.4 million.)
It seems possible that it could be in the top 50 before the Christmas weekend even starts.
When the 2005 version of King Kong was released, I was making similarly detailed remarks and predictions about its box office figures. Somebody asked me: Why was I going on and on about this? Was I getting a piece of the movie's revenues? And suddenly I became very embarrassed and stopped talking about it. No, I wasn't getting a piece of King Kong's earnings, and no, I'm not getting a piece of The Force Awakens' revenues. I'm doing this because I find it interesting because I'm autistic. In 2005 I didn't know yet that I was autistic. I'm becoming a little more comfortable with who I am. And other people, of course, can take it or leave it.
PS, 3:52PM: Box Office Mojo now includes the figures for Tuesday, yesterday, and The Force Awakens is up to $689.4 million, 81st place all-time. Holy cow, $78.6 million on a Tuesday.
PPS, 24. December 2015, 1:02 PM: Box Office Mojo now includes the figures for Wednesday. The new one is up to $765.9 million, #60 all-time. $76.5 million on a Wednesday. If it manages more than $51.5 today it will, in fact, enter the Christmas weekend in the top 50.
Friday is Christmas. The combination of Friday and Christmas and a one-week-old blockbuster movie is leading to predictions that The Force Awakens will do very well on its second weekend. The movie has gotten extremely good reviews, which makes me tend to agree with these optimistic expectations. By the end of Sunday the 27th, the movie may well be among the all-time worldwide top 20 with over a billion dollars at the box office. (Currently Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace is #20 with $1,027 billion.) Certainly, at the very least, it will break the top 50 (Current #50: Independence Day, with $817.4 million.)
It seems possible that it could be in the top 50 before the Christmas weekend even starts.
When the 2005 version of King Kong was released, I was making similarly detailed remarks and predictions about its box office figures. Somebody asked me: Why was I going on and on about this? Was I getting a piece of the movie's revenues? And suddenly I became very embarrassed and stopped talking about it. No, I wasn't getting a piece of King Kong's earnings, and no, I'm not getting a piece of The Force Awakens' revenues. I'm doing this because I find it interesting because I'm autistic. In 2005 I didn't know yet that I was autistic. I'm becoming a little more comfortable with who I am. And other people, of course, can take it or leave it.
PS, 3:52PM: Box Office Mojo now includes the figures for Tuesday, yesterday, and The Force Awakens is up to $689.4 million, 81st place all-time. Holy cow, $78.6 million on a Tuesday.
PPS, 24. December 2015, 1:02 PM: Box Office Mojo now includes the figures for Wednesday. The new one is up to $765.9 million, #60 all-time. $76.5 million on a Wednesday. If it manages more than $51.5 today it will, in fact, enter the Christmas weekend in the top 50.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
This Is Me Not Caring That You Don't Care That I Don't Care About Star Wars
Actually, I do care a little bit about the economics. I find that part interesting. According to Box Office Mojo, the new one will gross an estimated $517 million worldwide this weekend. That makes it #141 on Box Office Mojo's list of all-time highest worldwide grosses just since the sneak previews last Thursday. Again, that's worldwide. For some reason, the headlines in Murrka about movie box office earnings tend to only mention North American figures, when very often the worldwide figure is more than twice the North American.
Of course, worldwide box-office itself is often just a small fraction of what a movie actually earns, when one tallies up television, home video and merchandising. And of course, in the case of the Star Wars franchise, the merchandising revenues are especially huge, with books, television series, video games and comic books all having done very well for decades now.
If you're expecting me to give you an exact idea of how well -- I can't. For whatever reasons, the movie biz makes box-office earnings as public as can be, and keeps the other revenues somewhat more confidential.
*sigh* Why can't I have George Lucas' money and still keep my talent, personality and good looks?
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