UPDATE 2! Star Wars: The Force Awakens Has $120.5 Million Friday, $68.7 Million Saturday, & $48.8 Million Sunday!
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens just keeps finding new records to break as the movie overcomes the single-day record set by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (in addition bulldozing to that movie’s record for largest late-night opening gross). Even better is that the movie has now set the record for the largest opening weekend in the United States with an amazing $238 million gross.
The Force Awakens has currently amassed over $120 million according to Box Office Mojo. The film is currently on track to make anywhere between $220-260 million on its opening weekend (or, optimistically, $270-310 million), which when combined with overseas grosses and keeping the cut theaters get in mind would greatly clear the movie’s $200 million production budget. Should the movie get that far (and, let’s face it, it probably will), it will beat the already-impressive $209 million record for biggest opening weekend that Jurassic World set this Summer. (Director Colin Trevorrow probably won’t feel bummed out about Star Wars stealing his movie’s thunder, given that he’ll be directing Episode IX in a few years.) 
The money made from the first day alone sets it as the biggest December opening weekend of all time, greatly surpassing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘s $85 million opening. The film has also set a record for fastest time to reach $100 million in the United States – just under 21 hours. It’s no slouch overseas, either – the movie is said to have made at least $129 million overseas in its first three days, and that’s without the ever-important market of China. A few of the records that the movie has the potential to break include largest Saturday gross, largest Sunday gross, largest holiday season opening weekeend, largest opening weekend for a PG-13 film, and largest December opening weekend. Disney is still reportedly adding theaters to accommodate for the massive demand this movie is generating, so the future looks very bright for The Force Awakens.
UPDATE 1!
And now new reports are coming in from Deadline, stating that The Force Awakens has had an excellent Saturday with an estimated $65.5-68.7 million in ticket sales. If we were to count the $57 million gained from Thursday screenings as a separate day from the $120.5 million Friday that it’s otherwise lumped into, then Friday’s gross would be $63.5 million – meaning that there was actually a bit of a jump up in sales from Friday to Saturday. This estimate currently has the film set at approximately $186-189.2 million, leaving it about $20-23 million away from breaking the record set by Jurassic World earlier this year. The movie’s projected opening weekend from this report is an absolutely staggering $238-244 million.
UPDATE 2!
Reports have come in supporting the $238 million estimate for the film’s gross in the United States. (Note that as an estimate, the final numbers might be a little bit different than this.) Abroad, the movie scored $279 million, meaning the total for the debut was a $517 million haul. That leaves The Force Awakens with the largest domestic opening of all time, the second-largest worldwide opening of all time, and the third-largest international opening of all time. Other records that have been broken include the shortest amount of time for a film to make $200 million in the United States, highest per-average theater average ($57,568 per theater), and biggest IMAX debut of all time. The movie also had the best opening weekends of all time in the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Iceland, Serbia, and New Zealand.
Stay on target with Star Wars News Net as we continue to cover TFA’s incredible box office performance and more of the latest and greatest news stories regarding the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
biggest movie of the past 20 years maybe even more
Hmmm … biggest movie of the last 15 years, i.e. #1 movie of the 21st century? Likely … it certainly has the potential to beat Avatar’s USD 811 million (adjusted gross).
Biggest movie of the last 20 years? Extremely unlikely. It won’t beat Titanic’s (1997) USD 1,129 billion (again, adjusted gross) … we won’t see things like that again.
We’re seeing it right now. I find yournlack of faith disturbing.
Surprised they haven’t remade Titanic as a feckin trilogy.
titanic 2: Jack’s revenge!
Titanic II: The White Star Line Strikes Back
Titanic III: Return of Jack Dawson
Money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, money, Mother Hubbard.
– Pomojema
True. but I don’t mind spending it on them!
And it’s pretty slim pickings for the next month and a half so why not see this as much as possible.
Hey Pomojema, you doing an article on the number of the beast on Finn’s helmet? You know the blood marks in Hebrew for 666.
I can’t say that I’ve noticed that, as I didn’t see any iteration of the number on his helmet (66, 216, 616, 661, 666, or 6666, among others). I don’t plan writing an article on that, no – but I could potentially write something about the influence of the world’s religions in the setting.
– Pomojema
Thanks, just as I noticed the Blood Marks on Finn’s helmet, I noticed the same thing throughout Jurassic World as well…the Mark of the Beast.
Kevin Smith recently said that JJ was considering using the image of blood on the helmet for the poster.
Ben Solo’s inverted cross saber gives the Knights of Ren such a Templar feel, yet flipped on its end.
From me they got $80 when I took the family out Thursday and another $50 when I see it at IMAX tomorrow morning with a friend. Money well spent.
TFA has been playing almost round the clock exclusively at the theatre near me and people are queing up today to see it on day three(including me). I don’t think we’ll ever see something like this again.
It deserves it. Disney got this for a steal but they and Lucasfilm have played things perfectly. Can’t really bash them for giving us what we always wanted, a good new Star Wars film. I know there’s a vocal minority who seem to hate it, just because some people love to do that and manage to turn minor gripes into film ruining heracy…
But sites like Rotten Tomatoes has about 140,000 ratings for it and it’s averaging 4.5 stars with 95% approval rating, so the film clearly hit the spot, in case people want to argue it didn’t for them and so it must not have for everyone else.
Its like that when it comes to taste. Its impossible to satisfy everybody. But Lucasfilm and Disney has really over-performed. The hype, the expectations, and they delivered. Its a massiv and impressive achievement. If I had a hat, I would take it of. Wait, I have a hat. Ill go get it.
There, its of 🙂
There will always be a bloody murder screaming vocal minority who hates it. No matter who writes or directs.
Well one thing is for sure- it will get pirated almost as soon as it hits the China market and sadly that’s when some repeat-viewing sales will drop off a bit. An unfortunately reality of these times..
I’ve got the rest of my life to watch it on my laptop. I’m going to see it on the big screen while I can.
I thought that as well. I’ve only seen the IMAX 3D & reg 3D version so far. Im not going to see the standard version as thats the way I’ll have to watch it the rest of my life on blu/dvd.
Seen it in IMAX 3D first time, but watching it in 2D blew my mind and was so much better. 3d just distracts from the movie in my opinion.
Lets face it, the people who download this movie for their first viewing was never going to pay to see it anyway. The diehard fans are going to see it many times at the silver screen Internet-copy or not. I think a crapy pirated copy of it will generate more buzz, and overall generate more viewings. Im going for the third time tomorrow 🙂
I may go see it again tomorrow.
I’ve seen this the third time already. I wonder how much will be made from repeat viewings and how long this will top the box office after the initial rush. Everyone who wants to see this has probably showed up for the opening weekend, and many will probably choose to go over the Christmas weekend. I wonder after that, though. On some levels, I’m not surprised. I love this movie and will go watch this again next week.
To me it was better the 2nd time, it seemed much to take in first time and I was overwhelmed. I watched it more relaxed this time and enjoyed it more.
Same here!
same, especially the score, the first time I saw the movie I didn’t pay attention to it and I felt a little disappointed by it, the second time I did pay attention to it, and it was great!
And people on another forum or saying they wish John Williams would have retired because “he doesn’t have it” anymore. I’m almost never hooked on a score until I’ve watched a film a few times or have a copy of the score (which I do now.) It’s more subtle than some SW scores, but it does work.
The first score with Rey and the last score which has become my favorite of all time behind duels of fate, what is it.. “Steps of the jedi” not sure but dang its lovely! I do kinda wish Duels of fate gets accepted as an official ongoing theme like Imperial March and the such, because it was THAT epic. I think I will cry if the climax to this trilogy has Duel of fates. Seriously.. Fuck.
The thing that bothers me most about it’s financial success is that Disney probably thinks it did so well due to all the element it stole from ANH and that they will either continue to steal more from it or worse remake TESB. I think this was the very definition of a mediocore Star Wars film compared to the terrible SW films like I and II and great ones like ANH and TESB.
I really can see them shoehorning a Starkiller 2.0 aka Death Star 4.0 in their story meetings.
Story meetings ended months ago, bro. But hey, you are a talented troll. It just gets boring after a couple of days.
I’m a troll yet you responded to every one of my posts adding nothing of intelligence or value to the situation. Pot or kettle?
Never said I wasn’t trolling you bro, in fact, I am. And obviously getting to you, if you can’t stop and ignore me. This is fun. Next?
I was thinking the same thing… Also, I bet nobody will even dare mention that a film with a female character as the main new hero would do well.
Will do well? You mean not do well? Felicity Jones has a lot to live up to now. Fortunately, She seems to be very talented.
Yes and as expected I saw an article on yahoo how Rey ruined the film… As if…
Best actor and character in the new trilogy by miles. She should have given Carrie acting lessons in his one.
Bet it kills u that around 90 percent liked it
Means nothing. Jurrasic World got high ratings too. Episode II was intially thought of as a vast improvement over I. The last Transformers film was the highest grossing film in the series.
Also RT was intially 98 percent. It’s the The Dark Knight Rises of the trilogy.
Wait a sec, you’re letting facts cloud your observation. You wouldn’t wanna be labeled a hater for doing so, would you?? Haha
Ha! It makes me see how people can get caught up in religious or political zealotry.
I totally get people feeling hurt by any criticism about this film since we have never gotten a non-Lucas SW episode, the saga has not be in theaters for over a decade, and most people posting have devoted months if not years tracking the film’s progress here.
But at the end if the day, It’s just a film. It’s kind of like Parents who can’t see their kids as adults for who they really are.
In that sense, The Kylo/Han analogy is very apt here.
Yup. Nothing to add to this.
It made money, It brought the saga back. But I think the lack of a strong score, original plot, and glossing over too many things in between trilogies will ultimately hurt it’s legacy over time.
I do agree and I hate to say it but in my view Episode 8 will eventually be required to fully appreciate what 7 ended up being because I don’t think it will pass the litmus test of time. Sure, it will always maintain it’s general entertainment value but it’s contribution to the ENTIRE saga is a different matter.
I believe that 8 is gonna have to do some re-justifying of some of the things that occurred in 7, and not just some rushed half-hearted exposition.
Which is not really fair to Johnson at all though I think he’s up to it. I was hoping more of a jumping right into it ala Empire than going back like you said.
I hope VIII is the film that II should have been with I. I am glad that Luke’s planet is back since it was my favorite of the film due it’s uniqueness even if we saw it for less than a minute.
Ditto
I didn’t care for the cinematography either but he’s Abrams guy so I hope they get a new DP like they did for each OT film. I think the PT suffered a bit by using the same one for all three films.
Well more than 90% liked it. I guess you are the vocal 10%. And no, Jurassic World didnt have too much good reviews. Its on 70% currently. Either way, if you expected the enlightment from this 2 hours long movie than no wonder you werent satisfied. Ep VII had lot to set up, and ep VIII can do way more with less.
Key word – currently. I reiterate Attack Of The Clones was seen as vastly superior to The Phantom Menace and Empire got worse reviews than A New Hope intially. It means nothing till after the hype passes, Look at The Dark Knight Rises or Avatar for proof of that.
I just wanted a film better than the PT. It was superior to I and II (not musically though) but does not have the emotional weightor gravitas of III. The lack of originality sinks it quite a bit too.
I guess an original film today is the cinematic equivalent of enlightenment though.
All that emotional gravitas you got from that oh so touching and tragic Anakin and Padme storyline, acted like bored teens in a school play. All that gravitas aye..
Did I mention Anakin or Padme anywhere? At least Padme got a funeral though, Which is better than Han got in this one. Just a quick hug between Rey and Leia is the best he got.
And you think that the Resistance would be elated to have destroyed Starkiller Base but nope, Business as usual.
If you didn’t like emo Hayden then you probably won’t like emo Luke in the next one either. It was also very hard to take any of Carrie’s emoting seriously when her face was frozen in place too from all her ill-advised botox.
Wahoo! Is clearly the new Yipee apparently.
You should change your title from Professional Raconteur (Which you fail at, you’re not amusing in the least and I’ve yet to see a single anecdote come from you, just butthurt opinion) to Professional Contrarian. You’re here to stir the pot and upset people. Why else would you come and comment in EVERY article about how terrible you believe the movie to be, and then tell everyone here who states they enjoy the film that they won’t in 3 months.
You want attention. And apparently negative attention. Yet you’re trying to pass off your commentary as insightful and mature with a hint of the visionary when it comes to what the future holds for this film and the other two.
You haven’t a clue, honestly, no one does.
Your performance here is worse than Hayden Christensen’s Anakin in the prequels. That’s saying a lot. He has the market cornered on playing a spoiled, moody, brat. I guess things do change.
If that were true then why are your last 20 replies to me. You sought my comments out because YOU are the lonely one. Why do you think everyone on here ignores you?
If people want to disagree or talk about the film then that’s cool with me. But your comments are clearly stalkerish.
Trolling a troll. I take great satisfaction with it.
And thank you for pointing out that people aren’t IGNORING you. They’re giving you all the negative attention you’ve come here thirsting for.
Now you’re just getting a little extra from me. Don’t worry, I’ll be around as long as you are.
You keep trolling, I’m right behind you.
Why even have the classic opening scrawl when jj’s going to shake the camera at you in the opening storm trooper sequence?
You are on point today, My man! Do our critiques makes us supressive people in this house of Abrams?
Why did Von Sydow cower like a bitch before he was cut diwn then ya know attempt to defend himself or get away. Wouldn’t have done much good but at least he would gone out like a hero.
I would have given it a full star more if that claymation chess board thing and the “kessel run” lines weren’t in it.
Those reeked of Abrams-ism. He’s even worse than Whedon far as fan- service wankery goes. The whole thing felt like the most expensive fan film.
So you will simply sit, wait, and bide your time, until everyone comes around to your thinking and you can say OMG I WAS SO RIGHT WHEN YOU WERE ALL PRETENDING YOU LIKED IT.
What if that never happens? What if you’re just an angry Jawa by yourself in the bowels of your sandcrawler for the rest of the trilogy?
Not pretending. Caught up in the hype, only seeing it once, and involved ingroup think such as yourself. I know that’s difficult to understand for someone using a Fascist as their profile pic though.
I’ve seen it three times, and no one has told me to love it. In fact, after the film finished the first time I felt like I could breathe for the first time in 3 years because it didn’t suck.
The subsequently enjoyed it the next two viewings more than the last time because I was able to catch bits and pieces I had missed on the prior viewings.
And I’m not the only one. Frowny face. Just keep pouting and being angry. People will pay attention to you here. Promise.
Starkiller certainly seemed like a story-telling contrivance. It would’ve been super cool if the First Order simply had a massive starfleet instead. Either that or a planetary base of operations that was virtually impregnable or impossibly unapproachable. Actually it would’ve been cool if they simply had an entire quadrant of the galaxy in firm control.
Surprised that more folks haven’t mentioned how slick it was for Han to hyperspace directly through the Starkiller’s shield refresh cycle to penetrate the planet. That was the shit!
We still don’t know how it was funded or created. I haven’t heard any answers yet from the EU stuff but it’s very circumspect that they could have gotten the resources and funds to build a superweapon literally larger than the Death Star considering the New Republic controlled most of the galaxy.
It’s like Syria developing a nuclear program and nobody ever being the wiser about it. Major suspension of disbelief there.
Indeed, Snark, indeed. And just exactly what star(s) was being drained in order to fuel it’s WMD? I mean…it’s not as if the planet could sustain it’s forestry and weather pattern(s) in the absence of it’s OWN life-giving sun, right? I know we’re dealing with a fantasy GFFA from a Long Time Ago but how much anti-science should be required to believe in the plausibility of certain circumstances involving the fundamental elements of nature itself??
Exactly! I never felt like the characters felt it was a real threat like The Death Stars or even the Droid Control Ship was in Episode I. You felt a sense of victory after that but this it was like “Well, Better get back to fighting The First Order”. There was no real celebration or exulation afterward to make opit believable.
That’s because this movie was an (obvious) set-up for what’s coming- and in a sense this is where it kinda failed itself. I personally believe that ANY great movie should be able to serve as a standalone without the need of pretense of something that’s following it. Sure, ESB was a cliffhanger but at least it was made so well that it could afford to be such. JJ/Kasdan took a calculated risk with certain plot devices and one could argue that they simply shouldn’t have done so. This movie wasn’t “bad” per’se- it wasn’t even “lazy”, it was just a bit too presumptuous with how it should conclude itself imo.
I would think that too had we not been burned by Episode I and II, Where a lot of stuff got pushed into the EU instead. That was back when Lucas controlled everything but now we got multiple screenwriters, directors, and possibly producers with different visions that could case a real problem with things.
Also Empire ending on a cliffhanger was pretty novel at the time, Now it’s as cliched as the twist ending that Shamalamadindong ran into the ground for the past 15 years.
I guarantee you that if Shamalamadingdong’s last 5 or 6 bombs had’ve been successful he would’ve been in the running for directing one of these (probably VIII) haha
Oh, I believe you. To those who say Abrams was the worst choice imaginable. Let me give them 5 reasons he is not….
1) McG
2) Zach Snyder
3) Jon M. Chu
4) Micheal Bay
5) Brett Ratner
The Five Horsemen of Cinema.
I still haven’t forgiven McG for terminator salvation. He is anathema to filmmaking.
Amazingly he is still working which goes to show you it really is who you know and who you blow in that industry.
LOL. “Good stuff” in the EU.
LOL.
Where do you think Starkiller came from? Ben Solo? I know from your posts that you lack the ability to read but at least think before you post, Pleb.
Starkiller didn’t come from the EU. It has nothing to do with the Suncrusher, at all. They’re entirely different super weapons.
And Leia and Han having children in the film does not preclude an EU intervention in the script. It was a given they would have kids. Keep trying to pull this shit out of your ass, it’s fun to shoot down.
Just like Kylo’s Lightsaber is not a true lightsaber, Right?
I explained that in another reply. You are welcome btw, I don’t know where you would be if my tax dollars didn’t pay for your food stamps.
Which reply? Explain it again, because quite honestly I don’t believe you. And you can’t explain it given the two super weapons are completely different. They don’t even share the same concept in how they work.
Thanks for yet another personal attack. Good to know I’m getting to you. This is so much fun. What next?
Gah you’re so rude. What’s the point?
You felt a sense of victory at the Gungan’s jumping up and down in a 100% cartoon rendered CGI field?
Yes?
I’m sorry.
At least they had a reaction. Have you ever seen the OT? All your posts smack of being a band wagon fan. Now hurry off! JJ needs his knob shined and your Dad’s mouth is bleeding.
I’ve watched Episode VII 3 times, and guess what? There is celebrating after the base is destroyed. There are people cheering in two separate sequences. But, Mr. Hypocrite who’s been complaining about how this film is a 100% rip off of ANH, they didn’t bother to have that celebration sequence like they did in ANH or Phantom Menace. Probably because a new war just started and they have shit to do rather than throw a big party to pin medals on everyone’s chest.
But hey, complain about how they didn’t acknowledge their victory like they did in ALL the other Star Wars films but this one, because it’s so much like ALL the other…oh wait.
All of 5 seconds! Not even a funeral for Han. How does it feel to be the dumbest poster on the board?
There was more than 5 seconds of celebrating. For your sake when I see it the fourth time, I’ll clock it.
Funeral for Han. There’s no body? And let’s see, what else. Leia is a General and obviously the leader of the Resistance. A soldier dies in war and…what? You stop everything to have a funeral for one man? How many X-Wing pilots died above Starkiller. Why aren’t you complaining about their funeral? Shits going down son, and I think if you could ask Han Solo himself he’d spit on the idea of giving him a funeral. He’d tell everyone to move on with their lives and keep fighting the good fight, which is what’s being done.
Again, 4th personal attack because you are unable to defend your silly nit pickings of the movie when someone does actually engage with you and present actual evidence that you’re just here to start shit and make people upset.
Next?
They could have spent 3 seconds explaining the Hosnian Prime planet getting destroyed as being a big deal. At least Alderaan gave me a reason to feel bummed when it exploded.
Yeah, Man! WTF is that about? Wasn’t it the new capital too? It wasn’t even mentioned anywhere in the film.
But a self contained blade of light makes perfect sense….right? Or a mystical force that permeates all living things. I guess that’s plausible. Just take a step back for one second and relax. It’s star wars, not a space odyssey. Try and have fun with it.
Suspension of disbelief is one thing but full dismissal of critical thinking in order to fully justify the entertainment value of a product is something else entirely. I’ve been watching and enjoying the story of SW since 1982 and I assure you that I require NO advice on how to analyze it or ANY other piece of entertainment media for that matter.
You can feel free to jizz your utter contentment with this film as much you desire- just be sure to point that thing somewheres else, m’kay?
Are you seriously asking to see the financial records of the First Order? Dude, this is Star Wars. It’s fake. Fantasy. Aunt Beru was wearing a denim pantsuit from JC Penney in episode IV. Do you need to see a map to the JC Penney in Anchorhead?
Not at all. Just have a throwaway line about how they got it up. Much like “The Emperor has dissolved the Imperial Senate.” Just something of that nature. Or have Leia mention it quickly under her breath.
Aside from a lot of Fisher’s lines (possibly due to her delievery) There was minimal PT style cringe inducing dialogue but it could have benefitted from a polish at the same time.
Lucas routinely failed to explain anything in the original trilogy. Everything we know about the details was created by other people. Go buy the Visual Dictionary, it’s canon and Hidalgo wrote it, so you can have all the answers to your questions and stop nit picking at a good movie.
The entire PT was NOTHING but explaining shit. Half of the Clone Wars episodes were prequels to other episodes. They should not go that far in overexplaining shit but they should have at least made a tiny effort. Mad Max did a far better job in that regard.
No, the PT explained the obvious. What was happening at that given moment. “Here’s a cup of water, I’m going to drink it.” Sums up everything. But even those films rarely explained wtf was going on with the greater Universe at any given time, or even major characters.
Please see Count Dooku, and with just watching Episode II, trying to figure out who the hell he is and why he would suddenly become the Sith apprentice of Palpatine.
And what did Mad Max explain lol? That they were in a desert and they were thirsty. lol lol lol lol.
Explained in the Clone Wars. It’s very clear you have never seen any of the films other the new one, So I commend you for your apt pick of a screen name.
So you never seen that film either? I guess living here would take up all your valuable free time.
Yes. Very clear I’ve never seen any of the movies. Okay, please back up your weak ass argument right here and now by giving lines of dialogue from the movie that explain WHY Dooku became what he was and who the hell he was in the first place in Attack of the Clones.
Cartoon doesn’t count bra, cause that’s 6 seasons of explanations that came long after the movies were published.
Go on, I’ll be here. Waiting.
You just equated star wars lore with the current situation in the middle east. I tHink we just discovered the genesis of your disappointment. Star wars exists to get away from the filth we’re subjected to in or shared reality, not to be contrasted against it. For the most part, nothing in star wars makes all that much sense. How did Luke crash land on dagobah and just happen to land right where yoda lived in esb? When Luke tosses himself from the platform in bespin, he lands in a fan tube that shots him out right where the falcon can find him. It’s stupid, it makes no sense, and it was friggin awesome.
But seriously, juxtaposing star wars with current events is missing the point entirely. It was fun. and it makes people smile. I always felt like that was the point of star wars.
Far as Dagobah goes I give credit to The Force as Yoda probably guided him there since you see him watching him soon as he lands. Also they had to do a bit of walking to get to his hut too. It struck me as a dwarf planet as well.
As far as Bespin. They explained in one of the reference books that the tube was used for the Tibanna gas they mined there.
I can buy a suspension of disbelief long as it’s faithful to the universe. Obviously in the GFFA sound exists in space as does fire but I think when they contradict something already established with no explanation then it makes things a little uneven even if you don’t pick up on it till later.
Wait are you telling me you can see Yoda in ESB right after Luke crashlanded?! I have seen this film 1000+ times and never noticed
“Like we’re being watched”. It’s not that hard to buy that the most powerful Jedi Master had his eyes on him as he “watched this one a long time have I”.
Disney can read, people have pointed out that the parallels to Episode IV may have been too much, and this seems to be the chief complaint. Either way, script was done for VIII months ago.
They may be able to read but they can’t think if they did not see that backlash coming since it’s not like sites like these are lacking in activity or hidden away on the internet.
I don’t care if we go back to PT era BS, If I wanted the OT then I’d watch them in Blu-Ray. Just give us something new and different
They did. If you can’t see past a few parallel’s then you’re doomed to be disappointed with everything.
I’m deeply touched by your concern. Someday you will get that GED and move out of Mom and Dad’s.
My, oh my. The troll who claims he’s only here to debate his opinion has decided to start making personal attacks against me, a simple man who’s come to this forum to discuss Star Wars and my opinions on it with other fans of the series. Even those who have a different view point then myself.
Woe as me that you are unable to have an adult conversation about a MOVIE without resorting to attacks against my intellect and education. Why can’t we just discuss the film and respect that our view points are different?
Can STARWARSNEWSNET create a thread for just the whiny bitches to rehash the same stupid shit the 1st 3 whiny bitches that posted bad shit about the movie said already so we who liked it don’t constantly have to read the same garbage over n over?! This is what SW is now so if you dont like it go and watch something else.
There is no monopoly on OPINION. Detractors have just as much right to express their position as anyone else. Until/unless this site becomes STARWARSMOVIEKUMBAYA.COM you’re gonna have to accept that not everyone is gonna share your point of view or sense of overall satisfaction.
I enjoyed the film- for what it was but I can appreciate the folks that feel that it’s flaws overcome it’s sense of accomplishment. It makes for a bilateral (and hopefully healthy) discussion.
Yes you find plenty of
haters on internet message boards, and I assure you those people will
always be there no matter who writes or directs a SW movie.
Yes yes, anyone with a contrasting opinion is automatically a hater…. Social norms these days…..
Whatever they are, they’ll always be there. No matter who write or directs.
I’m sorry honesty offends your safe zone. Should we issue a trigger warning when someone’s freedom of speech offends your dainty ears?
It’s called Star Wars NEWS! This is not a fan site. You’d be very at home in The First Order with your ideas of censorship.
Yes I was wondering that myself!!!
I didn’t know how much I liked it the first time on IMAX 3D (never watching star wars in 3d ever again) and knew I had to see it again. went tonight and seen it in 2d……AND THOUGHT IT WAS AMAZING. I had a few criticism’s after the first time but they were put to rest on the second viewing. What a fucking amazing star wars movie, direction, characters, story, cinematography, and most of all heart (couldn’t ask for more). Im so surprised at the amount of fan hate on the internet, but people ive talked to in person seem to love it. so think its a minor amount of internet cynics who are never pleased.
Sounds like you had a very similar experience to myself. Saw it in 3D the first time, loved the shit out of it the second time in 2d. The Anh hope similarities completely faded from my mind the second time, I just sat back and enjoyed the ride
Just finished watching it. LOVED IT. I didn’t think of ANH at all while watching it.
The characters… I’m buying. They NAILED it. John Boyega and Adam Driver, as I said, are superstars. Daisy Ridley, welcome. A household name for sure in the near future. Oscar Issac proved what we already knew but wow… This movie was it for me, it delivered. I cared about Rey, I cared about Finn, the chemistry between all of them was off the charts. Finn and Kylo Ren jumped way up in my favorite characters list ALREADY. Finn was funny and brave, I related to him, and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren…. They were right, we never had a character like his. I was so intrigued with Ben Solo and Adam was terrific in this role, such a badass villain. Harrison Ford… Han Solo, what else could I say? He brought him back to life and he was my favorite part of the movie. I love this film, I don’t care about ranking it, I’m excited and was entertained. Star Wars is back, and this movie deserves all the success it obtains, it truly does.. for those who share the same opinion can we applaud JJ? He hit it out of the park IMO and was given a tall order and delivered… JJ did it. Rian Johnson is up next, how you could you NOT be excited.
The Force is strong with this movie! 😉
It seems like a few days ago people in the comments were raving about the film. Now they’ve gone back to trashing it.
Bottom line – this movie is making record-breaking money, garnering critical acclaim and drawing an incredible reaction from mainstream fans. Lucasfilm/Disney has almost zero reason to believe that they got anything wrong.
It’s tough to determine, then, where this places hardcore nerds (I use this term lovingly) who hated the film. Their opinions matter, as all minority voices do, but not in a way that is meaningful to the company. So I’m struggling with how to reconcile the popular view of TFA as a great film with the underground belief that it’s a hollow rehash / missed opportunity.
I think at least half of the criticism is from salty prequel fanboys aghast that someone made a good Star Wars film that puts into stark contrast once and for all just how off the prequels were from our beloved George Lucas (and hey I do love George, wouldn’t have SW without him, but he got the prequels so hopelessly wrong it beggars belief no one stood up and said to him at the time. The fact Attack of the Clones was WORSe than TPM is crazy).
The other half, hey I understand the parallels to a New Hope making people feel cheated a little bit. I just see it as a typical Star Wars plotline. Big evil base needs to be destroyed before it’s too late. I was way too caught up in enjoying expertly crafted scene after scene with genuinely lovable characters and witty dialogue for the New Hope parallels to really bug me all that much. Some have absolutely clung to that argument for dear life to bash this film and conveniently forget the bits where we have amazing new characters, brilliantly played returning characters and a script with a real heart and most fundamentally, which was FUN.
Some people just love to troll the opposite of popular opinion as well, which makes up a lot of it too I guess. All those rebels thinking they’re superior for being different. I call them fuds.
Wrong. Some of us love Star Wars and wanted with every fiber of our being for this movie to be good. Instead we got a remaking of a film from 30 years ago all in the name of making bags of money.
Love the movie all you want. I cant stop you. No more than I can stop people form somehow loving the Prequels.
Maybe some day the fan boy blinders will come off and you will realize what an opportunity was missed with this film.
TFA was fantastic and, honestly, better than I was expecting!
Don’t get so hung up on Starkiller base, it was essentially just a side-plot used to create a framework for the real climax. It didn’t ruin anything, it wasn’t painful to watch, it was just mostly unneeded. When that is the biggest problem with a movie, you can be safe in calling it a good movie.
Exactly!
After all these YEARS of not being able to enjoy Star Wars on the big screen, I feel so spoiled to watch a BRAND NEW episode so casually:
“Oh yeah. The Force Awaken’s title crawl. No biggie…” 😛
Fri… Sat….. Should I try for Sun too…???….. I just might…….
Lol I did 3rd time around for me
Look,
after prequels were realased there were people complaining about the new trilogy wasn’t the same as OT and George destroyed what he created.
Now, that this new installement has come with the OT spirit (in my opinion, without armies of droids and cgi gungans, confusing casting, bad characters like Grievous, Windu…) some of this people critic TFA because is like a remake. FGS!
I didn’t think in ANH while watching it.
It was refreshing, with brilliant shots a good humor and without cheesy elements!
I can’t wait for my second viewing!
Unfortunately there was no way this film would please everyone, or more importantly, every die hard fan. I agree some of the loud criticism seems hypocritical in context of the continued prequel bashing. I really enjoyed the film and I am seeing it again today. Hopefully, with time those who are angered by the film as well as those who enjoyed it, over time, all find a way to appreciate the film or continue to do so.
Agree. if people say the prequels deserve intense criticism, so does this one.
In all fairness the vocal prequel haters are loving the new film, whereas many who liked the prequels are the ones who are not digging the generic nature of the plot for the new film. Different groups of detractors.
History will show the film is more polarising than being actively promoted at this point.
Even though I enjoyed the film for what it was, I think it was a wasted opportunity to have old friends share the same screen time one last time.
Agreed.
I was thinking the same, in fact i’m here now because i wanted to share my actually thoughts in a new comment, although probably someone has said it.
After my second viewing i was thinking in the NEXT SPIN OFF!! BEFORE IT’S TO LATE!!
Because when Rey and Finn says “Luke” to Han Solo, that moment was so magical, but sad, because they will not talk together anymore.
Buuuut, make a Spinoff with the last adventure together!!! Luke with the Temple, explained in TFA and Han around him and his son or how he lost millennium falcon!! It,s a shame not to see some of this 30 years before ROTJ.
But the actors are there!!!!
Make Luke talk to Han again! It,s possible!!! Will not be weird if they show a story 10 years before TFA!!
Someone likes the idea?
I heard that all three were in part of the flashback that was cut and now will be shown in VIII
the ‘cash cow’ continues…
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You clearly don’t understand the concept of ‘cash cow’…
Look how clever you are. I bet you f’ing loved the prequels and somehow that is a principled position to take.. Episode 7 is just dirty to you, haha.
Dude, the image is funny and all, but this type of flashing can invoke epileptic seizures. I request you, or admins to take it down before anyone gets hurt.
Just saw it a second time. I liked it even more than the first time I saw it because I felt like there was so much to absorb during the first viewing that I found myself thinking about previous scenes and stuff that had just happened. Sealed it as my favorite movie of the year and third favorite star wars behind new hope and empire.
Ditto! Far more enjoyable and satisfying the second time around
What drives me angry is that on imdb the first 3 reviews you see give a really low rating.
I saw it yesterday for the second time and all my complaints gone! It is an amazing movie, I never felt wrong it’s similar to ANH while I wached it. Good characters, humour, soundtrack, everything. In the top 3 star wars movies for sure!
Nearly 60,000 10/10 ratings, about 4000 very low ratings. Read it and weep, people who don’t seem to like good Star Wars films! :p
For added context. Amazed ROTS is sitting with such a high score to be honest… but yeah TFA compares very favourably..
To be fair, most people seem to think RotS to be the best out of the prequels. I personally really like it overall.
I really like the ending, where Owen and Beru Lars are looking into the distance, they were obviously thinking Episode IV is way better than this pish.
Its always the vocal minority crying on the internet. The movie was great, regardless of the rehash. And it just gets better with every reviews.
That goes for every popular movie on imdb.com lol
Off topic sorry. Am reading before the awakening (young adult novel) and it answers some questions from force awakens! Don’t want to spoil but its gives good back story to Finn and why he jumps ship, not much on Rey just how hard her life is,why she feels she must stay and how she knows how to fly. Best is the poe story! It gives much needed new republic back story and the state of the galaxy prior force awakens
Just come away from my 3rd viewing decided to concentrate on back ground more.this film gets better and better. Spotted R2-kT .and heard obi-wan shout Ray in force dream light saber bit. Did a bit of research and they have put Alec Guinness voice in that bit. My questin now is! Is Ray somehow a kenobi. Not bens but maybe some offshoot ?
obi-wan called out luke several times too. further evidence she’s his daughter? either way it was a really cool sequence. 🙂
Wow, i thought it was yoda!!
Yoda was also speaking in that scene. 🙂
If I understand correctly, that greedy Harrison Ford’s salary was more than 15% of the entire cost of the film! That is perverse! It’s not like he blew the roof off the theaters with this film. He should be ashamed. This has been one giant extortion, not accepting a lesser salary. Fans should be happy he is in it, but come on! If he wanted to do it, he could have done it for 1/10th of that. That is just pizzing on the fans.
Who cares how much money he made? He’s in the movie right? So let’s say at your job they ask you to do something that have a history of saying you had no interest in doing. Wouldn’t you ask for as much money as you could? It’s no different for actors.
He is also a big part of why the movie will make $$$$$$
I’m quite sure there were others working on the film that were quite expensive aswell, for example Lawrence Kasdan or John Williams.
Nothing wrong with it. They are all incredibly talented.
I actually don’t give a shit. Nor have I heard anything on the matter.
Wow!! After my second viewing i,m overexcited! As many people say it gets better after second time!!
Just amazing! It has blown my mind!
So emotional! All acting is perfect! Rey’s expressions are better and better during her “awakening”, perfect humor, cinematography, Solo moment is painful, and so many nostalgic and memorable scenes! The sets, the ships, oh Jesus…
Let,s make a spin off with Han and Luke interacting! Let,s explain something during this 30 past years!!
😉
Just got out of a 2nd viewing as well.
It really does get better the 2nd time because you have less emotional baggage. Its amazing.
Yep the second viewing was very special, I could just sit back relax and enjoy the ride. An excellent star wars movie that came close to old trilogy. I wasn’t impressed with the IMAX 3d it just didn’t work with Star wars, my second viewing was in 2d and it looked and felt so much better. Looking forward to taking my nephews for a third viewing over xmas.
Exactly my experience seeing it the second time. A lot of the negativity could be knee jerk stuff, maybe a lot of it will fade as people see it over again. If not, who cares. I loved it
did you pick out R2-KT? She is the little pink R2 unit made for Katie, that little girl who died of cancer. First viewing.. didn’t catch it. Second viewing.. spotted it 3 times 😉
No I didn’t. I knew it wass there but i couldn’t see it. I will try to look for the next viewing hehe. I did pick up Goss Toowers and Constable Zuvio. In the second viewing i also saw Snowtroopers (am i correct if i say they show snowtroopers only a few seconds and not in action, or i missed something?) i noticed the lights under X wing (i don’t know why i didn’t see the first time, 😉 probably the emotion)
you know what…. i honestly can’t remember seeing snow troopers. doesn’t mean there aren’t any, i just can’t remember. And i didn’t see Zuvio!!!!! R2-KT can be seen on the Resistance planet before BB-8 sees Poe is alive (look in the background) and i saw her twice after the fight.
Thank you. I will try to see R2-KT next time.;)
Yeah. Snowtroopers were so cool. It was during final battle, but they were on the hangar if i remember well. It was so fast. I imagine we will see lots of them in next episode; something the more purist will criticize finding similarities with ESB.
Love the suits of troopers. In TFA they have so protagonism. Shots of troopers are brilliant. This point of view was amazing.
Zuvio was the one being killed by Ren in Rey’s vision. So fast too. Strange. I think is the future. Probably will see more Zuvio. Seems a cool character for the movie.
Am I getting a cut of that cash? If not…why should I care?
I would Just Like to say Thank you Mr. Abrams from the bottom of my heart
He did it. He brought Star Wars back.
i did notice, especially on my second viewing, how many parents took their little kids to see this despite the pg-13 rating. i bet they had fun explaining han biting it.
Good.
I mean, I watched the Terminator commit suicide and Mufasa get murdered in cold blood as a kid. Children’s first fear is losing a parental figure, and that doesn’t come from movie, it comes from simply existing. Kids can HANdle it.
Haha I se what you did there. Beautiful
So true….. It’s already around us and kids these days are much more mature than before.
I blame the prequels.
(relax ppl, its a joke…..sort of)
I love this film! … Or am I just drinking the cool aid. So many people are just trolling and hating on it because it’s unoriginal. Many negative responses on TheForce.net. 🙂 I’ve seen this three times already and going for a fourth time this week! This did not happen with the prequels.
It’s really good. I’ve seen it twice and one of my favorite Star Wars films.
nah son you’re not drinking any kool aid. I’ve watched it 3 times. First time was to take it all in, half fan boy eyes half critic eyes. Second time was to make sure I really liked it (enjoyed it even more), 3rd time was late sunday night because I had nothing else to do (and there were STILL lines at the theater even when i was getting out at 11.30pm. Its great through and through. After seeing it multiple times I still can only say that the things that I didn’t like about the film I can count on a single hand and even then they’re just minor nitpicky gripes. Not eye roller problems like the prequels. I mean in the first scene with Poe and Finn they established a total bromantic brotherhood the prequels couldn’t set up with 6 hours between anakin and obi-wan. And furthermore, friggin BB-8 out acted hayden christensen SO HARD.
Literally think the only thing I thought was too much was when Han made that grandpa duck face when he was confronted by the two gangs after they said hes failed to deliver twice. And I don’t think I liked the line when Ben says “your son was weak, so I destroyed him”. Carrie could’ve shown a little more emotion, but she hasn’t been acting in awhile so I can give her a pass on that cuz she was also a general and had to keep a strong face. This movie is tits and did what it needed to do. Satiate the hunger of old fans, new fans, let us know SW was back, and set up the chessboard for 8 and 9 to knock it out of the park. Can’t wait to see what’s next…
This coming xmas is gonna be dope. We get Rogue 1 in a year, and Episode VIII a few months after that…. Two star wars films within months of one another…. LET’S GO!
“Twice? Uh…what was the second time?”
Love Han!
Your review is pretty much on point! What a lotta people didn’t get is that TFA is the 1st of a Trilogy, it was meant to set up the story for 8 and 9. Going to see it again this week! Cheers!
“I mean in the first scene with Poe and Finn they established a total bromantic brotherhood the prequels couldn’t set up with 6 hours between anakin and obi-wan.”
Love this point.
Nope. 95% of critics loved it too. AFI’s Top 10 movie of the year. 92% of audiences rated it favorably, as well.
Entitled fanboys will always whine and nitpick because their own self-constructed, unrealistic expectations were not perfectly met. But what else is new? Some of their reasons for disliking it are so stupid it’s not worth fretting over and is best ignored.
Couldn’t agree more! Let’s look at the bright side though: what’s important is that “We” liked it! Who cares about the rest? Cheers!
The only prequel I watched immediately after was ROTS – obviously its the better of the 3.
Seen TFA 3 times and want to go back again right now. Still holding it as number 3 after ANH and ESB, which will never be eclipsed, they’re all time classics of film.
Note that the movie is not yet released in China. Jurassic Wold without China earned around 450 millions dollars. So it’s also an international opening record.
Note that the movie is not yet released in China. Jurassic Wold without China earned around 450 millions dollars. So it’s also an international opening record and a worldwide opening record if we unbundle these data.
Don’t know anything about how these statistics are made, but shouldn’t the first weekend sales from countries that have later openings as the rest of the world be added to the total of first wekeend world wide?
Yes, when the movie will be out in China they’ll add that opening data in the worldwide count. But currently they’re comparing the SW numbers (so without China) with the Jurassic World overall data (so including China).
Isn’t that amazing? I can’t wait to see the China numbers for TFA.
is this the first film that no one loses a limb in? …. there seemed to be a glaring absence of dismemberment .
There is something falling off Kylo Ren when he gets defeated, however not very clear what he lost…
So what’s the difference between International and World-Wide?
International does not include U.S. domestic sales. Worldwide does.
So Deadline is reporting that Force Awakens hit closer to 248.5-250 million with a record Sunday gross of 60-61 million.
http://deadline.com/2015/12/star-wars-force-awakens-box-office-thursday-night-previews-1201669166/
Boxofficemojo.com has the numbers as $247 mill for the weekend, $119 fri, $68 sat, $60 sun and $528 world wide…