Star Wars: The Force Awakens racks up another $37.6 million Worldwide and moves closer to $2B

star-wars-force-awakens-official-poster-691x1024The Force Awakens may be finally dropping out of the #1 spot in various markets worldwide, but it is still consistently adding to its historic total box office.  With an estimated $23.3m this weekend, The Force Awakens has passed Jurassic World on the International charts to become the 4th highest grossing movie all time outside of the United States.  Domestically, Star Wars came in second this week behind The Revenant with a total of $14.3 million.  This puts The Force Awakens’ worldwide cume at $1.94 billion in its sixth week of release.

 

As we now head into the dead of winter, box office will stagnate.  Star Wars came out of the gate in historic fashion, but has seen box office drop off on par with a typical summer blockbuster as opposed to getting the audience retention numbers that brought films like Avatar and Titanic to the top of the worldwide charts.  The Force Awakens long ago gave up chasing #1 and now looks to see if it can cross that $2 billion mark and possibly get close to overtaking Titanic and its $2.18b for number two all time.

 

The Money Awakens

 

At the current rate of drop off week to week, Titanic is going to be difficult to catch, but there are some factors that could provide Star Wars with a bit more life before it leaves theaters.  The $14.3 million this weekend domestically was likely impacted by winter storm Jonas closing theaters throughout the northeastern US.  That combined with a lack of NFL playoffs next week, could meant a significantly less steep week to week drop off domestically next weekend.  Additionally, there is not much significant competition hitting theaters until Deadpool on Feb 12th, so The Force Awakens should have a shot at drawing significant repeat viewers for the next few weeks.

 

All that being said, passing Titanic will still be a long shot.  But crossing $2 billion in the next few weeks should be achievable barring any more significant weather events or a surprise hit from a movie that can pull away Star Wars leaning crowds such as Pride + Prejudice + Zombies.  But passing 2 billion and getting close to Titanic will depend on just how long fans keep The Force Awakens lingering in theaters after mainstream audiences have left it behind, and just how much we tack on to those totals in the next month or so.

 

Source: Deadline

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50 thoughts on “Star Wars: The Force Awakens racks up another $37.6 million Worldwide and moves closer to $2B

  • January 25, 2016 at 7:07 pm
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    free ads in the form of 6 films , various cartoons , comics , books , albums, concerts , toys ….. fans going multiple times and its having trouble catching 2 films that had none of the above . mad that

    • January 25, 2016 at 7:12 pm
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      mad for what? it’s the 3rd biggest grossing movie ever (and one of the first 2 has been released in theaters at least 3 times) and the 1st SW movie, why should anyone be mad about it xD

      • January 25, 2016 at 7:24 pm
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        i think you misunderstood my use of the phrase “mad that” …i use it as in “thats odd” or “its a little strange”

        • January 25, 2016 at 7:40 pm
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          oooooh, sorry ^^
          English is not my first language, so yes, I misunderstood, my bad 😛

          • January 25, 2016 at 9:30 pm
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            That’s because “mad that” isn’t actual English, that is literally the first time I’ve ever heard someone say mad that, and then explain what it means. I was curious why he used that structuring too.

          • January 26, 2016 at 12:29 am
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            so I’m not that bad at understanding english 😀

          • January 26, 2016 at 6:04 am
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            Correct

    • January 25, 2016 at 7:12 pm
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      You have to remember that Avatar capitalized on the 3D craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s. If it came out today it would absolutely flop. Titanic just didn’t have much competition and it was the first must-see chick movie (think Twilight).

      • January 25, 2016 at 7:43 pm
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        I think it’s sort of silly to try and hand-wave over the popularity of films that made BILLIONS of dollars. Films that make a few hundred million dollars are easier to chalk up to a passing fad.

        Put whatever spin you want on it- but those films were enormously popular. The only way you see legs on films like that is if you have people going to see it that don’t normally go to the movies, or if you have people going back repeatedly. Or both.

        TFA has made enormous amounts of money. And Disney is undeniably thrilled. The’ll have made back a big chunk of their 4B investment on this one film’s BO and merchandizing.

        • January 25, 2016 at 8:01 pm
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          Titanic is absolutely its own organic success that would be very successful if it were released today. Avatar is just another 3D action movie at this point. It would make money, but it wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the box office if it were released today. It’s just not a very good movie once you take away the 3D gimmick.

          • January 25, 2016 at 8:53 pm
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            Would GONE WITH THE WIND still be adjusted box office champ if it were released today? Would STAR WARS be just another sci-fi summer movie?

            Movies are in and of their time. Trying to second-guess their success a year before, after, or 30 years after is impossible.

            If anything, people were betting against James Cameron when both TITANIC and AVATAR were released.

            It is what it is.

        • January 26, 2016 at 10:22 am
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          Again, for these kind of movies (fun action-type flicks) I judge quality based on whether they can “absorb” me even after having seen them many, many times. The OT does this for me and I know TFA will (though I have only seen it once). If I happen upon an OT flick on TV, I just can’t stop watching it and it entertains me.

          In contrast, I have NO desire to ever watch Avatar again and if I happened upon it, I would probably change the channel. And Titanic was just god-awful, and an utter waste of two (or was it three?) hours of my life.

      • January 25, 2016 at 9:49 pm
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        didn’t avatar start the return of 3-D, at least for mainstream films?

    • January 25, 2016 at 7:58 pm
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      Avatar had a MASSIVE add campaign. It was a movie you HAD to see in theaters and was the first real 3D film done well. Also, in foreign markets (where the real $$$ is made) its sometimes a boon to be a new property thats just visually stunning instead of having baggage of people who feel like they have to have seen 6 films, comics, books, &cartoons to undertand this new movie. Star Wars leans heavily on nostalgia which some markets just don’t have.

      Titanic was a bit more of an anomaly. Pretty much just a film that nobody expected to be good and it blew everyone’s mind. In hind-sight they don’t seem as impressive but they were no flukes. All the marketing in the world can’t create the same buzz as something that just catches the world by storm. Its like asking why today’s hit artists aren’t as famous a the beetles. Some things just catch on at the perfect moment in history to ride that wave to immortality.

      • January 25, 2016 at 10:23 pm
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        Did you know the polarization lenses and projection system they use is pretty much the same technique they used for movies like the Creature from the black lagoon and even older movies. The cheap red and blue anaglyph glasses are actually newer technology albeit crappier.

        So Avatar was a bit of a scam, at least how they marketed it. That said it still the best looking 3D movie I have seen.

  • January 25, 2016 at 7:37 pm
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    I don’t know if anyone has seen this yet. But its amazing.

    • January 26, 2016 at 2:05 am
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      I wondered about that too…

  • January 25, 2016 at 8:17 pm
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    I dare you all to go and see it one more time each and get your friends and family to do so to…go on Double dare ya!

    • January 26, 2016 at 4:14 pm
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      Haha, I’ve seen it 8 times, with family and friends. Always looking for more reasons to watch it again while it is in the cinema. I guess a dare will suffice. 🙂

  • January 25, 2016 at 8:20 pm
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    It passed Jurassic World like 2 weeks ago.

    • January 25, 2016 at 8:20 pm
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      That was worldwide, not overseas.

  • January 25, 2016 at 8:40 pm
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    I saw it 4 times and read the book. think I’m gonna wait for the DVD now

  • January 25, 2016 at 9:46 pm
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    considering how long titanic was in theaters originally, plus the extra cash it got during its rerelease, almost catching it in only five weeks is amazing.

  • January 25, 2016 at 11:21 pm
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    disney can have a strong influence on the weak minded

    • January 26, 2016 at 12:09 am
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      What are you talking about ?

      • January 26, 2016 at 12:24 am
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        about disney ripping off people with this remake

        • January 26, 2016 at 12:37 am
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          Ohh so you are just another old EU fanatic.
          GTFO !!!

        • January 26, 2016 at 4:54 am
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          I know, the Last of the Mohicans remake was so offensive, so was the Scarface remake and the Wizard of Oz remake.

          And why did people like Gladiator even though its the exact same movie as Braveheart?? Ugh, people are so stoopid.

          ………or maybe good movies are good movies. And people like to watch good movies.

          • January 26, 2016 at 6:14 pm
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            I’d completely and utterly ignore this kid. Why he even bothers logging in on here to say such stupid things is beyond me. He’s certainly entitled to his own opinion on things, but he contributes absolutely nothing. If we ignore him, he’ll go away.

  • January 26, 2016 at 12:48 am
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    Ticket prices were, what, 30 or 40% lower in Titanic’s day and probably 20 to 30% lower during Avatar’s. So even if TFA surpasses the gross of either, it still will reflect far fewer tickets sold. But that’s just the nature of the entertainment industry today. Too many screens competing for people’s eyeballs.

    • January 26, 2016 at 12:50 am
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      True. Than again, Titanic got a high-grkossing re-re!ease, and Avatar benefited highly from the 3D bump.

    • January 26, 2016 at 12:44 pm
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      Estimated ticket sales:
      TITANIC – 135
      TFA – 101
      AVATAR – 97

      The fact that any movie at this point in time can crack the top 15 all time adjusted list is pretty amazing. I think it’ll fall short of the top 10 but who cares lol.

  • January 26, 2016 at 2:55 am
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    I very much doubt VIII will outgross VII like Empire didn’t with ANH or Clones did not with TPM. I just hope we are getting a sequel more like Empire than Clones and I don’t mean copying the plot either.

    • January 26, 2016 at 2:56 am
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      I thnk the spinoffs actually might hurt VIII’s reciepts by overexposing everyone to SW.

      • January 26, 2016 at 3:43 am
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        *cough* MCU *cough* 😉

        • January 27, 2016 at 3:37 am
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          Comic book movies. SW is a science fantasy epic that becomes less epic when there are new films out every few months. Even Star Trek took a year or two off in their 10 film run.

          • January 27, 2016 at 4:24 am
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            apples and oranges. star trek had far less demand, plus the tv shows always took priority. the MCU on the other hand has shown if people like it they will come back, multiple times a year now, to see more of it. if lucasfilm can keep the quality up like marvel does it will be fine.

      • January 26, 2016 at 6:11 pm
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        That’s going to be a very fine line that Disney/Lucasfilm is going to have to walk. I enjoy Marvel movies but at this point, I really don’t care if I catch them in the theaters or at home. I don’t even care when I get around to watching them. I’m still a few behind, at that.

        I can’t quite imagine feeling that way about Star Wars, but stranger things have happened.

        • January 27, 2016 at 3:39 am
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          I think we all will get tired if they are all set in the OT which is why I hope they jump around a bit even if they hae to tread into the dreaded PT era they are so afraid of. I mean TCW was much better recieved than the Prequels so why not a film set there?

          • January 27, 2016 at 5:39 pm
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            If they’re going to go back, I think they should go way back. I’m not necessarily rooting for some ancient Sith vs. Jedi thing but I’d rather see that than another Prequel-era story.

            Don’t get me wrong, while I wasn’t a huge fan of the Prequels, I really liked the Clone Wars animated series. I even enjoyed some of the Prequel-era EU (and I’m a bit of an admitted EU basher). So yeah, I don’t half mind that era of Star Wars. But I feel like we’ve had loads of material from that time for 15 or so years and I’m just not ready to head back there quite yet.

            That being said, wouldn’t the Anthology movies fall into that territory? If a Han Solo movie (groan) takes place when he’s 20 or so, what do we call it? Eh, who knows?

          • January 28, 2016 at 3:11 am
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            Oh yeah, KOTOR would be far more interesting but Disney seems to be scared to go there due to the lack of familiar characters. Obviously they can’t go into the future since that’s not mapped out yet but by going into the past they can really delve into the whole mythological/fantasy aspect that is it’s bread and butter.

            I think people hate on the pre-TPM era since everything is so advanced then by our standards but I figure the GFFA is like our own except instead of taking thousands of years to develop space travel they mastered it far earlier which makes sense considering how much of their galaxy is colonized. A starship to them is no more exotic than a sword to us and something they been creating for eons with slight modifacations here and there. I mean originally the Republic stretched back over 25,000 years with the Jedi/Sith dating back nearly 100,000. So their civilization comparitavly began when the first early human walked upright.

            In the old EU, Anything post-Sith was OT which I’m going with.

          • January 28, 2016 at 2:22 pm
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            I doubt being scared has anything at all to do with it. The decision to not tell those stories isn’t one made out of fear. Disney/Lucasfilm is going to go where most of the interest is, and it’s not several thousands years prior to ANH. Besides, I think it’s somewhat counter-intuitive not to go chronologically forward when telling a story. The Prequel trilogy took a jump back, but it would have been odd had the next trilogy gone even further back.

            Regarding how folks feel about the pre-TPM era: I don’t know. I’m not really a fan, but it’s not because there’s anything I don’t specifically like about it. It’s just that I’ve not read any of the books or the Dark Horse comics aside from some Tales of the Jedi stories from the 90’s. And I really don’t play video games so the whole KOTOR thing is a bit lost on me. I think there are a lot of folks out there like me.

            I seem to always find myself discussion or explaining Star Wars technology with folks. It’s an interesting topic. Compared to our own word and how we’ve progressed, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. But I doesn’t have to. Fantasy often crumbles when we superimpose our own sense of reason on it. Anyone sitting around wondering how a dwarf from Lord of the Rings could possibly build an underground civilization without agriculture or constant sunlight is sorely missing the point. The same thing for Star Wars. I usually just suggest to folks that the Star Wars galaxy is distant: both in space and time and any oddities and anomalies are probably the result of the galaxy being so big in addition to differing psychologies lending to different solutions. And even that’s going too deep.

          • January 29, 2016 at 2:46 am
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            Which is why Lucas can’t ever be accused of playing it safe, He made lots of missteps along the way yet even when repeating himself he managed to be at least somewhat innovative about it. Prequels clearly existed before the PT but in film they almost became ubequitous after they came out which led to the current reboot craze. Maybe not something to be of proud of as helping getting rid of the studio system but still pioneering nonetheless.

            Well, With the new canon everything is out the window anyway from that time but I think the real strength of it aside from having multiple Jedi/Sith again is that like the ST we don’t know who lives or dies which makes it better than the PT era where it’s all mapped out in advance.

            I like that stuff but I think it’s better suited for the EU than the films, The prequels sort of tried that at the expense of the story but I don’t mind hints of it here and there for the really important stuff.

          • January 29, 2016 at 5:57 pm
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            Well, a lot of folks don’t have the mental acuity to separate those two ideas. I don’t think the Prequels were that great, but I still have an immense amount of respect for Lucas. Nope, Lucas didn’t play it safe. To the end, for better or for worse, the guy did what he wanted to do. I can’t fault the guy for that.

            I’ll still never understand the anger over the dumping of the EU. I know that you and I have discussed that a bit. As critical as I can be of the EU, I still engage with it once in a while. In fact, I just read Honor Among Thieves (which I loved) and I’m currently reading Razor’s Edge (which I’m not loving). So…yeah…I’m reading and largely enjoying some books that don’t “count” anymore. But then…Star Wars is all fiction anyway. Nobody came and took my EU books, the text is still there, and I’m still able to enjoy the stories. Well…at least some of them.

          • January 30, 2016 at 3:37 am
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            I sadly agree, Much as I want to see Vader in his prime in Rogue One I think most of the public will think he’s the star by the TV spots alone. I think the best the PT can hope for is attaining the level of blockbuster camp classic and while the dialogue in it may never attain the heights of “I am your Father”, “I know”, or “Do or do not, There is no try” as pop classics ones like Anakin waxing philosophical about sand, and “hold me by the lake country like you did on Naboo” or “Love can’t save you, Only my new powers can” have almost become memes in geek culture due to their sheer awfulness.

            I agree with your assessment on those books, Not sure if you tried Heir To The Jedi yet but it’s even worse than Razor’s Edge. I’m about to start Lords Of The Sith myself which I’ve only heard good things about.

            Btw, If I don’t respond later on I’m not ignoring you. I was having a long back and forth with someone on here a few weeks back I wanted to keep going till VIII but it seems like the admins close old threads after awhile. Can’t really blame them with all the activity here but it sucks since there is no PM system on Disquis to let them know your not being an ass by the cessation of replies.

    • January 26, 2016 at 6:09 pm
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      Regardless of what one thought of The Force Awakens, I doubt episode VIII will make the same sort of impact. The first new Star Wars movie in 10 years was bound to make an enormous splash. Things will level off a bit down the road.

      • January 27, 2016 at 3:42 am
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        I bet it will be a better film though. I don’t think we’ll ever get another Empire but I also don’t think we’ll get another Clones thankfully. Those are probably two anomalies we’ll never see again.

    • January 26, 2016 at 7:37 pm
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      I can’t be the only one that’s noticed this, but Empire actually has the least “plot” of any Star Wars movie. I don’t mean that as a negative either, it worked really well. I’d be completely fine if VIII copied the lack of narrative plot style in favour of exploring characters more thoroughly like Empire did.

      But ask yourself, what was the overarching plot of V? What was the core goal that directed the narrative and that the characters were acting towards?

      I: Save Naboo
      II: “Solve” the “mystery” about Padme’s would-be “assassin”
      III: Bring an end to the war
      IV: Destroy the Death Star
      V: Cool space people doing cool space things?
      VI: Save Han/Destroy Death Star II/Redeem Vader
      VII: Find Luke
      VIII: Cool space people doing cool space things again?

      • January 27, 2016 at 3:45 am
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        It really depends if Johnson can get the kind of performances out of the OT and new cast that Kershner could but for what it’s worth, If any of the new directors can then it’s him.

        He’s never directed a bad film imo and whatever one thinks of him, He’s creative at the least.

  • January 26, 2016 at 9:18 am
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    TFA has made more than ANY other film has ever made in a single release domestically, and that’s even including adjusting for inflation. All the other massive domestic hits have added to their totals via many re-releases (especially stuff like Gone With The Wind).

    Worldwide it’s likely going to end up the third biggest all time. China is the world’s second biggest film market and they simply have no history with Star Wars as the OT never even played there until very recently, so it isn’t making huge numbers.

    All told, though, if anyone considers “biggest film of all time domestically” (and the UK as well) and third biggest worldwide to be some kind of disappointment then they are in for a lifetime of disappointments because TFA was absolutely enormous by any definition.

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