Star Wars Surpasses Harry Potter As The Second-Biggest Movie Franchise Of All Time As The Last Jedi Makes Over $1 Billion

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is raking in a ton of money for Lucasfilm – not that long ago, the movie officially got Disney to “break even” on their $4.06B  (not counting, of course, the cut that theaters make off of ticket sales and the production, advertising, and distribution costs, or, for that matter, the revenue the movies have received via merchandise and post-theatrical revenues). Now, the movie has not only crossed a major benchmark of grossing over $1B before even being released in the ever-important market of China, but it’s also led Star Wars past the Harry Potter franchise as well.

 

A little over a year ago, I shared my musings on Star Wars topping the James Bond franchise before noting that it wouldn’t be long until it topped the Wizarding World franchise – which, as it currently stands, is made up of the eight Harry Potter movies (And The Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone, And The Chamber Of Secrets, And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, And The Goblet Of Fire, And The Order Of The Phoenix, And The Half-Blood Prince, And The Deathly Hallows – Part 1, and And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2) and the first Fantastic Beasts movie (And Where To Find Them), which is intended to be followed by four more sequels. As of today – December 31, 2017 – that prediction has come to pass. The ten theatrically released Star Wars movies (Episode IV: New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode II: Attack Of The Clones, Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith, The Clone Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Episode VIII: The Last Jedi) have now amassed $8,556,678,930 compared to the Wizarding World‘s $8,539,253,704 total.

 

 

As of this weekend, Box Office Mojo is reporting that The Last Jedi added an estimated $52,446,000 from the United States and Canada and an estimated $53,700,000 from pretty much everywhere else, culminating in an estimated $517,144,228 domestic total and an estimated $523,300,000 international total. The drop-off from the second weekend in the domestic markets to the third 3-day weekend is estimated to be a miniscule 26.7% drop, which should come as a sight for sore eyes at Lucasfilm after the second 3-day weekend’s steep 67.5% plunge from the massive opening weekend. It should be noted that these box office numbers have a lot to do with the holidays themselves: the weaker-than-expected sophomore weekend for The Last Jedi had a lot to do with how many people are shopping and/or travelling ahead of Christmas Day, while on Christmas Day the box office sees a surge in revenue that ultimately lasts until New Year’s Day (and, once people start going back to school and work, the revenue from weekday grosses will shrink accordingly). With Solo: A Star Wars Story currently locked for its May 25, 2018 release date with no signs of a delay – along with the hundreds of millions of dollars that The Last Jedi still has yet to pull in – and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes Of Grindelwald aiming for a November 16, 2018 release window, it can be safe to say that J. K. Rowling’s magic-based franchise isn’t going to get the #2 spot back, even if only fleetingly, from the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

 

 

But unfortunately, Star Wars won’t be taking the #1 spot, either – that will safely belong to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially now that the forthcoming Disney-Fox deal means that Marvel Studios pretty much has free reign to do whatever they want with the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises and a greater number of resources to make movies with (meaning that fans are more likely to see more MCU movies per year than the three-per-year standard they’ve set this year and will continue on with in 2018, 2019, and 2020 – possibly even by 2020, if they play their cards right). As long as Star Wars sticks to only a single release a year, every year, there’s no way that they’ll top Marvel’s ever-expanding model (which grew from $10.9B last year to $13.5B this year, with Thor: Ragnarok still in theaters)… And that’s okay! At the end of the day, it means that Disney will be swimming in money to spend on future Star Wars and Marvel films.

 

+ posts

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.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

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.

116 thoughts on “Star Wars Surpasses Harry Potter As The Second-Biggest Movie Franchise Of All Time As The Last Jedi Makes Over $1 Billion

  • January 1, 2018 at 2:14 am
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    But Disney should be worried.. TLJ only made over a billion

  • January 1, 2018 at 2:20 am
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    If you just count ticket sales only, then SW already is the no. 1 franchise. I could be wrong on that, but I think SW has it.

  • January 1, 2018 at 2:20 am
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    If you just count ticket sales only, then SW already is the no. 1 franchise. I could be wrong on that, but I think SW has it.

    • January 1, 2018 at 3:39 am
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      Indeed.

      – Pomojema

  • January 1, 2018 at 2:36 am
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    Marvel needs how many heroes? lol Star Was still #1 in book!

    • January 1, 2018 at 3:39 am
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      If you’re looking at it from the perspective of *Star Wars* being one big franchise as opposed to a collection of semi-related franchises that all exist in one shared universe, then yeah, *Star Wars* bulldozes any individual Marvel franchise. I’m just saying that, for argument’s sake, the MCU is bigger (and it definitely is from an international standpoint).

      – Pomojema

      • January 1, 2018 at 6:01 am
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        It most certainly is. Good call mate. I grew up with Star Wars as movies before a lot of the extra media came out. It was what also got me into the comic verse. Wanted more Star Wars pretty much but was also right into spidey and the punisher. Being very much older now it’s good to see the gffa finally get some legs up and go for a run cinema wise. As a comic book fan at my age it’s great to see the really fun stuff that they are doing with the mcu. SW simply can’t compete lore wise with the mcu because of its plethora of characters and world building that started in books going back far before SW was even an idea. The awsomely cool thing is that for those of us who can enjoy multiple genres of stuff we essentially have the best of both worlds. A lot of people may not agree with this but it doesn’t matter because I am entertained.

  • January 1, 2018 at 3:19 am
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    Star Wars is more intellectual than Marvel. Here’s the difference: Marvel necessarily will have to rely on reboots and remakes or reinventations of their characters. Star Wars is potentially neverending as it spans multiple generations.

    • January 1, 2018 at 5:45 am
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      “Marvel necessarily will have to rely on reboots and remakes or reinventations of their characters.”

      I actually don’t think so. They can continually introduce new heroes, and Kevin Feige already said that their comics have enough material to mine for decades to come.

      • January 1, 2018 at 9:49 am
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        Watch what happens when they kill off one of the Avengers this summer

        • January 1, 2018 at 4:15 pm
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          Someone will cry and then we’ll all get over it and then celebrate Black Panther or Captain Marvel becoming the new leader of the Avengers. Probably.

          • January 2, 2018 at 5:06 pm
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            Probably. I suppose Marvell hasn’t been around long enough for anyone’s childhood to have been ruined if they do kill off someone…or make any other creative choices that don’t line up with fan expectations

          • January 2, 2018 at 5:06 pm
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            Probably. I suppose Marvell hasn’t been around long enough for anyone’s childhood to have been ruined if they do kill off someone…or make any other creative choices that don’t line up with fan expectations

      • January 1, 2018 at 11:50 am
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        I seriously doubt that Robert Downey Junior, Cheis Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo & co. Would keep on doing this for a decade. I suppose Marvel will have to, sooner or later, bring up a new captain america, a new Iron Man, and so on. Still, having tons of Star Wars movies, while it is indeed a commercial choice, sounds less commercial: the way star wars is built allows it to be infinitely expanded.

        • January 1, 2018 at 12:25 pm
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          Unless they recast the same roles, that wouldn’t be an actual reboot, though. Captain America already has two potential replacements on screen and a new generation of heroes is already being introduced thanks to Spider-Man.

          It’s not exactly the same as ‘Star Wars’, but the potential to keep going through legacy characters or plain new ones is definitely there.

          • January 1, 2018 at 12:30 pm
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            Iron Man has a possible replacement from the Civil War II comic series, so plenty to mine from and continue taking the characters in a new direction.

        • January 1, 2018 at 4:17 pm
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          You’re right, the old guard of Marvel isn’t going to keep doing this forever. But luckily for Marvel they have more heroes than jut Irin Man and co. Marvel can take basically any Z-list characters and make them popular (Guardians of the Galaxy). They’ll be just fine.

          • January 1, 2018 at 6:01 pm
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            I seriusly doubt that the audience will keep interest even with less known marvel superheroes. LFL still has to use the Old Republic card on the other hand.

          • January 1, 2018 at 6:18 pm
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            “I seriusly doubt that the audience will keep interest even with less known marvel superheroes.”

            The thing is, that’s just not accurate. Because at one point Iron Man WAS “lesser known”. Then the Guardians were “lesser-known”. Then Doctor Strange was “lesser known” Then Black Panther was “lesser known”. All Marvel has to do is make a good movie starring a new hero and they’ll be set. It’s worked before.

    • January 1, 2018 at 8:47 am
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      Even though the word “generation” means less now than it did before, as the only Skywalker related by blood is a mass murderer. A continuation through “years” is more of a better description now.

      • January 1, 2018 at 11:47 am
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        Yes, that’s what I try to say. It’s not that they will use the same character infinitely in all star wars films

      • January 1, 2018 at 5:44 pm
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        and that “Skywalker” is repeatedly adressed as Ben SOLO to confuse the audience even more 🙂

        • January 1, 2018 at 8:14 pm
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          Yeah that is a real shame. The Skywalker name has been wiped out even if the bloodline hasn’t. Although the bloodline will be gone by the end of episode IX as well.

        • January 1, 2018 at 8:14 pm
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          Yeah that is a real shame. The Skywalker name has been wiped out even if the bloodline hasn’t. Although the bloodline will be gone by the end of episode IX as well.

  • January 1, 2018 at 5:33 am
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    I could care less how much it made. I saw it ONCE. And will only see it once. I bought ZERO toys, for the first time ever, some (previously have) call me a toy hoarder… guess I’ve been cured of that addiction. Thanks Rian. #TheLastJediSucks

    • January 1, 2018 at 8:05 am
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      You’ll only move onto another addiction. Experimenting, leaving your comfort zone. It’s a slippery dangerous slope.

      #Comebacktothelight

      • January 1, 2018 at 7:38 pm
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        Actually it will hurt the suits at Disney more than him. He will save money, they will lose them – and thats the only thing they care about. For example before RO i was determined to buy just 1 Lego set for the start and the rest in 50% discounts about half year later. I chosed the U-wing set as the best for the money and it contained the best minifig mix. After watching RO, i bought the entire wave of lego sets from RO to get the entire crew immediately.
        Also the move with action figures where Hasbro stopped doing superarticulated (SA) figures and produced only 5point articulated. It hurt the sales – i saw tons of the 5P on discount, nobody cared about them. So the announced that the SA will be back in 2018 🙂
        Milking SW cow is via not just movies but by the supplemental merchandising (toys , books and so on).
        I totally ignore now all the post E6 things, so yes – they will feel it.

        • January 1, 2018 at 7:48 pm
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          they will feel it cause you don’t buy 4 – 5 toys? against the millions of toys that they will sell to other veteran fans and new generations?

          • January 1, 2018 at 8:31 pm
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            Just checked that just the TLJ lego sets excluding micfrofighters and buildable figures is 765 Eur summary which i and other people like me will save.

            And that just the lego toyline, not the books and of course BlueRay.

            Yes, its a big difference if you make 1/2 less on the merchandise in compare as when the movie would be actually good.

            Look at the Battlefront 2 fiasco – the should sell 14 mil. copies and they promised big profit to the stakeholders – wont happen as the game is bad.

            New generations are not so strong, otherwise they would not need to bring the SA figures back, instead would just be fine by selling the 5POA to the kids of new generation.

          • January 1, 2018 at 9:08 pm
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            “New generations are not so strong,”

            exactly, and that’s the whole point. Did you knpw that Tartakovsky Clone Wars show was Lucas’ invention as AOTC was a fiasco and he needed to sell more toys?

            I am not blaming Lucas. SW remains the healthiest franchise over decades thanks to him, but it needs to evolve if they want to keep it.
            I still haven’t heard any kid bashing TLJ nd that’s better news than a bunch of adult fanboys not buying videogames.

          • January 2, 2018 at 5:02 pm
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            Battlefront 2, or rather I should say EA, is suffering from predatory loot box practices and a ludicrous progression system design. It is not suffering from Disney-induced creative choices that appear to be impacting some fans opinion of this movie.

            Where they are similar is how both have been affected by internet hate snowball effect.

        • January 2, 2018 at 5:03 pm
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          It would be interesting to see how toy sales are faring

  • January 1, 2018 at 5:52 am
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    B-but I thought that The Last Jedi was a box office failure because no one liked it?? I thought that because my Snoke theory was wrong that the film would STRUGGLE to even hit a billion dollars!! /s

    Yeah, in reality, the film’s legs have been great this weekend (and last weekend, too, if you know how to interpret box office data), it made a billion dollars in just three weeks, and it will go down as one of the highest grossing films in domestic and global box office history. Congrats to Rian Johnson for making a film that is *undeniably* popular with audiences and a personal favorite of mine!

    • January 1, 2018 at 6:51 am
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      Well, obviously these numbers are fabricated. Disney will stop at nothing to manipulate people into thinking this film is a success! It’s clear that they promised exclusive access and free tickets to Typhoon Lagoon to any news agency that reported that the film made over $50.00. It’s all a massive scam, man!

      • January 1, 2018 at 9:47 am
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        lol, all real fans know this to be true

        slay

      • January 1, 2018 at 9:47 am
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        lol, all real fans know this to be true

        slay

        • January 2, 2018 at 7:15 pm
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          No… please no. I enjoy your posts and intelligent responses… PLEASE don’t stoop to using “slay” like that POS KentKaliber. That’s just unacceptable. LOL

          • January 2, 2018 at 10:17 pm
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            Sorry, was a sarcastic jab at “real Star Wars fan” Jason and Kent. I will refrain from snarkiness

          • January 2, 2018 at 11:45 pm
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            Snark is perfectly fine. KentKaliber-isms are not. LOL

      • January 1, 2018 at 4:13 pm
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        Makes sense.

    • January 1, 2018 at 7:21 am
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      Absolutely love this movie the more i see it… and my Snoke theory SUCKED

    • January 1, 2018 at 5:55 pm
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      Am i the only person on here whose eyes instantly roll as a cringe everytime this TUD dude makes a post? This guy would buy and eat a dog shit flavored popsicle if it had a Star Wars Logo on the wrapper.

      • January 1, 2018 at 6:03 pm
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        You SAY that, but you don’t actually know much about my tastes, nor about my opinions on the Star Wars media that I *don’t* like. You’re just angry that TLJ is doing well and that I’m enjoying it. That’s fine, but at least be honest with yourself.

        • January 2, 2018 at 4:53 pm
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          This!

      • January 1, 2018 at 9:01 pm
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        judge by yourself: his comment got 13 votes. Yours 0.

      • January 15, 2018 at 7:51 pm
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        I feel the same about you, but you should be able to make your point without resulting to juvenile insults.

  • January 1, 2018 at 8:01 am
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    Pretty good for a movie that was considered the worst thing since un-sliced bread.

    • January 1, 2018 at 8:46 am
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      Some people really don’t like this movie, methinks.

      • January 1, 2018 at 12:49 pm
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        Understatement of the year. And we’re only on the first day!

        • January 1, 2018 at 2:18 pm
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          So far, today is the coldest day of the year.

    • January 1, 2018 at 9:46 am
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      Or pretty predictable for a movie that was critically acclaimed and liked by half to 80% of the Star Wars fan base

  • January 1, 2018 at 8:01 am
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    Disney’s strategy of dividing the fan base is paying off huge! And deservedly so! Genius marketing for a masterful film!

    • January 1, 2018 at 9:56 am
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      Disney is proving that they can do different things and still be very successful with the brand. Everyone on the one sheet poster (except Vader) died in Rogue 1. Now the OT characters have been retired. I know Solo and Kenobi will be somewhat constrained, but I’m hoping that now that they have solidly convinced enough people to buy tickets to Disney’s version of Star Wars, that we see some solid writing in a totally new direction for the franchise. No more recycling.

      • January 1, 2018 at 10:16 am
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        Yeah. I know what you mean. I think they are delicately and respectfully transitioning in a way that pays homage to the past while evolving to something different and setting it up for the new generation. In reality, that’s what we as a society do, evolve!

    • January 1, 2018 at 12:02 pm
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      I Still don’t like any praise/disappointment be attributed to Disney. Only thing Disney is responsible for are the fact that we get new films. Lucasfilm/Kennedy are in charge. Same with MAavel, Fiege is in charge over there. Disney trusts them and just let’s them do that they do while they sit back and rake in the dough.

    • January 1, 2018 at 3:03 pm
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      LOL what a joke

    • January 1, 2018 at 3:03 pm
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      LOL what a joke

  • January 1, 2018 at 10:43 am
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    Well done to TLJ. Found the movie disappointing but wouldn’t want to see it fail. I wonder if RJs new trilogy is being seen as a replacement to the saga films as they will be finishing with IX.

    • January 2, 2018 at 10:53 pm
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      I really hope he can find a way to be in-universe without being overly bogged down by canon lore. Basic laws and history of the universe yes…but hopefully he won’t need a continuity group to check his work, if that makes sense.

  • January 1, 2018 at 12:20 pm
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    Well, there goes the disaster/fans strike back theory.

  • January 1, 2018 at 12:29 pm
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    hmm yesterday i was watching thor ragnarock, now i understand why lots of people are saying that TLJ is like a marvel movie

    • January 1, 2018 at 5:11 pm
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      Still not seen it, any good compared to the other Marvel stuff?

      • January 1, 2018 at 8:07 pm
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        I thought it was really good. Certainly the best of the Thor movies.

      • January 1, 2018 at 10:32 pm
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        One of Marvels’ best, in my opinion. It’s hilarious from beginning to end.

  • January 1, 2018 at 1:03 pm
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    TLJ performed very badly at box-office during the second week, actually. TLJ dropped to a tiny +9% over RO (a spinoff without Jedi and lightsabers), to be compared to TFA which performed +70% over RO. TLJ probably will cash 700 M$ below TFA. Furthermore everything of value or worthy of being explored (Luke, Snoke, Phasma, Rey parents…) has been destroyed. To sum up, the structural damage to the SW franchise is immense.

    • January 1, 2018 at 2:00 pm
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      There are several issues with TLJ, but I don’t see that a good writer couldn’t take the story forward.

      Hopefully we shall see Luke return as a force-spirit, no more is needed, its no longer his story, that was the OT.

      Snoke…..we could of done with something on his background, but to be honest we’ve seen dark side ghosts in the CW series, so its not just those in the light that can continue beyond life.

      Phasma was no more than Fett. Doesn’t really need to be explored.

      Rey’s parents being nobody’s isn’t conclusive, JJ would be within his right to turn it around. Its only a random vision and Ren that actually enforce she’s on her own and her parents are wasters.

    • January 1, 2018 at 2:00 pm
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      There are several issues with TLJ, but I don’t see that a good writer couldn’t take the story forward.

      Hopefully we shall see Luke return as a force-spirit, no more is needed, its no longer his story, that was the OT.

      Snoke…..we could of done with something on his background, but to be honest we’ve seen dark side ghosts in the CW series, so its not just those in the light that can continue beyond life.

      Phasma was no more than Fett. Doesn’t really need to be explored.

      Rey’s parents being nobody’s isn’t conclusive, JJ would be within his right to turn it around. Its only a random vision and Ren that actually enforce she’s on her own and her parents are wasters.

      • January 1, 2018 at 4:18 pm
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        I hope you’re right. Reys parents being nobodies was one of the biggest let downs and makes absolutely no sense. She’s gone from nothing to being able to use the Jedi mind trick, pull lightsabers to her, take on elite guards with years of training and lift a ton of rocks with no training whatsoever! Anakin & Luke couldn’t do that. At the start of TESB Luke could barely pull his lightsaber from the snow. Even after a lot of training by Yoda he wasn’t as skilled as her. There needs to be a very good explanation for this. Her parents are nobodies just doesn’t cut it. Same kinda goes for broom boy at the end. How come he could use the force to pull the broom to him with no training!! That was a bit ridiculous.

        • January 1, 2018 at 5:10 pm
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          I’m actually ok more with broom boy, something like that could be picked up through trial and error without involving anyone else. Rey’s use of the force is a joke, mind-tricks with no training!

          I still want something over Snoke, its getting boring trying to explain to by 6 year old that the FO was lurking in the background after RotJ with Snoke in charge. Who’s Snoke he asks, whom appears more powerful than the Emperor, who indeed….

          Those two glaring oversights are the worst thing of the entire ST IMO.

          • January 1, 2018 at 5:29 pm
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            Yeah I agree with you about Snoke. I thought he was an interesting character and I was looking forward to finding out a bit more about him after TFA. I didn’t need a whole backstory just a little bit of expansion on him. I still don’t think people with force potential should be able to move objects without training though. If Anakin who was created by the force & Luke couldn’t, and they are the most gifted in the force, then that should apply to everyone.

          • January 1, 2018 at 6:46 pm
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            Yeah that’s a fair point.

          • January 1, 2018 at 6:46 pm
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            Yeah that’s a fair point.

          • January 2, 2018 at 10:08 pm
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            Yeah, even though Snoke is no more fleshed out than Palpatine was in ESB, I feel like we don’t know him at all, and now he’s dead. For me, it’s easier to envision the ruler of an evil empire than it is the ruler of a paramilitary organization rising from the ashes of a dead empire.

            I hope we get more in IX or maybe a hint from Solo who this guy was. If you read Bloodline, there was a Senator Casterfo who was a Galactic Empire-phile and collected empire relics…like collecting Nazi relics would be today. Han smuggling crap like that to Snoke would be a way to get more info on him. I’m stretching!

      • January 1, 2018 at 7:31 pm
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        “but I don’t see that a good writer couldn’t take the story forward.”
        MAAAAARTHAAAA!!!!!!!
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        .
        We’re doomed.

        • January 2, 2018 at 9:32 am
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          WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?!!

        • January 2, 2018 at 9:32 am
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          WHY DID YOU SAY THAT NAME?!!

        • January 2, 2018 at 10:15 pm
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          Three things worth keeping in mind:

          1. We got a great Star Wars movie from the dude who wrote After Earth. (Granted, it was also rewritten, but that’s another point altogether.)

          2. Chris Terrio got an Oscar for his work on Argo, which is actually more than can be said for most people working on Star Wars scripts right now (Lawrence Kasdan notwithstanding).

          3. If the script still has issues, then Kathleen Kennedy, with all her gangsta powers, will likely issue a overhaul like what happened with Rogue One and what was going to happen to Colin Trevorrow’s Episode IX before he left the project.

          – Pomojema

    • January 1, 2018 at 8:25 pm
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      Yeah, just like Palpatine and Boba Fett were explored in ROTJ. Meanwhile, fans continue to see TLJ a second, third and forth time as it climbs to the top five all time….

      • January 1, 2018 at 9:56 pm
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        I agree with you with regards to Boba Fett/Phasma and thought her death was pretty cool. That was Finns best bit in TLJ for me (the rest of his scenes not so much) However Palpatine is very different as we knew we would be getting his back story in episodes I-III at some point. Snoke has been rendered pointless and irrelevant by TLJ. Also, I’ve only been to see TLJ once whereas I saw TFA & R1 3 times at the cinema and love both those movies.

        • January 2, 2018 at 9:56 pm
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          At the time ROTJ came out, none of us knew there would ever be another Star Wars movie

          • January 2, 2018 at 10:59 pm
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            Huh!? Yeah we did. Even before the OT had finished Lucas was saying that he would get around to doing I-III. It was a matter of when not if. It was VII-IX we didn’t know we would get.

          • January 2, 2018 at 11:52 pm
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            Oh man now I need to look it up!

            My recollection is that it was almost a year later before he started hinting that there would be more but only after technology caught up with his vision. Then, as you said, it could go sequel or prequel. I may not have it right tho admittedly!

          • January 3, 2018 at 12:06 am
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            It’s possible you’re right but my recollection of it was when ANH was re-released with episode IV attached and then when Empire came out about a year later with episode V everyone started asking why and Lucas said he planned to go back and do episodes I-III.

          • January 3, 2018 at 5:19 am
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            I don’t believe Lucas said anything about the prequels until the OT was released on VHS. Remember the interviews before each film where he talked about penning the back story in order to write the OT? And I’m 99.99% certain we didn’t know there would be a prequel trilogy at the time of viewing ROTJ. So how do we know at this point that we won’t get a Snoke back story in Rian’s new trilogy?? Perhaps that is why he killed off Snoke; to give himself material for his trilogy….

          • January 3, 2018 at 8:20 am
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            Sorry mate he definitely did. It’s why he re-released ANH with the Episode IV added to it about a year before Empire came out. There were magazine interviews during that time as well where he spoke about doing 9 films. Although, as Lucas does, he denied he ever said he would do 9 even though there is a Mark Hamill interview from around that time saying George wanted to get him back for episodes VII-IX in about 30 years. As for RJ doing Snoke in his trilogy, I guess it’s possible but he did say it’s going to be an entirely new set of characters so can’t really see it.

      • January 1, 2018 at 11:11 pm
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        First off, are you adjusting for inflation? Because if you adjust for inflation, it’s not in the top 5 of all time. You realize tickets cost more then they did in 1985? 1977? 1951?

        Secondly, TLJ is 220 million behind TFA at the same point in their runs so somebody is not going back multiple times. To give you context, AOTC was only 22 million behind TPM after 3 weeks, so there is a real backlash on TLJ by part of the fanbase.

        Obviously ANY SW movie will make huge $$$$ so I sort of laugh at the chest pounding of the box numbers. Heck the franchise survived the PT and still king of the box office, so our fanbase will pretty much accept any mediocre crap they put out.

  • January 1, 2018 at 2:08 pm
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    The right way to look at franchise success for me is to look upon the average box office result/movie, rather than looking at the total revenue of all movies in the franchise. It is obvious that the franchise with more movies will eventually be the leading one. On that matter, SW is ahead of Marvel, and HP, though that might change depending on performance of Solo and Fantastic Beasts 2

  • January 1, 2018 at 7:58 pm
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    Oh cool, because I am so happy Disney is raking in the money while messing up the franchise. Now we have our perfect nobodies to save the day! Yay!

  • January 1, 2018 at 8:02 pm
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    absolutely…. inmens…. total…. biggest… huge… worst….

    the more good news we get about The Last Jedi, the more you guys need to use these words. It’s okay. Some people liked it, some other don’t, but you just won’t get to change it no matter how hard you attack the film and its filmmakers.

    • January 1, 2018 at 8:37 pm
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      Correct, i will not change it just by complaining – i do it a lot now, started commenting YT videos and discussing here on SWNN. Doing that just to express my opinion and im glad im not alone.

      I will get the change by not financially support the products and that is already making results – again see the Battlefront 2 fiasco how they promptly changing the game as it fails to do well financially – soon it will be a free to play probably OR cost 15Eur instead of 60 at the release.

      • January 2, 2018 at 10:48 pm
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        This is a fair point about speaking with your wallet.

        However, the criticism of BF2 doesn’t have anything to do with creative choices, rather it’s about the publisher’s predatory pay to win practices. I for one will never forgive EA for destroying my favorite developer (Bioware) and won’t order another Origin-based game…same result as you with Disney.

  • January 1, 2018 at 9:06 pm
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    To be fair with Harry Potter, the books are more important and better than the movies. A generation of kids started to read with them, we can say many of them could have not touched a book without that saga and some kind of rebirth of teen novels started with HP.
    That is a great accomplishment.

    • January 1, 2018 at 11:56 pm
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      I’ve liked because 100% correct – but I hate HP!

    • January 2, 2018 at 1:47 am
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      Shoot what? He doesn’t even have a story yet. Probably misinformation.

      • January 2, 2018 at 1:50 am
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        thats what i was thinking. they might have gotten it confused with episode 9’s production.

        • January 2, 2018 at 10:09 pm
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          Viral Hide just did an article on this… It’s certainly not the first time that Scotland was supposedly the site of future filming for a Star Wars movie, so take this with a massive grain of salt.

          – Pomojema

      • January 3, 2018 at 2:34 am
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        didn’t stop them with Last Jedi

        • January 4, 2018 at 6:43 am
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          The Last Jedi was being written for years before TFA was even in theaters.

          • January 4, 2018 at 4:32 pm
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            I see the fog lifting from your eyes, and your beginning to see the light. Excellent

          • January 4, 2018 at 8:19 pm
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            No, I was informing that you that you’re incorrect. Rian had access to TFA’s script, which allowed him to begin work on the sequel before TFA was even released.

  • January 2, 2018 at 2:36 am
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    I’ll never understand why fans get excited about a movie they like making lots of money. Once it makes enough to get a sequel, who really cares? It’s not like we get any of it.

    • January 2, 2018 at 3:12 pm
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      It means we get more of it.

      • January 2, 2018 at 9:19 pm
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        And that’s not always a good thing.

        • January 2, 2018 at 11:12 pm
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          Lol yeah. Transformers springs to mind.

    • January 4, 2018 at 6:43 am
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      Well I do because I’m an investor but whatevs.

  • January 2, 2018 at 4:18 am
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    I think it’s unfair to consider the MCU a franchise when it’s actually made up of multiple individual franchises (Iron Man, Thor, etc.). I believe Star Wars is actually the #1 movie franchise when positioned against other franchises (Bond, Harry Potter). Not to knock Marvel movies – I’m a Marvel fan- but it doesn’t seem right to call the MCU a franchise in the same sense that Star Wars or Batman is a franchise.

  • January 4, 2018 at 12:51 am
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    This is fantastic news! I guess KK’s idea to add an Asian cast member worked out, Rose did crack the elusive asian star wars market. All you haters say she doesn’t know what she’s doing? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 1 billion dollars,
    Who says racism doesn’t pay

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