WhenStar Wars: The Force Awakensopened in theaters to a massive, record-breaking opening weekend, we knew the film was big. But it was only in the ensuing weeks that we discovered how huge a box office juggernaut the movie would be. It continued to dominate the box office chart, breaking record-after-record as it soared to $815.8 million domestic—the first film to ever cross the $800 million threshold domestically. That was enough to unseatJames Cameron’s top two films here in the states, surpassingAvatar’s previous record of $760.5 million to become the highest grossing movie of all time, but directorJ.J. Abrams’ sequel has been slower to climb the international box office chart, and now it looks like Cameron could remain the literal king of the world.
On the all-time worldwide chart,The Force Awakenshas surpassedJurassic Worldto secure the #3 position overall with $1.7 billion. It’s currently on track to continue up the ranks and overtakeTitanic’s $2.18 billion to secure the #2 slot, but according to analysts (perTHR), it’s unlikely that the film will secure the $2.788 billion needed to topAvatar’s record-holding worldwide gross.
The Force Awakensgot off to amuchstronger start thanAvatar, but Cameron’s pic had a more robust showing in international territories.Star Warsis not as big in key Asian and Latin American marketsdespite a strong start in China. Analysts are predicting the film will top out at anywhere between $2.1 to $2.4 billion globally, meaning even the most bullish of forecasts have it several hundred million dollars short of theAvatarrecord.
Of course there’s also the fact that the movie is slowing down domestically, and could be unseated from its #1 box office position as early as this weekend with strong competition in the form ofRide Along 2andMichael Bay’s13 Hours. That’s not the say the film won’t still have legs, but there’s definitely a cutoff point, and asthe blockbuster season begins earlier than usual this yearwithDeadpoolin February andBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicein March, these new and shiny big-budget films will no doubt supersede the prospect of seeingStar Warsa seventh or eighth time.
Avatarlost its #1 box office position on the first weekend in February, so the domestic comparisons aren’t as apt as the international ones when it comes to predicting whetherStar Warswill take the global record. James Cameron’s film pulled in a whopping $2.02 billion from the international box office alone, whileStar Warsis expected to finish around $1.2 to $1.4 billion.
The most important question, though, is does any of this matter? No, no it does not. Disney has already been satisfied with its investment in Lucasfilm with this massive success (a total box office gross of even $2.1 billion isinsane), the theme park and merchandising revenue alone is astronomical, and the studio has sequels and spinoffs on tap for release every year in perpetuity. By comparison, Fox is still waiting on Cameron to stop tinkering with his scripts andactually make the secondAvatarmovie. So willStar WarstopAvatar’s worldwide record? Maybe, maybe not. In either case, the movie is fun and Disney is fine.
