Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Eyes $200 Million-Plus Debut

15 December 2015 1:53 PM, PST | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is shaping up to become a cinematic event with few equals.

Pent-up excitement for the return of Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo, and a raft of interplanetary film icons is powering the seventh film in the science-fiction franchise towards a record opening weekend. Disney, the company that plunked down $4 billion and change for the rights to George Lucas’ brainchild, is in the enviable position of downplaying expectations, but rival studios and industry analysts believe that “The Force Awakens” will open to $210 million or more, establishing a new high-water mark. Of course, when a film has this kind of awareness surrounding it, the methodology for projecting a specific box office result is about as scientific as the four humors of Hippocratic medicine.

Flaws in the predictive model aside, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest the film will be huge. The film has already set a record for pre-sales, »

- Brent Lang

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