The prequels made some new fans, but be serious. Star Wars was like today's Marvel or TDK series in the 80s and 90s. It was cool for everybody. That point blank is not the case any more. Very few teenagers, or college kids, or young adults hang Han Solo posters in their rooms. They still have fans, no doubt, but Star Wars is not the king Daddy it was prior to the prequels, which without question hurt the Star Wars brand more than it helped. If you talk to normal people about the prequels, almost nobody loved them, plenty of people enjoyed them fine, and a decent amount straight up loathed them. That said, the late teens to early 30s demographic, by and large, either 1) doesn't care about Star Wars either way, or 2) Thinks it's for nerds. You'll find very very few true hardcore Star Wars in that group. That's not to say they won't go see the film, but the rush factor for Star Wars - for this demo - won't even resemble the rush factor for Avengers or BVS.

Of course it's going to be enormous, but I don't think Star Wars has the 'cool' factor among today's normal audiences. I think there's almost no way on Earth it has a more impressive opening than Avengers.

"But Episode 3's opening was huge!!!"

Yes I remember, and I assume you remember the massive buzz about how it was the "last" Star Wars film ever, which greatly added to its buzz? Much like how Potter 8's midnights and opening day were absurdly inflated? I assume you remember how until that point, 2005 had absolutely no event films, right? I assume you remember that Episode's 3 gross wasn't even comparable to the grosses of the top films from 2004 and 2006, right? Both Shrek 2 and Pirates 2 absolutely owned Episode 3. Spider-man straight up destroyed Episode 2. Both Episode and obviously & especially opening 2's weekends were below expectations, and I firmly believe the brand was stronger then than it is today.

Point blank - I see no reason to believe STAR WARS is more popular today than it was in 2002, when it didn't come close to the opening weekend record. I see no reason whatsoever. AOTC's WOM was hideous and I blame Episode 3's mega opening (in spite of AOTC wom) on the finale factor and lack of event films in 2005. The brand's appeal isn't close to what it once was and that was obvious with the last few films, yet we now have people saying it will break opening weekend records, in December, no less? Yes, if Episode 3 had opened on a Friday, it would have broken the record. But even that record likely would have only last until next summer with Pirates 2, and obviously wouldn't come close to Spidey 3 in 2007 or TDK in 2008.

STAR WARS wasn't the top dog 10 years ago, not even close. The popularity has not increased over the past decade. This is going to be The Hobbit movie on steroids. Big huge hit but not close to the absurd expectations from fanboys who vastly overestimate the brands appeal to the common movie goer. STAR WARS isn't that far from STAR TREK to most people at this point in time.

I think the REAL money will be if the movie delivers. The sequels might returns to uber stratospheric grosses over the originals and Episode 1, but that's a big if.

You're too dictated by your biases, Excel.

I think the movie looks awesome. I'm just saying. Some needs to realize this movie has a bigger stigma to hurdle than most seem to expect.

You don't want the movie to make money and therefore you've convinced yourself that it won't make money. That's bias. It's the same thing you do every time there's a new Superman movie, just on the opposite spectrum.

I'm pretty burned out on superhero movies, but it'd be silly of me to start an AGE OF ULTRON Under $450 Million Club.

Silly thread.

I'd be very happy to see it be huge, I just don't think it's going to break records. If Episode 3 didn't have the finale buzz, it wouldn't even be comparable to the other mega openers of that series of years, just like Episode 2's gross wasn't even close to Spider-mans or the R Rated matrix film the next year, etc.

I think fanboys vastly overstate the films appeal. It's enormous but it's not 1980 any more.

The same "silly" that folks said my 1) Pirates 3 under 300 million, 2) Skyfall over 300 million, 3) Narnia 2 under 225 milion etc clubs all were, right?

THE MATRIX RELOADED hit the year after and EPISODE II outgrossed it.

Pretty much all available data would say it is silly of you to put STAR WARS on AGE OF ULTRON's level. It wasn't on Spider-mans level in 2002 or 2005, or the level Batman would hit in 2008, etc.

Was referring to opening weekend. Both had the 4 day thing with a thursday opening and even with an R rating, Matrix absolutely obliterated Star Wars. Given schedule and rating it's not surprising Episode 2 held better, but opening weekends weren't close. If Matrix was PG ala STAR WARS, it may have done 50% more. That's a hueg number.

Star wars was dealing with the far more popular to modern audiences Spiderman still doing $45 million that weekend, but still.

Excel, this thread made my day. I won't join, as I expect it will make 450 million on the dot.

EPISODE III was absolutely on SPIDER-MAN 2's level?

Episode 3 needed a huge novelty factor to get there. Episode 2 wasn't even close to Spiderman 1 or 2, nor was Episode 3 even close to Pirates 2, Spidey 3 (opening weekend) or TDK in later years.

You are absolutely moving the goal posts now to suit your argument. Comparing EPISODE III to THE DARK KNIGHT is like comparing SPIDER-MAN to AVATAR.

Wuss.

What? Not at all. My point is that STAR WARS is not the biggest brand in film, it's not even close. Episode 3, even with all the hype from being the finale and only real event film of summer 2005, didn't get near the levels lots of other films which opened with a year or 2 two of that movie did.

What's so difficult to understand? It is what it is. Spider-man did more in 3 days than Star Wars did in 4. Even with the finale factor, Episode 3 didn't do as well Pirates 2, Spidey 3, or TDK.

Yet this new one will break all sorts of records? Ok.

You're talking about 1 film in a franchise peaking in popularity, the rest are all under SW levels. SW needed 3 softly received sequels to get down to that level. And now the new film is unrelated and looks amazing. And so many kids loved the prequels (I was only 17 when Sith came out so I know what was popular) The other films may have hit a high point, but SW fans were the shit opening night.

But for all other fans disappointed with the prequels Ford saying "We're home" is not just for nostalgia purposes. It's Ford saying "fuck the prequels, relax everyone, we're taking you back"

Sith Broke OD record, Midnight Record, top 3 day (Yes, It out opened Spider-man by 10 million on a Thursday, ass)-10 day grosses, Thursday record (Still has it after 10 years.) What's that 12 records off the top of my head?

Final note. Twilight has a bigger OD than Spider-man 3, does that mean the twilight series is bigger than Spider-man? None of the Potter films have ever come close to SW and yet it has the OD record.

That's baloney. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was bigger than AOTC.

Again, 1 FILM OUT OF 8. Your'e not making a point. And it outsold the worst recieved SW film by what? 3% And if it had opened on a Friday it would have out opened it.

And Sith did in 3 days (one being a Thursday) what Spider-man did in 4.

Not sure what the point of this post is. It was obvious to everybody in 2002 that Spider-man was generally more popular than Star Wars at that point in time.

I'm not sure what the point of this paragraph is.



You are so over estimating the appeal of the actor, IDK what to say. It's no different - at all - than ford's return as Indy or Arnold as Terminator.



Stop it. Sith only set those records because of all the "final film" buzz.

You and I both know that without that buzz, it almost certainly would have done AOTC levels or perhaps worse as AOTC was terribly received.

You know that, and I know that. The fact that Sith's OD record was obliterated the next 3 years in a row speaks to how little that really says about the films success.



Twilight being such an obvious outlier for normal films makes it a terrible comparison.

It is what it is. The prequels didn't achieve anything resembling the dominance of the original trilogy for several reasons, one being they generally were poorly received and another being the fact that new brands had eaten into Star Wars dominance over the market. It just is what it is and I don't see what's tough to understand. This new film is going to be a huge hit, but it would be beyond shocking to see it do some of the numbers folks are predicting.

In.

So did Indiana Jones have three prequels without him, two of which were very poorly received?
Did Terminator have ANY movie without Arnold?

What the fuck are you talking about, man?

Doesn't matter. The point is that movie going audiences outgrow the characters, more and more every year, as the original film gets further away. Same way all these 70s and 80s reboots with the original cast members are not lighting the world on fire. People don't care, the newer, younger generations find new folks they feel the same way about it.

Han Solo's "we're home chewy" doesn't resonate with a fraction of the impact that something, like, RDJ appearing at the end of a CA3 trailer or (somehow, if he were alive) Ledger appearing in a BVS trailer, or whatever. Solo and Ford's time has passed. He's not a nobody, his presence means something, but it's hardly world altering.

I am CERTAIN the smart folks making the new SW films know the key to a return to 1980's type success will involve new actors and new characters, not the old ones. It's somewhat puzzling to me how much they appear to relying on nostalgia for the marketing, I hope the film isn't like that.