Early reports of at least 40 million for Christmas Day.

Deadline saying $47.5 to $50M.

Should be in striking distance of $500M by the end of tomorrow. Took Jurassic World 17 days to break 500, took Avengers 23, and Avatar 32.

Ill tell you what i find interesting : numerous people who are casual star wars fans are all talking about seeing it twice in the theaters. It is very rare to hear so many people say that imo.

My wife just said we need to see it a third time, and I doubt she's ever seen a movie three times in the theater, and traditionally hasn't cared at all about Star Wars.

This movie is doing so well because it is, simply, a delight.

What's it up to now?

As of right now, just shy of $440M.

all domestic records here....

To put that in perspective the XMAS day record is < $25 million from Sherlock Holmes - and that was its OPENING Day also a Friday. This is going to double that on it second Friday. Also the non-opening Friday record was Transformers 2 at 36 million. So thats 2 more records.

The second weekend record is 106 million by JW that is going to be destroyed if it did $40--50 on Xmas Friday.

It's 7 Day Gross already exceeds the records for 8 and 9 day gross....it just hasn't been out that long so it owns those records already too.....and will pass the 10 Day gross record easily on it's 8th Day (just needs $9 million) which also gives it the fastest to $400 million by 2 days over JW. Will probably pass $500 million by Sunday giving it the $500 million mark by 7 days over JW.

This thing is incredible.

My family is turning out big today:

Me and my wife and 2 kids for 2nd viewing - thats 4 more
Taking Grandpa who lives with us for 1st viewing
Meeting sister-in law and her husband for first viewing.
My parents and aunt are also going on their own for first viewing.
Brother in law and 2 kids and wife also going on their own for first viewing.

Thats 4 repeats and 10 new viewers today.

Most of the new viewers were just too busy before xmas, or waiting to see it with family this weekend.

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Nope.
$650--700M tops in the US.
Worldwide.... $1.7B

All IMHO, of course.

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Where did this guy go?

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Ill tell you what i find interesting : numerous people who are casual star wars fans are all talking about seeing it twice in the theaters. It is very rare to hear so many people say that imo.

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My wife never sees movies twice, and rarely goes to the theater in general, saw it twice in less than a weeks time. Word of mouth (think Facebook) is so strong for this movie. I've heard her having numerous conversations with friends about the movie.

I was "this" close to being put on "entertain father in law" duty today. It was initially suggested we go see Star Wars... That would have been #3 for me in just over a week.

IMO, it deserves it all for finally giving us Star Wars once again.

TFA will outgross the following movies' opening weekends on its second weekend:

Furious 7
All the Twilight movies
All the Pirates movies
Iron Man 2
All the HP movies except the last one
Mockingjay Pt 1 and 2
etc.

These are all major blockbusters, and are all relatively recent. This movie is bringing in more people in its second weekend than those did in their first. Pretty incredible when you think about it.

I think part of it is the ice bucket challenge effect. 99% of people dousing themselves had no idea what it was really about, but that's what everyone on FB was doing. I have family members who couldn't name two SW characters if you spotted them one, but they are planning on seeing it.

I'm probably gonna see it again to verify if that one character really is the love child of The Matrix's Oracle and a Minion.

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Where does Episode VII end its domestic box office run? One non-Disney distribution chief told us fearlessly tonight: $1 billion. Distrib chiefs always believe that the competition is always setting them up to fail in the media with outrageous projections, however, that cume isn't a crazy thought.

Consider the following: Through Sunday, Force Awakens will be pacing ahead of Jurassic World's 10 day cume ($402.8M) by 35% and ahead of Avatar over the same period ($212.7M) by 156% and at those speeds, Episode VII lands well within the $800M-$1B range. Couple this with Disney having a stronghold on big auditoriums for at least four weeks along with a lengthy Imax run.

Distrib sources told us many times during the run of American Sniper, that when repeat business propels a film's grosses to this magnitude, the picture becomes an animal unto its own.

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Nope.
$650--700M tops in the US.
Worldwide.... $1.7B

All IMHO, of course.

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Where did this guy go?

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To the outer rim...

Heard he is looking for a long lost Jedi.

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I think part of it is the ice bucket challenge effect. 99% of people dousing themselves had no idea what it was really about, but that's what everyone on FB was doing. I have family members who couldn't name two SW characters if you spotted them one, but they are planning on seeing it.

I'm probably gonna see it again to verify if that one character really is the love child of The Matrix's Oracle and a Minion.

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I think this is certainly what draws many folks who don't know Star Wars into the theater.

I think the story, the sets and the fact that the actors a.) have great dialogue, and b.) don't act like two dimensional wooden cut outs gives people a glimpse of what Star Wars could have been all along.

I love the OT but the acting (IMO) in this one really pushes it over the edge. All of the actors absolutely nail their roles and thats what brings repeat viewings from non-fans.

There is no doubt that the acting in this far outstrips both the PT and OT.

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There is no doubt that the acting in this far outstrips both the PT and OT.

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yep....four primary factors that JJ Abrams nailed

1. casting, these new characters are as good if not better than the originals (characters are comparable at least, acting is better).
2. the grittiness and realism of the originals - no more green screen (well as little as possible)
3. the fun ride element
4. combining the old and the new in a great way - paying homage to the old but making them more than cameos while integrating in the new (Han, Chewie, Leia and a little of R2D2 and C3PO...combined with BB-8, Rey, Finn, Poe and Kylo Ren)

and he did all that without selling out to the very young market - one of Lucas' biggest missteps later.

the PT missed on nearly all of these elements consistently.

Was thinking about heading to an early afternoon 2D showing. (4th and probably final viewing.)

Sold out till 6:30 pm...

With it being essentially guaranteed that TFA will surpass Avatar, how do y'all think it will compare to episode VIII when it comes out? Let's assume it also receives a 90%+ on rotten tomatoes. Do you think repeat viewings will decrease, as people are no longer as enamored with the return of Star Wars?

I think it'll beat Avatar domestically but not globally.

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I think it'll beat Avatar domestically but not globally.

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entirely possible....China is going to be the deciding factor....

it may hit $1B in the US domestic....and International is tracking slightly higher without China. That would put it near $2.2B without China. The highest grossing films ever in China would only net about $300-350 million. So it would have to blow it out of the water with around $500 million in China (3.2 billion yuan which is 50% higher than the most ever).

I'm think it hits the $1B in the US but only around $2.5B worldwide.

It's only now that it really sinks in how insanely hard it is to make $2.7 billion.

I can't really figure out how Avatar did it. If TFA blows it out of the water domestically, and say it matches Avatar in China, how is it that it still falls so short? Was there really that much more international repeat business going for Avatar?

I wonder if India isn't a big difference maker here.

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It's only now that it really sinks in how insanely hard it is to make $2.7 billion.

I can't really figure out how Avatar did it. If TFA blows it out of the water domestically, and say it matches Avatar in China, how is it that it still falls so short? Was there really that much more international repeat business going for Avatar?

I wonder if India isn't a big difference maker here.

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I just looked it up on box office mojo.

Besides China and the UK/Aus, Russia, S. Korea, and Japan were big players in making those numbers. Also, avatar seems to have opened in twice as many countries as TFA, so there is a ton of countries contributing to their numbers that the TFA will never have.

Oh, and Germany and France seemed to have loved it.

Interestingly, I was comparing titanic and avatar and they seem to have both done similarly well in each country. Makes me wonder what Cameron or the studio did in order to get those kind of numbers in France, Germany, and Japan where it seems other U.S. movies are unable to replicate.

Looking at the breakdown of Avatar's foreign grosses, these countries stand out. (All rounded down.)

Australia
Avatar 105
TFA 29

China
Avatar 204
TFA 0

France
Avatar 175
TFA 38

Germany
Avatar 162
TFA 44

Japan
Avatar 171
TFA 25

Russia
Avatar 117
TFA 15

South Korea
Avatar 105
TFA 14

Spain
Avatar 109
TFA 15

Not counting China, it still has to make $764 million in these territories just to match Avatar.

That's an insane amount of ground to cover. Granted it's only been out 10 days, but I'd be surprised if it catches it in many of those countries.

Was typing before reading your posts. Yep, those countries seem to be the difference, plus the amount of territories.

Really don't think it catches it.

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It's only now that it really sinks in how insanely hard it is to make $2.7 billion.

I can't really figure out how Avatar did it. If TFA blows it out of the water domestically, and say it matches Avatar in China, how is it that it still falls so short? Was there really that much more international repeat business going for Avatar?

I wonder if India isn't a big difference maker here.

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Avatar had tentacle sex, so everyone in Japan saw it four times.

It's very difficult to get titanic and avatar numbers without incredible longevity.

I finally saw it today. I'm pretty sure I've never seen a movie in the theater twice and I'm planning on seeing it again. It was so well done. One of the first comments I made to my wife walking out was it makes me mad at how ****ty the PT was.

What really gets me is that Avatar was such an incredibly ****ty plot. People literally just watched it for the CGI, and never bought it for their house.

I think TFA falls short in total numbers. Because of international numbers unless China explodes.

Has anyone ever been able to compare total revenue from a movie? Not just box office, but also DVD, merchandise, toys, etc? I have a feeling Star Wars as a franchise dwarfs anything else... And TFA probably becomes the single biggest movie ever

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What really gets me is that Avatar was such an incredibly ****ty plot. People literally just watched it for the CGI, and never bought it for their house.

I think TFA falls short in total numbers. Because of international numbers unless China explodes.

Has anyone ever been able to compare total revenue from a movie? Not just box office, but also DVD, merchandise, toys, etc? I have a feeling Star Wars as a franchise dwarfs anything else... And TFA probably becomes the single biggest movie ever

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You're looking at things from an American point of view and not global. First, it was a marvel of modern special effects in film making. It was probably the biggest leap forward since Jurassic Park, maybe even the original Star Wars. That's always going to bring a lot of curiosity. But saying it had a ****ty plot is mainly an American talking point. This movie catered to liberal thinking and the rest of the world is very liberal. There are very few things the rest of the world is going to love more than seeing the big bad capitalistic American military getting their asses kicked. Also, we tend to complain about recycling the plot of Fern Gully, Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas. Those movies are likely unknown in Europe and Asia. Nobody in Japan gives a crap about seeing Kevin Costner befriending a bunch of Indians in the 19th century in North Dakota or wherever he was at. I think this movie was absolutely loved throughout the majority of the world.

It can definitely be seen as more of a global story than most.

Quite a few people in America don't give a crap about Pocahontas, Fern Gully or Dances with Wolves either myself included. And a lot of people go to movies to escape and don't get caught up in supposed politics of alien races or their hidden meaning. It's called escapism.

I love avatar and titanic and TFA. I hate the SW PT though.