It’s finally here! After a few weeks of holdovers maintaining the box office, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is here to shake things up and take control of the box office as we head into the new year. The film is undoubtedly going to be huge but the question is, how huge?
After a sub-par summer and an October that also failed to really impress, k is a breath of fresh air for exhibitors. Even though Rogue One: A Star Wars story did 43% less business last year when compared to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, that film still did $1.07 billion overall for the period of December 16-January 2; the year before with Force Awakens, the holiday frame also cleared $1 billion. Needless to say, the month of December clearly belongs to Star Wars and The Last Jedi will only continue the trend.
Rogue One was a spinoff prequel story which explains why it came in low ($532.1 million domestically is still nothing to scoff at) but The Last Jedi is a direct sequel to the film that reignited the Star Wars franchise. There is great interest to see where this goes next and that need to know, is what will surge ticket sales.
Previews in North America begin Thursday night at 7 PM, with fan and marathon events in 1,300-plus locations featuring an early start for The Last Jedi at 6 PM. The next day, Friday, some showings begin as early as 6:45 AM to meet the demand of the moviegoing public. There is going to be a lot of time for this film to make its money and it seems like many exhibitors aren’t missing a chance to cash in on this cinematic event.
The film is receiving glowing reviews (94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the Los Angeles premiere on Saturday proved to be very successful with many people commenting on how great the film is. This added bonus of positive word of mouth will also do its job. Tracking has the opening at $200 million and to me, that’s a given. The real prediction is where it will land outside of that. The Force Awakens opened to $247.9 million which is the all-time opening weekend record. I don’t think Jedi will go there but it will be close with about $240 million and a very long life at the box office.
