"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is setting up to be the biggest movie event of the year, and naturally, it is expected to rake in a lot of cash and earnings.
Recent market studies indicate that the movie must earn a staggering $1.5 billion for it to be considered a success in Wall Street. Although it is undeniably one of the most talked about releases, there is no guarantee that they'll be earning that much in the box office -- and that has left director J.J. Abrams very scared.
Veteran director Steven Spielberg shared in an interview about Abrams' fears. He says, "There's a lot of pressure on J.J. to start paying Disney back for, you know, the franchise they bought from George Lucas." As previously reported, Disney has invested a whole lot of money -- around $4 billion -- to get the rights of the super popular franchise alongside other projects under LucasFilm.
The pre-sales for the much-awaited movie has already broken records worldwide. It has already recorded $50 million in sales from pre-sold tickets a month prior to the movie's release, and this number is increasing until the day of the premiere showing. The seventh installment in the 'Star Wars' franchise is also projected to earn $223 million this weekend alone. The movie is also expected to surpass 'Avatar's' record of $2.8 in global sales in terms of box office performance.
However, despite huge numbers even before the movie's release, BoxOffice Media's managing director Daniel Loria says, "But let's not confuse potential with expectation. I think it has the potential to become the biggest opening weekend of all time but let's not put that expectation on it. I think the film can be successful without breaking every record."
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is set to premiere as early as the 18th in several countries, and almost all theaters everywhere are running out of tickets. This is first release under the Disney-owned franchise.
